that they could not make any attempt upon us, though they

had known we were there.

We took this advantage, and stood away for Carthagena, and from thence with great difficulty beat it up at a distance from under the shore of St. Martha, till we came to the Dutch island of Curasoe, and from thence to the island of Tobago; which, as before, was our rendezvous; and it being a deserted, uninhabited island, we at the same time made use of it for a retreat: here the captain of the brigantine died, and Captain Harris, at that time my lieutenant, took the command of the brigantine.

Here we came to a resolution to go away to the coast of Brazil, and from thence to the Cape of Good Hope, and so for the East Indies: but Captain Harris, as I have said, being now captain of the brigantine, alleged that his ship was too small for so long a voyage; but that, if Captain Wilmot would consent, he would take the hazard of another cruise, and he would follow us in the first ship he could take : so we appointed our rendezvous to be at Madagascar, which was done by my recommendation of the place, and the plenty of provisions to be had there.

Accordingly he went away from us in an evil hour; for, instead of taking a ship to follow us, he was taken, as I heard afterwards, by an English man-of-war, and being laid in irons, died of mere grief and anger before he came to England. His lieutenant, I have heard, was afterwards executed in England for a pirate, and this was the end of the man who first brought me into this unhappy trade.

We parted from Tobago three days after, bending our course for the coast of Brazil, but had not been at sea above twenty-four hours, when we were separated by a terrible storm, which held three days, with very little abatement or intermission. In this juncture, Captain Wilmot happened unluckily to be on board my ship, very much to his mortification; for we not only lost sight of his ship, but never saw her more till we came to Madagascar, where she was cast away. In short, after having in this tempest lost our foretop-mast, we were forced to put back to the isle of Tobago for shelter, and to repair our damage, which brought us all very near our destruction.

We were no sooner on shore here, and all very busy looking out for a piece of timber for a top-mast, but we perceived,

standing in for the shore, an English man-of-war of thirtysix guns it was a great surprise to us indeed, because we were disabled so much; but to our great good fortune, we lay pretty snug and close among the high rocks, and the man-of-war did not see us, but stood off again upon his cruise so we only observed which way she went, and at night, leaving our work, resolved to stand off to sea, steering the contrary way from that which we observed she went; and this we found had the desired success, for we saw him no more. We had gotten an old mizen top-mast on board, which made us a jury fore-top-mast for the present; and so we stood away for the isle of Trinidad, where, though there were Spaniards on shore, yet we landed some men with our boat, and cut a very good piece of fir to make us a new topmast, which we got fitted up effectually; and also we got some cattle here to eke out our provisions; and, calling a council of war among ourselves, we resolved to quit those seas for the present, and steer away for the coast of Brazil.

The first thing we attempted here, was only getting fresh water: but we learnt, that there lay the Portuguese fleet at the bay of All-Saints, bound for Lisbon, ready to sail, and only waiting for a fair wind. This made us lie by, wishing to see them put to sea, and accordingly as they were, with or without convoy, to attack or avoid them.

It sprung up a fresh gale in the evening, at S.W. by W., which, being fair for the Portugal fleet, and the weather pleasant and agreeable, we heard the signal given to unmoor, and, running in under the island of Si- we hauled our main-sail and fore-sail up in the brails, lowered the top-sail upon the cap, and clewed them up, that we might lie as snug as we could, expecting their coming out, and the next morning saw the whole fleet come out accordingly, but not at all to our satisfaction, for they consisted of twenty-six sail, and most of them ships of force as well as burthen, both merchantmen and men-of-war; so, seeing there was no meddling, we lay still where we were also, till the fleet was out of sight, and then stood off and on, in hopes of meeting with further purchase.

It was not long before we saw a sail, and immediately gave her chase; but she proved an excellent sailer, and, standing out to sea, we saw plainly she trusted to her heels that is to say, to her sails. However, as we were a clean

ship, we gained upon her, though slowly, and, had we had a day before us, we should certainly have come up with her; but it grew dark apace, and in that case we knew we should lose sight of her.

Our merry quaker, perceiving us to crowd still after her in the dark, wherein we could not see which way she went, came very drily to me: Friend Singleton, says he, dost thee know what we are doing? Says I, Yes, why we are chasing yon ship, are we not? And how dost thou know that? says he, very gravely still. Nay, that's true, says I again, we cannot be sure. Yes, friend, says he, I think we may be sure that we are running away from her-not chasing her. I am afraid, adds he, thou art turned quaker, and hast resolved not to use the hand of power, or art a coward, and art flying from thy enemy.

What do you mean? says I (I think I swore at him); what do ye sneer at now: you have always one dry rub or another to give us.

