ast, only to find that some of the pirates
had got wind of her coming while others were gone a-cruising. From the
crew of a wrecked French ship, Kidd took enough gold to buy provisions
in a Malabar port. This deed was hardly generous, but by virtue of his
letters of marque Kidd was authorized to despoil a Frenchman wherever
he caught him.

After more futile cruising to and fro, Kidd fell from grace and crossed
the very tenuous line that divided privateering from piracy in his
century. His first unlawful capture was a small native vessel owned by
Aden merchants and commanded by one Parker, an Englishman, the mate
being a Portuguese. The plunder was no more than a bale or two of
pepper and coffee, and a few gold pieces. It was petty larceny
committed to quiet a turbulent crew and to pay operating expenses.
Parker made loud outcry ashore and a little later Kidd was overtaken by
a vengeful Portuguese man-of-war off the port of Carawar. The two
ships hammered each other with broad-sides and bow-chasers six hours on
end, when Kidd went his way with several men wounded.

Sundry other small craft were made to stand and deliver after this
without harm to their crews, but no treasure was lifted until Kidd
ventured to molest the shipping of the Great Mogul. That fabled
potentate of Asia whose empire had been found by Genghis Khan and
extended by Tamerlane, and whose gorgeous palaces were at Samarcand,
had a mighty commerce between the Red Sea and China, and his rich
freights also swelled the business of the English East India Company.
His ships were often convoyed by the English and the Dutch. It was
from two of these vessels that Kidd took his treasure and thus achieved
the brief career which rove the halter around his neck.

The first of these ships of the Great Mogul he looted and burned, and
to the second, the _Quedah Merchant_, he transferred his flag after
forsaking the leaky, unseaworthy _Adventure Galley_ on the Madagascar
coast. Out of this capture he took almost a half million dollars'
worth of gold, jewels, plate, silks, and other precious merchandise of
which his crew ran away with by far the greater share, leaving Kidd
with about one hundred thousand dollars in booty.

It was charged that while on this coast Kidd amicably consorted with a
very notorious pirate named Culliford, instead of blowing him out of
the water as he properly deserved. This was the most damning feature
of his indictment, and there i