essel." I answered,
"Yes, sir, but I do not trust to colors in these piratical days." He
then said, "You have cost me a great deal of powder and shot this day."
I answered, by saying, "Never mind, King George is able to pay for it."
He then asked me if my vessel leaked badly. I told him that I had but
little time to ascertain how bad she did leak, but knew that she had
some holes in her. He sent a lieutenant, carpenter, and four men on
board of the Allen to examine and pump her out, and invited me into the
cabin to drink with him. I told him I did not drink any ardent spirits;
he then said, "Damn it, you're a Yankee, and can take a bottle of cider
with me." After we entered the cabin and were seated, he looked at me
with a smile, saying, "Curse me if you ain't game, you stand fire well."
In the mean time he called the gunner to the cabin door, saying,
"Gunner, how many shot have you fired at this man this day." The gunner
answered him, "Sixteen thirty-two pound shot, and four long
twelve-pounders."

He then told me, if I thought it necessary to put into some port for
repairs, he would recommend Kingston, Jamaica, as the best to sail for;
and if I had any valuable articles in her, he would take them on board
of his vessel for safety, and convoy me to that port. I informed him
that I had over eight thousand dollars in specie, and four hundred
pounds of tortoise-shell, worth ten dollars per pound. In the mean time,
the lieutenant arrived from the Allen and reported that he thought she
could be kept perfectly free from water by having the pump well manned.
After some consultation together, he agreed to let his carpenter,
sailing master, and four seamen remain on board the Allen, and he would
hoist lights and signals, and convoy her to Kingston for repairs. He
then gave his name, and a history of himself and the schooner he now
commanded. He said, "About one year since I obtained a furlough from my
government, and took charge of a merchant ship bound from Liverpool to
Jamaica and back to that port. On my passage from Jamaica towards home I
was captured by the pirates, robbed of eight thousand dollars, and many
articles, and most cruelly beaten and horribly tortured. The vessel he
was now in was taken from the pirates by one of his Majesty's ships, and
carried into Jamaica, condemned, and then fitted out under the name of
the Renegade, for the purpose of capturing pirates; and that he was
appointed to the command of her, and