oon as we were got from between
the ship and the shore, that we could lay her side to the shore, she ran
along just by them, and poured in a broadside among them, loaded with
pieces of iron and lead, small bullets, and such stuff, besides the great
shot, which made a terrible havoc among them.

When we were got on board and out of danger, we had time to examine into
the occasion of this fray; and indeed our supercargo, who had been often
in those parts, put me upon it; for he said he was sure the inhabitants
would not have touched us after we had made a truce, if we had not done
something to provoke them to it. At length it came out that an old
woman, who had come to sell us some milk, had brought it within our
poles, and a young woman with her, who also brought us some roots or
herbs; and while the old woman (whether she was mother to the young woman
or no they could not tell) was selling us the milk, one of our men
offered some rudeness to the girl that was with her, at which the old
woman made a great noise: however, the seaman would not quit his prize,
but carried her out of the old woman's sight among the trees, it being
almost dark; the old woman went away without her, and, as we may suppose,
made an outcry among the people she came from; who, upon notice, raised
that great army upon us in three or four hours, and it was great odds but
we had all been destroyed.

One of our men was killed with a lance thrown at him just at the
beginning of the attack, as he sallied out of the tent they had made; the
rest came off free, all but the fellow who was the occasion of all the
mischief, who paid dear enough for his brutality, for we could not hear
what became of him for a great while. We lay upon the shore two days
after, though the wind presented, and made signals for him, and made our
boat sail up shore and down shore several leagues, but in vain; so we
were obliged to give him over; and if he alone had suffered for it, the
loss had been less. I could not satisfy myself, however, without
venturing on shore once more, to try if I could learn anything of him or
them; it was the third night after the action that I had a great mind to
learn, if I could by any means, what mischief we had done, and how the
game stood on the Indians' side. I was careful to do it in the dark,
lest we should be attacked again: but I ought indeed to have been sure
that the men I went with had been under my command, before I engaged in a
thin