494 PIRACY. 
swords, cutlasses, and knives : and when she came within her 
own length of us, we fired five of our muskets and the swivel 
into her. Her fire was scarcely half given, when she filled 
and went down with all her crew. At this success we were 
inclined to rejoice, but looking over the pirate schooner, we 
observed her deck still swarming with the same description 
of horrid looking wretches. A second boat's crew pushed 
ofl^ with their muskets pointed directly at us the whole time. 
When they came within the same distance as the other, we 
fired, but with little, if any effect. The pirate immediately 
returned the fire, and with horrid cries jumped aboard of us. 
Two of our brave crew were lying dead upon the deck, and 
the rest of us expected nothing better. French, Spanish, and 
English were spoken indiscriminately, and all at once. The 
most horrid imprecations were uttered against us, and threats 
that fancy cannot imagine. 
A v/retch, whose black shaggy whiskers covered nearly 
his whole face, whose eyes were only seen at intervals from 
beneath his bushy eye-brows, and whose whole appearance 
was more that of a hell-hound than of a human being, ap- 
proached me with a drawn cutlass in his hand. I drew one 
of my pistols and snapped it in his face ; but it flashed in the 
pan, and before I could draw the other, the pirate, with a bru- 
tality that would have disgraced a cannibal, struck me over 
the face with his cutlass, and knocked me down. I was too 
much wounded by the blow to resist, and the blood ran in tor- 
rents from my forehead. In this situation the wretch seized 
me by the scalp, and thrusting his cutlass in my cravat, cut it 
through completely. I felt the cold iron glide along my 
throat, and even now the very thought makes me shudder. 
The worst idea I had ever formed of human cruelty seemed 
now realized, and I could see death stare me in the face. 
Without stooping to examine the cravat, he put it in his pock- 
et, and in a voice of thunder exclaimed, '' Letez-vous f^ I ac- 
cordingly rose on my feet, and he pinioned my hands behmd 
my back, led me to the gunwale of the vessel, and asked an- 
other of the gang, in French, whether he should throw me 
overboard. At the recollection of that scene I am still stag- 
gered. I endeavored to call the prospects of eternity before 
me, but could think of nothing except the cold and quiverless 
apathy of the tomb. His infamous companion replied, " // 
est Prop bonne hetire V envoy er an didhltr and led me to the 
foremast, where he tied me with my face to the stern of the 
vessel. The cords were drawn so tight around my arms and 
