heir
hands and feet tied, and their bodies fastened to stakes, with brushwood
piled around them, expecting every moment to be their last. My feelings,
on this occasion, can be better imagined than described; suffice it to
say, that I had given up all hopes of escape, and gloomily resigned
myself to death. When the fumes of the liquor had in some degree worn
off from the benumbed senses of the savages, they arose and approached
us, and, for the first time, the wily Indian informed me that the tribe
had agreed to ransom us. They then cast off the lashings from our bodies
and feet, and, with our hands still secure, drove us before them to the
beach. Then another difficulty arose; the privateer was out of sight,
and the Indians became furious. To satiate their hellish malice, they
obliged us to run on the beach, while they let fly their poisoned arrows
after us. For my own part, my limbs were so benumbed that I could
scarcely walk, and I firmly resolved to stand still and take the worst
of it--which was the best plan I could have adopted; for, when they
perceived that I exhibited no signs of fear, not a single arrow was
discharged at me. Fortunately, before they grew weary of this sport, to
my great joy, the privateer hove in sight. She stood boldly in, with the
flag of truce flying, and the savages consented to let one man of their
own choosing go off in the boat to procure the stipulated ransom. The
boat returned loaded with articles of various descriptions, and two of
our men were released. The boat kept plying to and from the privateer,
bringing such articles as they demanded, until all were released except
myself. Here it may be proper to observe, that the mulatto man, who had
been selected by the Indians, performed all this duty himself, not one
of the privateer's crew daring to hazard their lives with him in the
boat. I then was left alone, and for my release they required a double
ransom. I began now seriously to think that they intended to detain me
altogether. My mulatto friend, however, pledged himself that he would
never leave me.

Again, for the last time, he sculled the boat off. She quickly returned,
with a larger amount of articles than previously. It was a moment of the
deepest anxiety, for there had now arrived from the interior another
tribe, apparently superior in point of numbers, and elated with the
booty which had been obtained. They demanded a share, and expressed a
determination to detain me for a l