le?" the captain observed,
hesitating whether to fire or not.

"Mistake, sir? Lord, Captain Robbins, you might cannonade any of the
islands astern for a week, and never hurt an honest man. Let 'em have
it, sir; I'll answer for it, you do good."

This settled the matter. The loggerhead was applied, and one of our
sixes spoke out in a smart report. A breathless stillness succeeded. The
proas did not alter their course, but neared us fast. The captain
levelled his night-glass, and I heard him tell Kite, in a low voice,
that they were full of men. The word was now passed to clear away all
the guns, and to open the arm-chest, to come at the muskets and pistols.
I heard the rattling of the boarding-pikes, too, as they were cut adrift
from the spanker-boom, and fell upon the decks. All this sounded very
ominous, and I began to think we should have a desperate engagement
first, and then have all our throats cut afterward.

I expected now to hear the guns discharged in quick succession, but they
were got ready only, not fired. Kite went aft, and returned with three
or four muskets, and as many pikes. He gave the latter to those of the
people who had nothing to do with the guns. By this time the ship was
on a wind, steering a good full, while the two proas were just abeam,
and closing fast. The stillness that reigned on both sides was like that
of death. The proas, however, fell a little more astern; the result of
their own man[oe]uvering, out of all doubt, as they moved through the
water much faster than the ship, seeming desirous of dropping into our
wake, with a design of closing under our stern, and avoiding our
broadside. As this would never do, and the wind freshened so as to give
us four or five knot way, a most fortunate circumstance for us, the
captain determined to tack while he had room. The _John_ behaved
beautifully, and came round like a top. The proas saw there was no time
to lose, and attempted to close before we could fill again; and this
they would have done with ninety-nine ships in a hundred. The captain
knew his vessel, however, and did not let her lose her way, making
everything draw again as it might be by instinct. The proas tacked, too,
and, laying up much nearer to the wind than we did, appeared as if about
to close on our lee-bow. The question was, now, whether we could pass
them or not before they got near enough to grapple. If the pirates got
on board us, we were hopelessly gone; and everything depe