lton
and attempted to take off his over-coat, but were prevented by a
signal from their Captain. They now commenced binding his arms
behind him just above the elbows with one of the pieces of cord,
which they passed several times round, and drew so tight, that he
groaned out in all the bitterness of his anguish.[E]

[Footnote E: Capt. Hilton had before been taken by the Pirates,
and most cruelly abused, in order to extort from him a disclosure
of some money which they supposed was concealed on board; but
after they had ascertained that this was not the case, they
robbed him of every thing on and about his person and let him
go.]

My fears that they were PIRATES were now confirmed; and when I
saw them, without temptation or provocation, cruelly torturing
one whom shipwreck had thrown among them, a penniless sailor,
reduced by sickness to an almost helpless condition, and
entreating with all the tenderness of a penitent that they
would not cut him off in the blossom of his sins, and before he
had reached the meridian of life--reminding them of the wife
and parents he left behind, I burst into tears and arose
involuntarily as if to sell my life at the dearest rate, but was
shoved back by one of the Pirates who gave me a severe blow on
the breast with the muzzle of his cocked blunderbuss. A scene of
wo ensued which would have tried the stoutest heart, and it
appeared to me that even they endeavored to divert their minds
from it, by a constant singing and laughing, so loud as to drown
the sound of our lamentations.--After they had told Manuel they
should carry us to Matanzas as prisoners of war, they proceeded
to pinion our arms as they had Capt. Hilton's, so tight as to
produce excruciating pain.

We were now completely in their power, and they rolled us about
with as much indifference as though we had been incapable of
feeling, tumbling us into the canoes without mercy. They threw me
with such force that I struck the back of my neck against the
seat of the canoe and broke it. Capt. Hilton, Mr. Merry, Bridge,
and the Cook were in one canoe; Russell, Manuel, and myself in
the other. For the first time they now informed us that they were
about to cut our throats, which information they accompanied with
the most appaling signs, by drawing their knives across their
throats, imitating stabbing and various other tortures. Four
Pirates accompanied the other canoe and three ours, besides the
four fishermen, two to manage eac