to do;
but as by this time the coarse pleasures of an outlaw's life were
distasteful to him, he determined to proceed to New York, and endeavor
to prove himself an honest man. This determination proved to be an
unfortunate one for him; for hardly had he arrived, when he was taken
into custody, and sent to England for trial. He made an able defence,
but was found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged; a sentence which was
executed some months later, in the presence of a vast multitude of
people, who applauded in the death of Kidd the end of the reign of
outlaws upon the ocean.

CHAPTER II.

EXPEDITIONS AGAINST NEIGHBORING COLONIES. -- ROMANTIC CAREER
OF SIR WILLIAM PHIPPS. -- QUELLING A MUTINY. -- EXPEDITIONS
AGAINST QUEBEC.

While it was chiefly in expeditions against the buccaneers, or in the
defence of merchantmen against these predatory gentry, that the
American colonists gained their experience in naval warfare, there
were, nevertheless, some few naval expeditions fitted out by the
colonists against the forces of a hostile government. Both to the
north and south lay the territory of France and Spain,--England's
traditional enemies; and so soon as the colonies began to give
evidence of their value to the mother country, so soon were they
dragged into the quarrels in which the haughty mistress of the seas
was ever plunged. Of the southern colonies, South Carolina was
continually embroiled with Spain, owing to the conviction of the
Spanish that the boundaries of Florida--at that time a Spanish
colony--included the greater part of the Carolinas. For the purpose of
enforcing this idea, the Spaniards, in 1706, fitted out an expedition
of four ships-of-war and a galley, which, under the command of a
celebrated French admiral, was despatched to take Charleston. The
people of Charleston were in no whit daunted, and on the receipt of
the news of the expedition began preparations for resistance. They had
no naval vessels; but several large merchantmen, being in port, were
hastily provided with batteries, and a large galley was converted into
a flag-ship. Having no trained naval officers, the command of the
improvised squadron was tendered to a certain Lieut.-Col. Rhett, who
possessed the confidence of the colonists. Rhett accepted the command;
and when the attacking party cast anchor some miles below the city,
and landed their shore forces, he weighed anchor, and set out to
attack them. But the Spaniar