thick, that it was unpaffable in any part of it, but at that one fide where I had referved my little winding paffage into it: this I told him was my caftle, and my refidence; but that I had a feat in the country, as most princes have, whither I could retreat upon occafion, and I would fhew him that too another time; but at present our business was to confider how to recover the ship: he agreed with me as to that; but told me, he was perfectly at a loss what measure to take; for that there were still fix and twenty hands on board, who having entered into a curfed confpiracy, by which they had all forfeited their lives to the law, would be hardened in it now by defperation; and would carry it on, knowing that if they were reduced, they should be brought to the gallows as foon as they came to England, or to any of the English colonies; and that therefore there would be no attacking them with so small a number as we were.

I mufed for fome time upon what he had faid, and found it was a very rational conclufion, and that therefore fomething was to be refolved on very fpeedily, as well to draw the men on board into fome fnare for their furprize, as to prevent their landing upon us, and deftroying us upon this it prefently occurred to me, that in a little while, the fhip's crew, wondering what was become of their comrades, and of the boat, would certainly come on fhore in their other boat to fee for them; and that then perhaps they might come armed, and be too ftrong for us: this, he allowed, was rational.

Upon this I told him, the first thing we had to do, was to ftave the boat, which lay upon the beach, so that they might not carry her off; and, taking every thing out of her, leave her fo far ufelefs as not to be fit to swim; accordingly we went on board, took the arms which were left on board out of her, and whatever elfe we found there, which was a bottle of brandy, and another of rum, a few bifcuit-cakes, an horn of powder, and a great lump of fugar in a piece of canvas; the fugar was five or fix pounds; all which was very welcome to me, efpecially the brandy and fugar, of which I had had none left for many years.

When we had carried all these things on fhore (the oars, mast, fail, and rudder of the boat, were carried

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away

away before, as above) we knocked a great hole in her bottom, that if they had come strong enough to master us, yet they could not carry off the boat.

view was,

Indeed it was not much in my thoughts, that we could be capable to recover the ship; but my that if they went away without the boat, I did not much queftion to make her fit again to carry us away to the Leeward iflands, and call upon our friends the Spaniards in my way, for I had them still in my thoughts.

While we were thus preparing our defigns, and had fift, by main ftrength, heaved the boat up upon the beach, fo high that the tide would not float her off at high-water mark; and, befides, had broken an hole in her bottom, too big to be quickly stopped, and were fat down mufing what we fhould do; we heard the ship fire a gun, and faw her make a waft with her ancient, as a fignal for the boat to come on board; but no boat stirred; and they fired feveral times, making other fignals for the boat.

At laft, when all their fignals and firings proved fruitlefs, and they found the boat did not ftir, we saw them (by the help of our glaffes) hoift another boat out, and row towards the fhore; and we found as they approached, that there were no less than ten men in her, and that they had fire arms with them.

As the fhip lay almost two leagues from the fhore, we had a full view of them as they came, and a plain fight of the men, even of their faces; because the tide having fet them a little to the east of the other boat, they rowed up under fhore, to come to the fame place where the other had landed, and where the boat lay.

By this means, I fay, we had a full view of them, and the captain knew the perfons and characters of all the men in the boat; of whom he faid that there were three very honeft fellows, who, he was fure, were led into this confpiracy by the reft, being overpowered and frighted.

But that for the boatfwain, who, it seems, was the chief officer among them, and all the reft, they were as outrageous as any of the hip's crew; and were, no doubt, made defperate in their new enterprize; and terribly apprehenfive he was, that they would be too powerful for us.

I fmiled

I fmiled at him, and told him, that men in our circumstances were paft the operations of fear: that feeing almost every condition that could be was better than that we were fuppofed to be in,we ought to expect, that the confequence, whether death or life, would be fure to be a de-. liverance; I asked him, what he thought of the circumftan-. ces of my life, and whether a deliverance were not worth venturing for. And where, fir, faid I, is your belief of my being preferved here on purpose to fave your life, which elevated you a little while ago? For my part, faid I, there feems to be but one thing amifs in all the profpect of it. What's that? fays he. Why, faid I, 'tis that, as you fay, there are three or four honeft fellows among them, which fhould be fpared; had they been all of the wicked part of the crew, I fhould have thought God's providence had fingled them out to deliver them into your hands; for depend upon it, every man of them that comes afhore, are our own, and fhall die or live, as they behave to us.

