aft, was sorely puzzled to account for the success
of the Superior in avoiding the many traps that had been set by the
long-headed officers of the British ships on that station. By many it
was believed that the French captain had unlawful dealings with the
enemy of mankind, and for the pleasure of annoying the English, and the
gratification of filling his pockets with the spoils of the enemies of
France, had signed away his soul!

The company of men-of-war seemed to be no protection against capture by
this privateer. A fleet of merchantmen, convoyed by several armed ships,
would be intruded on during the night, and one or more of them captured
without alarm, and then rifled, and scuttled or burned. On one occasion,
after combined efforts had been made to capture the Superior, and it was
believed that vessel had been driven from those seas, a homeward bound
fleet of merchantmen, on the first night after leaving Antigua, was
approached by this privateer, and in the course of a couple of hours
three different ships, in different stations of the squadron, had
been captured, plundered, and fired by that indefatigable enemy of the
English.

At last, one after another, every French port in the islands was taken
by the British, and there was no longer a nook belonging to France to
which this privateer could resort for protection, supplies, or
repairs, It was furthermore rumored that this vessel was not regularly
commissioned; and that, if captured by an enemy, the officers and crew
to a man, and the captain more especially, would be hanged at the yard
arm, AS PIRATES, without any very formal process of law.

The privateer was by this time well laden with spoils, having on board,
in silks, specie, gums, and bullion, property to the amount of nearly a
million of dollars. One fine morning, a British sloop-of-war, cruising
between Nevis and St. Bartholomew, was astonished at beholding the
Superior, that "rascally French Privateer," as well known in those seas
as the Flying Dutchman off the Cape of Good Hope, come down from
the windward side of St. Bartholomew under easy sail, pass round the
southern point of the island, hoist the tri-colored flag, as if by
way of derision, and boldly enter the harbor belonging to the Swedish
government, and a neutral port.

It was not many hours before the sloop-of-war, having hauled her wind,
was off the harbor, lying off and on; and the captain, in full uniform,
his mouth filled with menaces