LETTERS FEOM HEYWOOD. 57 
A letter from Peter, dated Batavia, Nov. 
20, 1791, at last announced that he was 
alive, and on his return. His account of 
the painful scene on board the Bounty 
afforded them, as far as he was concerned, 
comparative happiness. " Happening to 
awake," said he, "just after daylight, and 
looking out of my hammock, I saw a man 
sitting upon the arms-chest in the main 
hatchway, with a drawn cutlass in his 
hand." Being confused with the scene pre- 
sented on deck, and having heard two dif- 
ferent 'accounts of the object and intent 
of the chief actors in this deed of violence, 
Heywood remained awhile a silent spectator 
of all that was passing, until, with the best 
judgment which his youth and inexperience 
could supply on such an emergency, he de- 
cided to remain in the ship. Afterwards, on 
his trial, he expressed a hope, that he might 
be reckoned among the friends whom Bligh 
acknowledged he had left on board the 
Bounty. " Indeed," said Heywood, " from 
his attention to, and very kind treatment 
of me, I should have been a monster of 
depravity to have betrayed him." 
