He never referred to Van Luck, whom he seemed to have
wiped from the slate of his recollection, nor did he again allude to
the mutiny. Once, when I touched upon it, he had cut me short, and I
could see from his manner that all reference to it must henceforth be
taboo. But I could not help sometimes recalling the picture of the boat
with the solitary man on board of her, drifting upon the grey waste of
sea, and I often wondered if Dirk Hartog had been able to obliterate
that picture from his mind.
We now once more sailed in familiar waters, and passed many vessels as
we neared home, where we arrived, without mishap, towards the end of
the year 1620, after an absence of nearly five years, which was not
regarded at that time as a voyage of unusual duration.
CHAPTER X
I EMBARK ON A SECOND VOYAGE
On my arrival at Amsterdam I obtained leave from my master, De Decker,
to visit my parents, and was received by them at my home at Urk with a
great show of affection, which, however, I found to be somewhat
lessened when it was known I had come back with empty pockets. My
father urged me to give up the sea, and to stick more closely to the
business of a merchant at Amsterdam, for which my education had fitted
me, and my mother extorted from me a half-willing promise that I would
follow my father's advice.
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