four guns, with about 30 hands, as sufficient
for the capture, and came alongside, while Low was quite unsuspicious
of their design. But this being evidently betrayed by their number
and actions, he quickly called 90 men on deck, and, having 8 guns
mounted, the French sloop became an easy prey.

Provided with these two vessels, the pirates cruised about in the West
Indies, taking seven or eight prizes, and at length arrived at the
island of Santa Cruz, where they captured two more. While lying there,
Low thought he stood in need of a medicine chest, and, in order to
procure one, sent four Frenchmen, in a vessel he had taken, to St.
Thomas's, about twelve leagues distant, with money to purchase it;
promising them liberty, and the return of all their vessels, for the
service. But he declared at the same time, if it proved otherwise, he
would kill the rest of the men, and burn the vessels. In little more
than twenty-four hours, the Frenchmen returned with the object of
their mission, and Low punctually performed his promise by restoring
the vessels.

Having sailed for the Spanish American settlements, the pirates
descried two large ships, about half way between Carthagena and
Portobello, which proved to be the Mermaid, an English man-of-war, and
a Guineaman. They approached in chase until discovering the
man-of-war's great range of teeth, when they immediately put about,
and made the best of their way off. The man-of-war then commenced the
pursuit, and gained upon them apace, and I confess that my terrors
were now equal to any that I had previously suffered; for I concluded
that we should certainly be taken, and that I should no less certainly
be hanged for company's sake: so true are the words of Solomon, "A
companion of fools shall be destroyed." But the two pirate vessels
finding themselves outsailed, separated, and Farrington Spriggs, who
commanded the schooner in which I was, stood in for the shore. The
Mermaid observing the sloop with Low himself to be the larger of the
two, crowded all sail, and continued gaining still more, indeed until
her shot flew over; but one of the sloop's crew shewed Low a shoal,
which he could pass, and in the pursuit the man-of-war grounded. Thus
the pirates escaped hanging on this occasion.

Spriggs and one of his chosen companions dreading the consequences of
being captured and brought to justice, laid their pistols beside them
in the interval, and pledging a mutual oath in a bumper