ere he
disposed of his loot. He then proceeded to New York, and, purposely
wrecking his vessel at Sandy Hook, landed in the guise of an honest
shipwrecked mariner.

Burgess settled down for a time to a well-earned rest, and married a
relative of his employer, Mr. Philips.

Philips sent him on two further voyages, both of which were run on
perfectly honest lines, and were most successful both to owner and
captain. But a later voyage had an unhappy ending. After successfully
trading with the pirates in Madagascar, Burgess was returning home,
carrying several pirates as passengers, who were returning to settle in
America, having made their fortunes. The ship was captured off the Cape of
Good Hope by an East Indiaman, and taken to Madras. Here the captain and
passengers were put in irons and sent to England to be tried. The case
against Burgess fell through, and he was liberated. Instead of at once
getting away, he loitered about London until one unlucky day he ran across
an old pirate associate called Culliford, on whose evidence Burgess was
again arrested, tried, and condemned to death, but pardoned at the last
moment by the Queen, through the intercession of the Bishop of London.
After a while he procured the post of mate in the _Neptune_, a Scotch
vessel, which was to go to Madagascar to trade liquors with the pirates
who had their headquarters in that delectable island. On arrival at
Madagascar a sudden hurricane swept down, dismasted the _Neptune_, and
sank two pirate ships. The chief pirate, Halsey, as usual, proved himself
a man of resource. Seeing that without a ship his activities were severely
restricted, he promptly, with the help of his faithful and willing crew,
seized the _Neptune_, this satisfactory state of affairs being largely
facilitated by the knowledge that the mate, Burgess, was all ripe to go on
the main chance once more. The first venture of this newly formed crew was
most successful, as they seized a ship, the _Greyhound_, which lay in the
bay, the owners of which had but the previous day bought--and paid for--a
valuable loading of merchandise from the pirates. This was now taken back
by the pirates, who, having refitted the _Neptune_, set forth seeking
fresh adventures and prizes. The further history of Burgess is one of
constant change and disappointment.

While serving under a Captain North, he was accused of betraying some of
his associates, and was robbed of all his hard-earned savings. For