At such times, he made us keep guard over him both night and day, armed with cutlasses and pistols, being apparently afraid to trust any of his own men. At one time, it was a general revolt of his people that he apprehended; then three of his principal chiefs, among whom was his elder brother, had conspired to take away his life; and at length he fancied that a small party of Klaooquates, between whom and the Nootkians little friendship subsisted, had come to Nootka, under a pretence of trade, for the sole purpose of murdering him and his family, telling us, probably to sharpen our vigilance, that their intention was to kill us likewise; and so strongly were his fears excited on this occasion, that he not only ordered us to keep near him armed by day, whenever he went out, and to patrol at night before his house while they remained, but to continue the same guard for three days after they were gone, and to fire, at one and at four in the morning, one of the great guns, to let them know, if, as he suspected, they were lurking in the neighbourhood, that he was on his guard.
While he was thus favourably disposed towards us, I took an opportunity to inform him of the ill-treatment that we frequently received from his people, and the insults that were offered us by some of the stranger tribes in calling us white slaves, and loading us with other opprobrious terms. He was much displeased, and said that his subjects should not be allowed to treat us ill, and that if any of the strangers did it, he wished us to punish the offenders with death, at the same time directing us, for our security, to go constantly armed.
This permission was soon improved by Thompson to the best advantage; for a few days after, having gone to the pond to wash some of our clothes, and a blanket for Maquina, several Wickinninish who were then at Nootka came thither, and, seeing him washing the clothes, and the blanket spread upon the grass to dry, they began, according to custom, to insult him, and one of them, bolder than the others, walked over the blanket. Thompson was highly incensed, and threatened the Indian with death if he repeated the offence, but he, in contempt of the threat, trampled upon the blanket, when, drawing his cutlass, without further ceremony, Thompson cut off his head, on seeing which the others ran off at full speed. Thompson then, gathering up the clothes and blanket, on which were the marks of the Indian's dirty feet, and taking with him the head, returned and informed the king of what had passed, who was much pleased, and highly commended his conduct. This had a favourable effect for us, not only on the stranger tribes but the inhabitants themselves, who treated us afterwards with less disrespect.