hat he wanted; he answered,
'To kill me, for I was a vile dog.' Then Griffin bade the boatswain keep
his distance, or he would cleave his head asunder with his broadsword.
Nevertheless, the bloodthirsty villain came on to kill me; but Mr.
Griffin struck at him with his sword, from which he had a narrow escape;
and then he ran away. So I lay unmolested till daylight.

[Illustration]

I come now to relate how Mr. Simon Jones, my first mate, and ten of my
men entered with the pirates. The morning after we were taken he came to
me and told me that his circumstances were bad at home; moreover, he had
a wife whom he could not love; and for these reasons he had entered
with the pirates and signed their articles. I was greatly surprised at
this declaration, and told him I believed he would repent when too late.
And, indeed, I saw the poor man afterwards despised by his brethren in
iniquity, and have been told he died a few months after they left Sierra
Leone. However, I must do him the justice to own he never showed any
disrespect to me, and the ten people he persuaded to enter with him
remained very civil to me. But I learned afterwards from one of them
that, before we came to Sierra Leone, Jones had said that he hoped we
should meet with pirates, and that it was by his contrivance that the
chest of arms was hid out of the way when we were taken. And when I
called on the people in the steerage to fire on the pirate boat, Jones
prevented them, declaring that this was an opportunity he had long
wished for, and that if they fired a musket they would all be cut to
pieces. Moreover, to induce them to enter with the pirates, he had
assured them that I had promised to enter myself. So it was a wonder I
escaped so well, having such a base wretch for my first officer.

As soon as the fumes of the liquor were out of the pirates' heads they
went on board the prize, as they called my ship, and all hands went to
work to clear it, by throwing over bales of woollen goods, with many
other things of great value, so that before night they had destroyed
between three and four thousand pounds worth of the cargo--money and
necessaries being what they wanted. The sight of this much grieved me,
but I was obliged in prudence to be silent.

That afternoon there came on board to see me Captain Henry Glynn, with
whom I was acquainted, who resided at Sierra Leone, but though an
honest, generous person, was on good terms with the pirates. He brought
w