As I fpoke this with a raised voice, and chearfun countenance, I found it greatly encouraged him; fo we fet vigorously to our bufinefs: we had, upon the first appearance of the boat's coming from the fhip, confidered of feparating our prifoners, and had indeed fecured them effectually.

Two of them, of whom the captain was lefs affured than ordinary, I fent with Friday,and one of the three (delivered men) to my cave, where they were remote enough, and out of danger of being heard or discovered, or of finding their way out of the woods, if they could have delivered themselves: here they left em bound, but gave 'em provifions, and promifed 'em, if they continued there quietly to give 'em their liberty in a day or two; but that if they attempted their efcape, they fhould be put to death without mercy. They promifed faithfully to bear their confinement with patience, and were very thankful that they had fuch good ufage as to have provifions, and a light left 'em; for Friday gave 'em candles (fuch as we made ourfelves) for their comfort; and they did not know but that he ftood centinel over 'em at the entrance.

The other prifoners had better ufage; two of them were kept pinioned indeed, because the captain was not free to trust them; but the other two were taken into my

fervice upon their captain's recommendation, and upon their folemnly engaging to live and die with us; fo, with them and the three honeft men, we were feven men well armed; and I made no doubt we should be able to deal well enough with the ten that were a coming, confidering that the captain had faid, there were three or four honeft men among them alfo.

As foon as they got to the place where, their other boat lay, they ran their boat into the beach, and came all on fhore, hauling the boat up after them, which I was glad to fee; for I was afraid they would rather have left the boat at an anchor, fome diftance from the fhore, with fome hands in her to guard her; and so we should not be able to feize the boat.

Being on fhore, the first thing they did, they ran all to the other boat; and it was eafy to fee they were under a great furprise, to find her stripped, as above, of all that was in her, and a great hole in her bottom.

After they had mufed awhile upon this, they fet up two or three great shouts, hallooing with all their might, to try if they could make their companions hear; but all was to no purpose; then they came all clofe in a ring, and fired a volley of their fmall arms, which indeed we heard, and the echoes made the woods ring; but it was all one; thofe in the cave, we were fure, could not hear; and thofe in our keeping, though they heard it well enough, yet durft give no answer to them.

They were fo aftonished at the surprise of this, that, as they told us afterwards, they refolved to go all on board. again to their fhip, and let them know there, that the men were all murdered, and the long-boat ftaved; according, they immediately launched the boat again, and got all of them on board.

The captain was terribly amazed, and even confounded at this, believing they would go on board the fhip again, and fet fail, giving their comrades for loft, and fo he fhould ftill lofe the fhip, which he was in hopes we fhould have recovered; but he was ckly as much frighted the other way.

They had not been long put off with the boat, but we perceived them all coming on flore again; but with this new measure in their conduct, which, it feems, they con

fulted

fulted together upon; viz. to leave three men in the boat, and the reft to go on fhore, and go up into the country to look for their fellows.

This was a great difappointment to us; for now we were at a lofs what to do; for our feizing those seven men on fhore would be no advantage to us if we let the boat efcape because they would then row away to the ship; and then the rest of them would be fure to weigh, and set fail, and fo our recovering the fhip would be loft.

However, we had no remedy but to wait and see what the iffue of things might prefent: the feven men came on fhore, and the three who remained in the boat put her off to a good distance from the fhore, and came to an anchor to wait for them; so that it was impoffible for us to come at them in the boat.

Those that came on fhore kept close together, marching towards the top of the little hill, under which my habitation lay; and we could fee them plainly, tho' they could not perceive us: we could have been very glad they would have come nearer to us, fo that we might have fired at them; or that they would have gone farther off, that we might have come abroad.

But when they were come to the brow of the hill, where they could fee a great way in the valley and woods, which lay towards the north-eaft part, and where the island lay lowest, they flouted and hallooed till they were weary; and not caring, it seems, to venture far from the fhore, nor far from one another, they fat down together under a tree, to confider of it: had they thought fit to have gone to fleep there, as the other party of them had done, they had done the job for us; but they were too full of apprehenfions of danger, to venture to go to fleep, though they could not tell what the danger was they had to fear, neither.

The captain made a very just propofal to me upon this confultation of theirs; viz. that perhaps they would all fire a volley again, to endeavour to make their fellows hear, and that we fhould all fally upon them, juft at the juncture when their pieces were all difcharged, and they would certainly yield, and we fhould have them without bloodfhed; I liked the propofal, provided it was done while we were near enough

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