advanced. The moment they were within
range, the captain gave the word, "Fire."
Five of the rowers fell dead, and the sixth
leaped over, and was picked up by our
boat. The captain threatened the bleeding
wretch with a cruel and lingering
death if he did not confess the whole plot,
and ordered him to be exposed naked to
the blaze of the sun of a tropical July.

In vain I pleaded for the poor wretch,
who persisted in his plea of innocence.
They lashed him in the stern of a boat, in
which were five armed men and myself,
and then rowed him for three hours
through a narrow creek formed by a desert
reef and the island of Cuba. "The
mosquitoes and sand flies will soon make him
speak," the captain said, as we pulled off
to the mangrove swamp, where insects
swarmed in millions. The miserable man
was in a moment swollen and wounded from
head to foot. His voice began to fail him.
Then I entreated them to row to the other
side of the island and unloose him. The
moment they did so, and he felt the fresh
sea breeze, he fainted. On our return on
board, the pirates mocked his cries, and the
captain asked if he had confessed? I told
him the man was dying. "Then he shall
have some more, before he dies," replied
the monster. Six men then fired on him,
and, finding the miserable creature still
alive, they fastened a pig of iron to his neck
and threw him into the sea. An hour
afterwards, the guitars were tinkling, and the
songs were passing round as if nothing
had happened.

Next morning, just as I had bent a new
gaff topsail, we sighted a brig, and gave
chase. She heaved to, and displayed the
English ensign. We fired a gun and hoisted
Spanish colours. The captain, fearing she
was a man-of-war, did not care to go nearer,
but said he would send a boat, with me
as captain, to board her. I protesting and
refusing, he ordered the crew to blindfold
me and take me forward. A volley of
musketry was then fired, and the captain
came up and asked if I were not desperately
wounded? I saw he had only intended to
frighten me so far. I was then lashed to
the main-mast and my eyes were unbandaged.
The captain then cut up a quantity
of cartridges, and strewed the powder on
the deck all around me, giving orders to
the cook to light a match and send it aft.
On my persisting in my refusal, he set
fire to the powder. The explosion took
away my senses for a moment. When I
recovered I was in the most horrible torture,
and my clothes were blazing. I could not
tear them off with my bound hands. I
begged them, for God's sake, to despatch
me at once; but they only laughed, and the
captain tauntingly asked me if I would
obey him now? The excruciating agony
forced me to yield. I fainted before
they could release me. When I recovered
I found myself stretched, in frenzy and
delirium, on a mattress in the cabin. Too
weak to reach a weapon, I implored the
steward to hand me his knife that I might
kill myself. He reported this to the
captain, who came down in a fury. "You
want to kill yourself, young man, I
understand, but I do not mean you to die yet."
He then ordered me to be strictly watched
and my wounds to be dressed. I took
advantage of the medicine chest's being
brought near me to swallow one hundred
and thirty drops of laudanum, hoping
never to wake again in this world.
The cook, who felt compassion for me,
brought me some arrowroot and wine, and
told me to my surprise we were at anchor,
the captain being convinced that the
brig was a man-of-war, and that I had
tried to decoy him near her. The good
fellow then cautioned me to appear cheerful
and satisfied. When he left, and sleep
began to overpower me, I commended my
soul to God, believing I should never wake
again. I slept all night, and they had great
difficulty in rousing me next day. The
captain was furious at this, and threatened
me with a second torturing by gunpowder
if I dared try again to kill myself. He then
made me get up, and attend to the sick.

The next day a coasting schooner brought
word that the Zephyr had arrived at the
Havannah.

"See," cried the captain to me, "what
dependence can be placed on your countrymen.
They are as treacherous as the
Americans. The old rascal has broken a
solemn promise. And he says I plundered
him of fifteen hundred pounds in specie,
and I didn't get half that. But mark me!
If he remains a few days longer at the
Havannah he shall never live to see
England. I have three or four men already
on the watch to assassinate him. They
were new to the trade or would have done
it before, but I will now send a sure man,
and he shall have ten doubloons for the
job. If Lumsden is so fortunate as to
escape, and I ever catch him again, I will
tie him to a tree in the forest and leave
him to starve."

The assassin being got ready was rowed