eyes in
my direction.

Captain England brought out a bottle of Jamaica, which he set upon the
board, and each of the three pirates mixed himself a glass of grog.
Burke drank three or four glasses of the stuff without its seeming in
the least to smooth his ill-temper. The cripple kept pace with him in
his drinking, at which I was mightily anxious, for when such bloody
wretches as they become heated with liquor, it is a toss of a farthing
whether they murder a man in their sport or lavish caresses upon him.
However, I was glad to see that Captain England drank but sparingly,
wherefore I entertained great hopes that he would remain sufficiently
cool to prevent any violence being used against me.

But I greatly doubt that my life would have been in danger under any
circumstances, for after a while, as Burke became more warmed in his
cups, his displeasure against me became more and more softened. At
first, without speaking directly to me, he began, with many imprecations
upon his own head, to say that though he was a bloody sea-pirate, and a
murderer, and a thief, he knew a man of courage when he saw him, and
loved him as his brother. By-and-by he insisted upon shaking hands with
me across the table, swearing that if harm had happened to me through
him he would have repented it to the very last day of his life. I now
perceived that the time had come for me to act; accordingly I began,
first by hints and afterwards by direct appeals, to beseech them that
they would give me the smaller of their two crafts, which had been so
injured in the late engagement that it was still lying upon the beach
where they had run it aground, and from which position they had made no
efforts to rescue it. I had noticed the craft as I came down the beach,
and though I observed that she had been very much shattered by the
broadsides which we had fired into her, I yet had hopes that if I could
get possession of her I might be able to patch her up sufficiently to
transport my passengers and crew to some place of greater security than
the island offered, even perhaps to Bombay, weather permitting. I had
thought that the pirates would have made some objection, and I believe
that even England himself was startled at the boldness of my request,
for he looked anxiously at the others, but ventured nothing. However, I
think that that very boldness recommended itself to these reckless
spirits, for they granted what I desired with hardly a word of
objection