ed, to seize
the Royal Christopher and make a pirate ship of her, with himself for
her captain; and to that end he had manned the ship with men upon whom
he could rely, many of whom had been pirates before, all of whom were
willing to go to any lengths for the sake of plunder and pleasure. But
so long as our party were suspicious of him, and had arms in readiness
to shoot him and his down at the first show of treachery, it was plain
to a simpler man that his precious scheme stood every chance of coming
to smoke.

He guessed, therefore, that if we could be led to believe that he was
dead and done with our suspicions would be lulled, and he would be left
with a fair field to carry out his plan. To that end he devised a scheme
to befool us, and, having primed his party as to his purpose, he
carried it out with all success.

It was no man's body that went overboard on that night, but merely a
mighty beam of wood that one of Jensen's confederates cast over the
vessel's side just before he raised the cry of 'Man overboard!' Jensen
himself was snugly concealed in the innermost parts of the ship, where
he lay close, laughing in his sleeve at us and our credulity. After we
left he came out of his hole and made his way to Early Island, as agreed
upon with his companions, who, on his arrival, butchered the most of the
colonists.

One mystery was disposed of. So was the other mystery--how Jensen and
his men came to be so well-armed and so gaily attired. When our
expedition was preparing, Captain Marmaduke commissioned Jensen to buy a
store of all manner of agricultural and household implements and
utensils for the use of the young colony. Now, as such gear was not
likely to be of service to Jensen in his piracies, he was at pains to
serve his own ends while he pretended to obey the Captain's commands.

He had therefore made up and committed to the hold a quantity of cases
which professed to contain what the Captain had commanded. But never a
spade or pick, never a roasting-jack or flat-iron, never a string of
beads or a mirror for barter with natives was to be found in all those
boxes. If our colony had ever by any chance arrived at their goal they
would have found themselves in sore straits for the means of tilling the
earth and of cooking their food.

The boxes contained instead a great quantity of arms, such as muskets
and pistols and cutlasses, together with abundance of ammunition in the
shape of powder, bullets and shot