Heywood recoiled his own hand circled Graham's wrist as if in an instant thinking to strike out or wrench away. but some base instinct warned him otherwise. He stared back along Graham's arm into black eyes that seemed stillborn of any compassion. Heyood slumped and the tense moment died as its purpose was achieved. Graham released his hold. "What happened.? Your life may well depend on the information so hide nothing—and I warn you I want no prevarication."          Heywood swallowed, his pulse still drumming, "Where will I start?"          "At the beginning."          "First we were sent us ashore with the botanist David Nelson to set up a camp; some others of the crew helped us. We used nails and timber to make some shelters for the plants and then we built a small settlement on Point Venus.

         Mr Bligh told me my job was to make a dictionary of the language and to help Christian collect the bread fruit plants..."
         "I know all that, get on with it."
         Heywood looked even more alarmed, his palms sweated as he clenched and unclenched his hands, "Sir, please, no one can understand ... its impossible to explain ... the incredible beauty and availability of the women. Every day I would see what I thought the most beautiful girl in the world, and I knew I could have her, just by bending my finger."
         Heywood let the words tumble out, his embarrassment dying as surely as his innocence melted in passion's furnace on Tahiti. "I would send one back to my quarters to wait for me ... but before I returned I would discover another ... and there was no shame, no jealousy, no guilt. There were women waiting for me everywhere, all making themselves immediately available. My body was being bathed, massaged, kneaded, fed for one purpose only, and that was not to collect bread fruit or discover new words for my dictionary." His confession had gained its own momentum. Graham, aware of this, got up and deliberately turned his back. Heywood looked alarmed. It made him want to be bolder. "Sometimes at night I would wake up with two women in my bed ... their skin smelling of scented coconut oil. It was the same for Fletcher. We enjoyed the widest variety of women; some tiny, some huge, some thin and tall, some short and fat, some thirteen or fourteen some thirty or forty. The older ones taught us many things I never imagined I could – or should do; there was no obligation, no price to pay. There were so many different things to experience that time itself became incidental."
         Graham wondered at the magnetism of the place that caused such similar reactions in two such widely different characters as Banks and Heywood. Both had little difficulty transporting themselves back there in time—as if it were the present that were the unreality. Meanwhile Heywood was still blurting....
         "I felt I must experience everything and so did Fletcher.. It was an obsession—it is so difficult to explain—we both wanted something novel, something new every day. My life span seemed compressed, a wasted hour became a crime against experience; against life itself," he suddenly remembered Graham's presence and became alarmed—but by himself; at his own words.His shoulders hunched.
         Graham turned back and addressed the top of Heywood's bent head. "So, the pox?"
         "That happened in December," sighed Heywood. His imagination coming firmly back to his chains and to Graham. "About the 28th after the ship was moved to Oparre ... you see there was this one girl ... she found us one day just after we arrived. She was not particularly beautiful but was extremely—you know—and we were bored, she wanted us both."
         "Extremely what?"
         "Ah ... wanton, yes wanton!"
         "Wanton?"
         "Yes sir. You must understand the Tahitian girls sir—they make no judgments when it comes to intercourse."
         "Did you?"
         His head dropped, "No ...but"
         "Well?"
         "The girl .. she was a 'fire ship' and we both had pus two and a half days later." He raised his head slightly, embarrased and pleading for a reaction from Graham. He got none of course and added flornly. "Well that Mr Graham was how we caught the pox...." his voice tailed off again.
         "How did Lieutenant Bligh react when you reported for treatment?"
         "He wasn't there Mr Graham but three weeks later we heard that when he examined the book he asked the surgeon if we were treated on the same day. He was very angry he had not been informed and he hardly spoke to us from then on ... and when I delivered my reports he just took them without a word."