tion Dock, the Court then proceeded to try him for piracy,
which seems to have been a superfluous and unnecessary pother. Kidd
declared, when this second trial began:

"It is vain to ask any questions. It is hard that the life of one of
the King's subjects should be taken away upon the perjured oaths of
such villains as these (Bradingham and Palmer). Because I would not
yield to their wishes and turn pirate, they now endeavor to prove I was
one. Bradingham is saving his life to take away mine."

The Crown proved the capture of the two ships belonging to the Great
Mogul, and an East Indian merchant, representing the merchants,
testified as to the value of the lading and the regularity of the
ship's papers. Kidd challenged this evidence, and once more pleaded
with the Court that he be allowed to bring forward the French passes.
He asserted that the _Quedah Merchant_ had a French Commission, and
that her master was a tavern keeper of Surat. That he told the truth,
the accompanying photograph of the said document bears belated witness.
The Lord Chief Baron put his finger on the weak point of the case by
asking to know why Kidd had not taken the ship to port to be lawfully
condemned as a prize, as demanded by the terms of his commission from
the King. To this Kidd replied that his crew were mutinous, and the
_Adventure Galley_ unseaworthy, for which reasons he made for the
nearest harbor of Madagascar. There his men, to the number of ninety
odd, mutinied and went over to the pirate Culliford in the _Mocha
Frigate_. He was left short-handed, his own ship was unfit to take to
sea, so he burned her, and transferred to the _Quedah Merchant_, after
which he steered straight for Boston to deliver her prize to Lord
Bellomont, which he would have done had he not learned in the West
Indies that he had been proclaimed a pirate.

Edward Davis, mariner, confirmed the statement regarding the French
passes, in these words:

"I came home a passenger from Madagascar and from thence to Amboyna,
and there he (Kidd) sent his boat ashore, and there was one that said
Captain Kidd was published a pirate in England, and Captain Kidd gave
those passes to him to read. The Captain said they were French passes."

_Kidd_. "You heard that one, Captain Elms, say they were French
passes?"

_Davis_. "Yes, I heard Captain Elms say they were French passes."

_Mr. Baron Hatsell_. "Have you any more to say, Captain Kidd?"

_Kidd_. "I hav