CAPTAIN KIDD. 57 



Dutch, and Moorish vessels, convoyed by a vessel or vessels of war, in the fashion of those 

 days. The man at the masthead soon announced its approach, and Kidd, getting into 

 the midst of the vessels, fired briskly at a Moorish ship. Twe men-of-war, however, bore 

 down upon him, and knowing he was not a match for them, Kidd reluctantly put on all 

 sail, and ran away. Shortly afterwards he took a small vessel belonging to Moorish 

 owners, the master being an Englishman, whom he forced into his service as pilot. He 

 used the men brutally, having them hoisted by the arms and drubbed with a cutlass, to 

 find out whether or no any valuables were on board. As there was next to nothing to 

 be found, he seized some quantity of coffee and pepper, and let the vessel go. When he 

 touched shortly afterwards at a Moorish port, he found that he was suspected, and soon 

 after this he discovered that many places along the coast had become alarmed. A Por- 

 tuguese man-of-war was despatched after him, and met him; he fought her gallantly for 

 about six hours, when he again became convinced that prudence, in his case, was the better 

 part of valour, and made good his escape. 



Not long after this he encountered a Moorish vessel, having for master a Dutch 

 " schipper." Kidd chased her under French colours, and hailed her in the same language. 

 A Frenchman on board answered, when he was told, " you are the captain," meaning? 

 "} r ou must be." Kidd's reason for this was that he held, in addition to his commission 

 against pirates, one called a "commission of reprisal" against French vessels. At this 

 time he seems to have been almost doubtful as to his course of action, for while he took 

 the cargo of the last-named ship, he refused to attack a Dutch vessel which he met some 

 time afterwards. In this case there was almost a mutiny on board, a majority being in 

 favour of attack. Many threatened even to man a boat and seize her, which Kidd pre- 

 vented by swearing that if they did they would never come on board his ship again. His 

 gunner shortly afterwards reproached him with this matter, and said that he had ruined 

 them all. Kidd, whose career might have ended much sooner than it did, if the mutinous 

 ones had been so disposed, was equal to the emergency. Politely calling his gunner " a dog," 

 he raised a bucket and broke it over the unfortunate man's skull, who died a day after. 

 A Portuguese prize of tolerable value, containing Indian goods, jars of butter, bags of rice, 

 wax, &c., was taken shortly afterwards, and this put the crew in better humour, which 

 was vastly increased when he fell in with the Quieda Merchant, a richly-laden Moorish 

 ship of 400 tons, having for master an Englishman named Wright. Kidd chased her 

 under French colours, and took her without a struggle. There were hardly any Europeans 

 MI board, but there were a number of Armenian merchants. The pirate at first proposed 

 that they should pay a ransom, and that he would let them depart in peace. They offered 

 a sum something under 3,000, at which he laughed, and seized the vessel, selling the 

 irgo at various points, where he also left the crew. When the division of the spoil was 

 made, each man netted about 200, while his forty shares amounted to a total of 8,000. 

 In spite of these enormous gains he was not above cheating some poor natives shortly 

 afterwards, who up to that time had been accustomed to look upon even pirates as fail- 

 dealers in petty matters. 



With the Qnieda Merchant and Adventure he sailed once more for Madagascar, where 

 he, unfortunately for himself, met with some Englishmen who knew him. Among them 



