CAPTURE OF THE "MORNING STAR." 



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most of the rest on the Morning Star may well be imagined; nor could the fears of the 

 former be allayed by the vain hopes which some expressed that the pirates would simply 

 plunder the vessel and then leave them. Vain hopes indeed, for the pirates commenced 

 cutting- right and left immediately they boarded. The villains were soon masters of the 

 decks. " Beaten, bleeding, terrified, the men lay huddled together in the hold, while 

 the pirates proceeded in their work of pillage and brutality. Every trunk was hauled 

 forth ; every portable article of value heaped for the plunder : money, plate, charts, nautical 

 instruments, and seven parcels of valuable jewels, which formed part of the cargo ; these 



were carried from below on the backs of those men whom the pirates selected to assist 

 them, and for two hours they were thus employed, during which time De Soto stood on his 

 own deck watching the operations, for the vessels were within a hundred yards of each other." 

 The scene in the cabin was one of unbridled license ; the passengers were stripped of their 

 clothes, while the females were locked up together in the round-house on deck. 



The steward was detained, to serve the pirates with wine and eatables, and their labours 

 being now concluded, they held high revel, preparatory to carrying out the diabolical orders 

 of their leader. A more terrible group of ruffians, the poor steward afterwards declared, 

 could not well be imagined. In one instance his life was in great jeopardy, when one 

 of the pirates demanded to know where the captain had kept his money. He might as 

 well have asked him to perform a miracle; but pleading the truth was of no use, and a 

 pistol was snapped at his breast, which, fortunately, missed fire. He re-cocked, and presented 

 it, when the weapon was struck aside by Barbazan, who possibly thought that the services 

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