"
But although I spoke hopefully I could see but little prospect of my
advancement at Amsterdam. My master, De Decker, the merchant, in whose
house I was employed, told me plainly that I need expect nothing more
than a clerkship so long as I remained in his service. His son, then a
boy at school, would inherit his business, and it might be many years
before I could hope to buy a partnership in it. De Decker's business at
this time, moreover, was not in a very flourishing condition. It
seemed, therefore, not improbable that I would lose my clerkship unless
it improved.
In these circumstances I was approached by Dirk Hartog some twelve
months after the return of the "Endraght", who offered to take me as
first officer on the "Arms of Amsterdam", a new vessel upon which he
was about to make a second voyage of discovery to the South.
"It is not because we met no luck with the 'Endraght' that there is
nothing to be gained, Peter," he said. "There is an island I have heard
of which, if we can strike it, will make us rich men. Nothing venture,
nothing win, and there is little prospect here for a man like you to
make money by quill-driving.
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