w doubloons, thank Heaven."

About an hour afterwards, it being much more moderate, the captain of
the brig told us to sheer alongside, and that four of us might come
out and the others remain in the boat till she was cleared.

"I think you had better go," said I to the captain, "for with so much
motion I never shall be able to get up the side with my bad knee."

We then sheered the boat alongside, and the captain and three of our
men got on board, but not without difficulty. I saw them go aft and
down below with the captain of the brig, but I never saw them on deck
again, much to my surprise, although we were more than half an hour
before they again hailed us, and told us to come alongside again.
During this half-hour my mind misgave me sadly that all was not right,
from not seeing the Portuguese captain, or either of the three men,
and I took it into my head that the vessel was a pirate; and I knew if
such was the case, we should instantly be rifled, if not murdered. I
took the precaution of taking off the bandage from my knee, and having
removed the diamond from my neck, I put it under my ham in the cavity,
which held it with ease, and then put the bandage on again over it, as
I thought they would hardly take a bandage off a bad knee to see if
there was any thing concealed beneath it. It was with difficulty that
I contrived to get on board the brig, and as soon as I had gained the
deck, I was ordered to go down into the cabin; as I went aft, I looked
round for the Portuguese captain and the men, but could not see them.
I contrived, with difficulty, to get down into the cabin, and as soon
as I was there I was seized by the arms and held fast by two of the
men, while others bound me with seizings.

As the captain was looking on, I inquired into the cause of this
outrage. He replied, that we were a parcel of rascally pirates, who
would have taken his vessel if he had not been too deep for us; I told
him it was false, and that I could easily prove it, as we still had
the despatches on board with which we had been charged, and that I
could show full proof that I was the same person that I stated myself
to be; that I very much feared that we had fallen into the hands of
pirates ourselves, but that I would have justice done as soon as we
arrived at James Town, without he intended to murder us all before we
arrived. His answer was, that he was too old a bird to be caught with
such chaff, and that he would secure us and de