was
soon running down the coast. When they had sailed some hours from
Calicut, from behind a headland, four vessels suddenly made their
appearance. They were lower in the water, and much less clumsy in
appearance than the ordinary native craft, and were propelled not only
by their sails, but by a number of oars on each side.

No sooner did the captain and crew of the ship behold these vessels,
than they raised a cry of terror and despair. The captain, who was
part owner of the craft, ran up and down the deck like one possessed,
and the sailors seemed scarcely less terrified.

"What on earth is the matter?" Charlie exclaimed. "What vessels are
those, and why are you afraid of them?"

"Tulagi Angria! Tulagi Angria!" the captain cried, and the crew took
up the refrain.

The name that they uttered fully accounted for their terror.

Chapter 15: The Pirates' Hold.

Sivagi, the founder of the Mahratta Empire, had, in 1662, seized and
fortified Yijiyadrug; or, as the English call it, Gheriah, a town at
the mouth of the river Kanui, one hundred and seventy miles south of
Bombay; and also the island of Suwarndrug, about half way between
Gheriah and Bombay. Here he established a piratical fleet. Fifty years
later, Kanhagi Angria, the commander of the Mahratta fleet, broke off
this connection with the successors of Sivagi, and set up as a pirate
on his own account. Kanhagi not only plundered the native vessels, but
boldly preyed upon the commerce of the European settlements. The ships
of the East India Company, the French Company, and the Dutch were
frequently captured by these pirates.

Tulagi Angria, who succeeded his father, was even bolder and more
successful; and when the man-of-war brig, the Restoration, with twenty
guns and two hundred men, was fitted out to attack him, he defeated
and captured her. After this, he attacked and captured the French
man-of-war Jupitre, with forty guns; and had even the insolence to
assail an English convoy guarded by two men-of-war; the Vigilant, of
sixty-four guns, and the Ruby, of fifty.

The Dutch, in 1735, sent a fleet of seven ships of war, two bomb
vessels, and a strong body of troops against Gheriah. The attack was,
however, repulsed with considerable loss. From that date the pirates
grew bolder and bolder, and were a perfect scourge to the commerce of
Western India.

Charlie Marryat had, of course, frequently heard of the doings of
these noted pirates, and the cry of "