226 
VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. 
[February, 
grounds that if they were even successful, w^hich was extremely 
doubtful, the sum of money which would fall to his share would 
be no compensation for the loss he should sustain in mercantile 
reputation, together with the confidence and trade of the Amer- 
icans ; while the attempt, without succeeding, would be all loss 
and no gain. He would therefore have nothing to do with it. 
After the disaster of the Friendship, her commander, Captain 
Endicott, told Mahommed Bundah that within the space of twelve 
months from the perpetration of that piratical act, a big ship from 
the United States would most assuredly visit Quallah-Battoo,- and 
severely punish the aggressors. Young Bundah was seriously 
struck vv^ith this solemn assurance, and expressed strong feelings 
of alarm for the result. Captain Endicott therefore assured him 
that no one would suffer but the guilty, as Americans never in- 
jured the unoffending ; and that he and his friends need be under 
no apprehensions on account of their property or personal safety. 
As a pledge of his sincerity, the captain gave Mahommed a letter 
of introduction and recommendation to the commander of the 
hostile force, Avhoever he might be, that should visit the coast. 
Bundah was not alone in being affected by this menace of na- 
tional vengeance, so solemnly predicted by Captain Endicott., It 
was circulated and talked of all along the coast. Some, like 
their friends in another quarter, " believed and trembled." Many 
reckless spirits heard it with indifference ; and the great majority 
ridiculed it as an impossibility. 
In the mean time, " moons waxed and waned," time rolled on, 
and the first influence of the prediction became gradually weak- 
ened in the minds of all. Like the Jews of old, they began to 
doubt the veracity of the prophet, and to mock at the tardiness 
of justice. 
Twelve months had nearly elapsed — the thirteenth moon was art 
ha-nd, and they still reposed in fancied security, continually project- 
ing new acts of piracy, in the execution of which they were so often 
defeated. In two days more, they would hail the anniversary of 
the Friendship's capture, which would occur on Friday, the ninth 
of February, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, and all were de- 
riding the idea of the threatened visitation of the " big ship." 
But on Monday the sixth, the inhabitants of Muckie were 
thrown into a paroxysm of terror and alarm, by the fatal tidings 