Nay, says he, it is plain enough the ship stood off to sea due east, on purpose to lose us, and thou mayest be sure her business does not lie that way; for what should she do at the coast of Africa in this latitude, which should be as far south as Congo or Angola? But as soon as it is dark, that we shall lose sight of her, she will tack, and stand away west again for the Brazil coast, and for the bay, where, thou knowest, she was going before; and are we not then running away from her? I am greatly in hopes, friend, says the dry gibing creature, thou wilt turn quaker, for I see thou art not for fighting.

Very well, William, says I, then I shall make an excellent pirate. However, William was in the right, and I apprehended what he meant immediately; and Captain Wilmot, who lay very sick in his cabin, overhearing us, understood him as well as I, and called out to me that William was right, and it was our best way to change our course, and stand away for the bay, where it was ten to one but we should snap her in the morning.

Accordingly, we went about ship, got our larboard tacks on board, set the top-gallant sails, and crowded for the bay of All-Saints, where we came to an anchor, early in the morning, just out of gun-shot of the forts. We furled our sails with rope-yarns, that we might haul home the sheets

BOARD AND PLUNDER A VESSEL.

135

without going up to loose them, and, lowering our main and fore-yards, looked just as if we had lain there a good while. In two hours after we saw our game standing in for the bay with all the sail she could make, and she came innocently into our very mouths, for we lay still till we saw her almost within gun-shot, when our fore-mast geers being stretched fore and aft, we first ran up our yards, and then hauled home the top-sail sheets; the rope-yarns that furled them giving way of themselves, the sails were set in a few minutes; at the same time slipping our cable, we came upon her before she could get under way upon the other tack. They were so surprised that they made little or no resistance, but struck after the first broadside.

We were considering what to do with her, when William came to me: Hark thee, friend, says he, thou hast made a fine piece of work of it now, hast thou not? To borrow thy neighbour's ship here just at thy neighbour's door, and never ask him leave. Now, dost thou not think there are some men-of-war in the port? Thou hast given them the alarm sufficiently; thou wilt have them upon thy back before night, depend upon it, to ask thee wherefore thou didst so.

Truly, William, said I, for ought I know, that may be true. What, then, shall we do next? Says he, Thou hast but two things to do, either to go in and take all the rest, or else get thee gone before they come out and take thee; for I see they are hoisting a top-mast to yon great ship, in order to put to sea immediately, and they won't be long before they come to talk with thee; and what wilt thou say to them when they ask thee why thou borrowest their ship without leave?

As William said, so it was: we could see by our glasses they were all in a hurry, manning and fitting some sloops they had there, and a large man-of-war, and it was plain they would soon be with us; but we were not at a loss what to do. We found the ship we had taken was loaden with nothing considerable for our purpose, except some cocoa, some sugar, and twenty barrels of flour; the rest of her loading was hides; so we took out all we thought for our turn, and, among the rest, all her ammunition, great shot, and small arms, and turned her off; we also took a cable and three anchors she had, which were for our purpose, and

some of her sails. She had enough left just to carry her into port, and that was all.

CHAPTER XI.

ACCOUNT OF WILLIAM'S GALLANT BEHAVIOUR IN AN ACTION WITH A PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR-WE TAKE THE SHIP -FALL IN WITH A VESSEL FULL OF NEGROES, WHO HAD MURDERED THE OFFICERS AND CREW THE NEGROES'

ACCOUNT OF THE TRANSACTION.

HAVING done this, we stood on upon the Brazil coast, southward, till we came to the mouth of the river Janeiro: but, as we had two days the wind blowing hard at S.E and S.S.E., we were obliged to come to an anchor under a little island, and wait for a wind. In this time, the Portuguese had, it seems, given notice over land to the governor there, that a pirate was upon the coast; so that, when we came in view of the port, we saw two men-of-war riding just without the bar, whereof one we found was getting under sail with all possible speed, having slipt her cable, on purpose to speak with us; the other was not so forward, but was preparing to follow; in less than an hour they stood both fair after us, with all the sail they could make.

Had not the night come on, William's words had been made good; they would certainly have asked us the question, what we did there? for we found the foremost ship gained upon us, especially upon one tack; for we plied away from them to windward; but in the dark losing sight of them, we resolved to change our course, and stand away directly to sea, not doubting but we should lose them in the night.

Whether the Portuguese commander guessed we would do so or no, I know not; but in the morning, when the daylight appeared, instead of having lost him, we found him in chase of us, about a league astern; only, to our great good fortune, we could see but one of the two; however, this one was a great ship, carried six and forty guns, and an admirable sailer, as appeared by her outsailing us; for our ship was an excellent sailer too, as I have said before.

When I found this, I easily saw there was no remedy, but