t of
William.

When the news reached King James, in France, he sent a ship, laden with
provisions and stores of all kinds, and two boats, one of them carrying
two light guns. The Whigs established a force on the shore opposite, and
their boats cruised about to intercept supplies, but in this they
failed, the Cavaliers being too quick and artful to be caught easily.

On August 15, however, the enemy seized the large boat at night. Now
Ardmillan and Middleton were absent in search of supplies, and, being
without their leader, Roy and Dunbar thought of surrendering. But just
as they were about signing articles of surrender, Middleton returned
with a large boat and plenty of provisions, and he ran his boat under
the guns of his fort, whence he laughed at the enemies of his king.
Dunbar, however, who was on shore engaged in the business of the
surrender, was held as a prisoner. The Whigs were not much nearer taking
the Bass. On September 3 they sent a sergeant and a drummer to offer a
free pardon to the Cavaliers. They were allowed to land on the rock, but
Middleton merely laughed at the promise of a free pardon, and he kept
the sergeant and drummer, whom he afterwards released. A Danish ship,
sailing between the Bass and shore, had a gun fired across her bows, and
was made prize of; they took out everything that they needed, and then
let her go.

The Cavaliers lived a gay life: they had sheep on the Bass, plenty of
water, meat, biscuits, beer and wine. Cruising in their boats they
captured several ships, supplied themselves with what they wanted, and
held the ships themselves to ransom. When food ran short they made raids
on the shore, lifted cattle, and, generally, made war support war.

The government of the Prince of Orange was driven beyond its patience,
and vowed that the Bass should be taken, if it cost all the revenue of
the country. But Middleton had plenty of powder, he had carefully
collected more than five hundred balls fired at his fort by the English,
and he calmly awaited the arrival of hostile men-of-war. The 'Sheerness'
(Captain Roope) and the 'London Merchant' (Captain Orton) were sent with
orders to bombard the Bass and destroy the fort. After two days of heavy
firing, these vessels had lost a number of men, their rigging was cut to
pieces, and the ships were so damaged that they were glad to slink off
to harbour.

A close watch was now set, the 'Lion' (Captain Burd), a dogger of six
guns, and a long