erate and
unprincipled as himself, must have been by order of Him, from whose
all-seeing eye no evil transaction can be hidden, that were I so
disposed I should be deterred from doing you any injury through fear
of meeting with a similar fate. Nor do my three remaining companions
differ with me in opinion, and we all now most solemnly pledge
ourselves, that so long as you remain in our power, you shall have
nothing to complain of but the deprivation of the society of those
whose company no doubt would be more agreeable to you; and as soon
as it can be done consistently with our own safety, you shall be
conveyed to a place from which you may obtain a passage to your
friends. We have now become too few in number to hazard a repetition
of our Piratical robberies, and not only this, but some of our
captured companions to save their own lives, may prove treacherous
enough to betray us; we are therefore making preparation to leave
this island for a place of more safety, when you, madam, shall be
conveyed and set at liberty as I have promised you."

Dear brother, if you before doubted, is not the declaration of this
man (which I have recorded as correctly as my recollection will
admit of) sufficient to satisfy you that I owe my life and safety to
the interposition of a Divine Providence! Oh, yes! surely it is--and
I feel my insufficiency to thank and praise my Heavenly Protector as
I ought, for his loving kindness in preserving me from the evil
designs of wicked men, and for finally restoring me to liberty and
to my friends!

I cannot praise Him as I would,
But He is merciful and good.

From this moment every preparation was made by the Pirates to remove
from the island. The small quantity of stores and goods which
remained on hand (principally of the _Ann Eliza's_ cargo) was either
buried on the island, or conveyed away in their boats in the night
to some place unknown to me. The last thing done was to demolish
their temporary dwellings, which was done so effectually as not to
suffer a vestige of any thing to remain that could have led to a
discovery that the island had ever been inhabited by such a set of
beings. Eleven days from that of the capture of the _Ann Eliza_ (the
Pirates having previously put on board several bags of dollars,
which from the appearance of the