Despite the apparent liking that the slaver had shown for him, Robert never doubted his character.

Here was a man to whom the violent contrasts and violent life of the West Indian seas appealed.

He wondered what was the present mission of the schooner, and he thought of the bronze eighteen-pounder, and of the dirks and pistols in the belts of the crew.
"I prefer the north," he said.

"It's cooler there and people are more nearly even, in temper and life." "Your life there has been in peril many times from the Indians." "That's true, but I understand the Indians.

Those who are my friends are my friends, and those who are my enemies are my enemies.