you to Jamaica, and hang you.' ' Which way
can I get away? ' answers Vane. ' Are there
not fishermen's dories upon the beach?
—can't you take one of them? ' replies Holford.
' What,' says Vane, ' would you have me steal
a dory, then? ' 'Do you make it a matter
of conscience,' said Holford, ' to steal a dory,
when you have been a common robber and
pyrate, stealing ships and cargoes, and
plundering all mankind that fell in your way?
Stay there, if you are so squeamish! ' And so
he left him."

Let us describe, now, the stealing of a ship.
Tempted by reward and natural desire for
gain, all eyes are always on the look-out for a
sail The sail made out is chased, if not a
man-of-war. The pirate seldom quails before
superior force; for, in his own profession, he
is bold to recklessness. If stratagem be
necessary, the character of the pirate ship is
disguised by hoisting perhaps a French flag,
while men are sent below to hide themselves,
in order that the crowded decks might not
betray their character. When spoken with,
their answer to the question whence they
come, is " From the Seas;" up runs the black
flag, " Jolly Roger," then the cannonade is
opened, and the boarding-party leaps into the
boat. The first boarders receive extra plunder,
in the form of a change of clothes for every
man. The object of the pirate is to board as
soon as possible. The prize taken is searched;
torture is used to elicit information as to all
its treasures; if the vessel itself be better
than their own, the pirates take possession of
it for themselves; if not they pillage it, and
recklessly throw overboard the greater part
of what they do not keep. Those on board
the captured vessel are slaves of the captor's
will, and take their chance. Sometimes they
are all sweated; the pirates form a circle
round each one in turn, and prick him as he
runs inside it with pins, penknives, forks, &c.;
murder, and greater cruelties we have agreed
to forbear describing. Captain Hawkins,
prisoner of Captain Spriggs, was sent down
to supper; what should the provision be, but
a dish of candles, which he was forced to eat,
having a naked sword and a pistol held to
his breast all the while. His crew were all
regaled in the same manner. A friar taken
was put upon all fours, and ridden about; a
New England saint was made to dance till he
was more than weary; a quaker beguiled
them by his meek submission to their force;
and when, after plundering, they let him go,
many engaged a passage in his vessel. He
took them without murmuring, and they were
surprised to find, on reaching port, that non-
resistance under violence was not a doctrine
which prevented the mild friend from handing
them immediately into the custody of
law. They were all hung. The pirates under
Captain Roberts took an English clergyman,
and out of respect to their own country's
cloth restored all that he claimed; " they
kept nothing which belonged to the Church,
except three prayer-books and a bottle-screw."

Of the fearlessness of these men and the
fear they caused, it will suffice to give a
couple of examples. Captain Teach lay, on
one occasion, off the bar of Charlestown,
taking vessels with impunity, while the whole
province of Carolina " abandoned themselves
to despair. The vessels in the harbour durst
not go out, and the vessels inward bound
durst not go in." Teach detained all the ships
and prisoners, and, being in want of medicines,
resolved to demand a chest from the Government
of the province; accordingly, men were
sent, and "very insolently made their demands,
threatening that if they did not send immediately
the chest of medicines, and let the
pirate ambassadors return, without offering
any violence to their persons, they would
murder all their prisoners, send up their heads
to the Governor, and set the ships they had
taken on fire. While Mr. Marks was making
application to the council, Richards, and the
rest of the pirates, walked the streets publicly,
in the sight of all people, who were fired with
the utmost indignation, but durst not so much
as think of executing their revenge." The
result of this measure was, that the Government
"complied with the necessity, and sent
aboard a chest, valued at between three
hundred and four hundred pounds, and the pirates
went back safe to their ships." Captain Davis,
before mentioned, performed such marvels by
the addition of his own acuteness to the boldness
of his men, that they believed him
capable of doing anything; so they consented
to an expedition against Gambia Castle.
"Having come within sight of the place, he
ordered all his men under deck, except as
many as were absolutely necessary for working
the ship, in order that he might pass for
a trader, anchored close under the fort, and
having ordered out the boat, he commanded
six men in her, in old, ordinary jackets, while
he himself, with the master and doctor,
dressed themselves like gentlemen." They
were received without suspicion by the Governor,
and bidden to dine with him. They
noted the disposition of the soldiers, brought
some of their own men at dinner-time ashore,
some having orders to sit in the guard-house,
so placed as to seize the arms directly they
should hear a pistol fired. Two or three
entered the dining-room to wait at table. In
the course of dinner a pistol was presented to
the Governor's head, who remained quiet per
force; the arms in that room were seized by
the attendant pirates, and Davis fired his
pistol from the window. All the plan succeeded,
and the fort was captured.

The plunder got by pirates, often great, was
always scattered to the winds in senseless
waste, or stolen by a comrade, or a landsman.
So Avery retired upon a bag of diamonds,
which he committed for sale, secretly, into the
hands of Bristol " Merchants " who retained
them, and threatened to denounce him if he