go with them, and leave him behind to
go back alone. I confess I was surprised with this news: a secret 
spread itself over my whole , which I cannot describe, and never
felt before or since; and I had no power, for a good while, to speak a
word to the old man; but at last I turned to him: "How do you know
this?" said I: "are you sure it is true?"--"Yes," he said, "I met this
morning in the street an old acquaintance of mine, an Armenian, or one
you call a Grecian, who is among them; he came last from Astracan, and
was designing to go to Tonquin; where I formerly knew him, but has
altered his mind, and is now resolved to go back with the caravan to
Moscow, and so down the river of Wolga to Astracan."--"Well, Seignior,"
said I, "do not be uneasy about being left to go back alone; if this be
a method for my return to England, it shall be your fault if you go back
to Macao at all." We then went to consult together what was to be done,
and I asked my partner what he thought of the