Ralph," he added, lowering his voice, "if you had seen the bloody deeds that I have witnessed done on these decks you would not need to ask if we were pirates.

But you'll find it out soon enough.

As for the missionaries, the captain favours them because they are useful to him.

The South-Sea islanders are such incarnate fiends that they are the better of being tamed, and the missionaries are the only men who can do it." Our track after this lay through several clusters of small islets, among which we were becalmed more than once.

During this part of our voyage the watch on deck and the look-out at the mast-head were more than usually vigilant, as we were not only in danger of being attacked by the natives, who, I learned from the captain's remarks, were a bloody and deceitful tribe at this group, but we were also exposed to much risk from the multitudes of coral reefs that rose up in the channels between the islands, some of them just above the surface, others a few feet below it.
Our precautions against the savages I found were indeed necessary.
One day we were becalmed among a group of small islands, most of which appeared to be uninhabited.