s no doubt that he sold Culliford cannon
and munitions and received him in his cabin. On the other hand, Kidd
declared that he would have attacked the pirate but he was overpowered
by his mutinous crew who caroused with Culliford's rogues and were
wholly out of hand. And Kidd's story is lent the color of truth by the
fact that ninety-five of his men deserted to join the _Mocha Frigate_
of Culliford and sail with him under the Jolly Roger. It is fair to
assume that if William Kidd had been the successful pirate he is
portrayed, his own rascals would have stayed with him in the _Quedah
Merchant_ which was a large and splendidly armed and equipped ship of
between four and five hundred tons.

Abandoned by two-thirds of his crew, and unable to find trustworthy men
to fill their places, Kidd was in sore straits and decided to sail for
home and square accounts with Bellomont, trusting to his powerful
friends to keep him out of trouble. In the meantime, the Great Mogul
and the English East India Company had made vigorous complaint and Kidd
was proclaimed a pirate. The royal pardon was offered all pirates that
should repent of their sins, barring Kidd who was particularly excepted
by name. Many a villain whose hands were red with the slaughter of
ships' crews was thus officially forgiven, while Kidd who had killed no
man barring that mutineer, the gunner, William Moore, was hunted in
every sea, with a price on his head.

On April 1, 1699, after an absence of almost two years, Kidd arrived at
Anguilla,[4] his first port of call in the West Indies, and went ashore
to buy provisions. There he learned, to his consternation, that he had
been officially declared a pirate and stood in peril of his life. The
people refused to have any dealings with him, and he sailed to St.
Thomas, and thence to Curacoa where he was able to get supplies through
the friendship of an English merchant of Antigua, Henry Bolton by name,
who was not hampered by scruples or fear of the authorities. Under
date of February 3, the Governor of Barbadoes had written to Mr.
Vernon, Secretary of the Lords of the Council of Trade and Plantations
in London:

"I received Yours of the 23rd. of November in relation to the
apprehending your notorious Pyrat Kidd. He has not been heard of in
these Seas of late, nor do I believe he will think it safe to venture
himself here, where his Villainies are so well known; but if he does,
all the dilligence and applicatio