right at
us; the shot did not hit us, but it frightened our captain excessively--
for it flew directly over our heads. I verily believe, if we had not
stopped him, he would have let fly everything, and waited patiently to
be robbed and murdered. We caught hold of him, and urged him to be
calm, and that we might yet have a chance of escaping. The breeze
freshened, and we held on, and, though the stranger still continued to
overhaul us, he did not come up so fast as at first. Every instant,
too, it was growing dark; and as there was no moon shining, we hoped, by
hauling our wind, to slip away from him, if we could contrive to run on
without being hit till darkness had completely set in. He, however,
seemed in a hurry, and again yawing, let fly another shot at us; though
his gunnery was not particularly good--for he again missed us--it had
the effect of setting the Neapolitan master and his crew dancing like
madmen; they leaped and jumped, and twisted and turned, and tore their
hair, and prayed and swore, all in the same breath. They prayed for
themselves, and swore at their enemies, and at their own hard fate
should they be taken; for they all had a venture on board, I believe.
Though two shots had missed, it was not to be expected that all should
have such ill-luck, and accordingly, when the brig yawed a third time
and fired, down came our fore-topsail by the run. If the crew had been
in a fright before, when they were not hit, it must be supposed that
they were now in a complete paroxysm of terror; their first impulse was
to let fly all the tacks and sheets, and to jam down the helm, so as to
let the vessel fly up into the wind; their next was to rush below to put
on their best clothes, and the very little money they had in their
pockets, and then to fall to again at praying and beating their breasts.
Cowardly fools that they were; had they held on like men, as matters
turned out, we should have escaped being plundered at all. In ten
minutes after the last shot had created such confusion on board, a boat
pulled alongside, and a dozen fellows in Greek dresses jumped over the
bulwarks down upon our decks. We three, my sons and I, sat aft as
dignified as Turks, and as all the crew were below, there was not the
slightest show of resistance. Our countrymen--for such I am sorry to
say they were--seemed inclined to be civil to us, but vowed they would
punish the Neapolitans for making them expend the three shots, and t