eformed pirates,
and no sooner was the sloop out of sight of land than they mutinied and
seized the vessel, Davis being voted captain, on which occasion, over a
bowl of punch in the great cabin, the new captain made an eloquent speech,
finishing by declaring war against the whole world. Davis proved himself
an enterprising and successful pirate chief, but preferred, whenever
possible, to use strategy and cunning rather than force to gain his ends.
His first prize was a big French ship, which, although Davis had only a
small sloop and a crew of but thirty-five men, he managed to take by a
bold and clever trick. After taking a few more ships in the West Indies,
Davies sailed across the Atlantic to the Island of St. Nicholas in the
Cape Verde Islands. Here he and his crew were a great social success,
spending weeks on shore as the guests of the Governor and chief
inhabitants. When Davis reluctantly left this delightful spot, five of his
crew were missing, "being so charmed with the Luxuries of the Place, and
the Conversation of some Women, that they stayed behind."

Davis now went cruising and took a number of vessels, and arrived
eventually at St. Jago. The Portuguese Governor of this island did not
take at all kindly to his bold visitor, and was blunt enough to say he
suspected Davis of being a pirate. This suspicion his crew took exception
to, and they decided they could not let such an insult pass, so that very
night they made a sudden attack on the fort, taking and plundering it.

Davis sailed away next morning to the coast and anchored off the Castle of
Gambia, which was strongly held for the African Company by the Governor
and a garrison of English soldiers. Davis, nothing daunted, proposed to
his merry men a bold and ingenious stratagem by which they could take the
castle, and, the crew agreeing, it was carried out with so much success
that they soon had the castle, Governor, and soldiers in their possession,
as well as a rich spoil of bars of gold; and all these without a solitary
casualty on either side. After this brilliant coup, many of the soldiers
joined the pirates. The pirates were attacked shortly afterwards by a
French ship commanded by Captain La Bouse, but on both ships hoisting
their colours, the Jolly Roger, they understood each other and
fraternized, and then sailed together to Sierra Leone, where they attacked
a tall ship they found lying there at anchor. This ship also proved to be
a pirate, comman