red, without exaggeration, and if it should be your wish to
communicate them to the public, through the medium of a public
print, or in any other way, you are at liberty to do it, and I shall
consider myself amply rewarded if in a single instance it proves
beneficial in removing a doubt in the minds of such, who, although
they dare not deny the existence of a Supreme Being, yet disbelieve
that he ever in any way revealed Himself to his creatures. Let
Philosophy (as it is termed) smile with pity or contempt on my
weakness or credulity, yet the superintendence of a particular
PROVIDENCE, interfering by second causes, is so apparent to me, and
was so conspicuously displayed in the course of my afflictions, that
I shall not banish it from my mind from the beginning to the end of
my narration.

On the 28th February I took passage on board the sloop _Eliza Ann_,
captain Charles Smith, for Antigua, in compliance with the earnest
request of brother Thomas and family, who had advised me that they
had concluded to make that island the place of their permanent
residence, having a few months previous purchased there a valuable
Plantation. We set sail with a favorable wind, and with every
appearance of a short and pleasant voyage, and met with no incident
to destroy or diminish those flattering prospects, until about noon
of the 14th day from that of our departure, when a small schooner
was discovered standing toward us, with her deck full of men, and as
she approached us from her suspicious appearance there was not a
doubt in the minds of any on board, but that she was a Pirate. When
within a few yards of us, they gave a shout and our decks were
instantly crowded with the motley crew of desperadoes, armed with
weapons of almost every description that can be mentioned, and with
which they commenced their barbarous work by unmercifully beating
and maiming all on board except myself. As a retreat was impossible,
and finding myself surrounded by wretches, whose yells, oaths, and
imprecations, made them more resemble demons than human-beings, I
fell on my knees, and from one who appeared to have the command, I
begged for mercy, and for permission to retire to the cabin, that I
might not be either the subject or a witness of the murderous scene
that I had but little doubt was about to ensue. The privi