CHAPTER XVIII.--1719-1727.

The South Sea Bubble -- Nation Catches the Fever of Speculation -- Strong Temptation for the Company -- Pricking of the Bubble -- Narrow Escape of the Adventurers -- Knight and his Expedition -- Anxiety as to their Fate -- Certainty of their Loss -- Burnet's Scheme to Cripple the French -- It Forces them Westward into Rupert's Land. 208