IN PERILS BY SEA. 
153 
Mary luckily had her waterproof on, and so kept her 
shoulders dry. My trousers were torn somehow, and 
my waistcoat fell overboard, so that I landed in Mada¬ 
gascar with a coat, a shirt, and a pair of shoes and socks.” 
The crew of the Indiaman already referred to 
were fortunate enough to reach the shore, and 
were kindly received by the natives of the south 
coast. One of these w r as Robert Drury, the son 
of a London inn-keeper, about whom something 
has already been said in a former chapter. For 
some months everything went on pleasantly, and 
the wants of the white strangers were anticipated 
and generously supplied in every respect. In 
fact, so kind was the treatment Drury and his 
companions in misfortune received on all sides, 
that they began to suspect the natives of a design 
to secure their goodwill, and then ultimately 
reduce them to slavery. The crew therefore 
arranged a plan of attack, and, suddenly turning 
upon their hosts, made the chief of them a 
prisoner. The white men were, however, quickly* 
outnumbered, and the Malagasy began to treat 
them with great rigour. The foreigners soon 
fell sick for want of food and water, and from the 
constant assaults made upon them, and their 
numbers were at length reduced to two or three, 
about whose ultimate fate there has always been 
some degree of uncertainty. Drury, being then 
only a lad, was spared and made a slave. As he 
