n falling upon the
men, who, as I said, stood at the few houses on the way, of whom they
killed sixteen or seventeen, and set all the houses on fire, but did not
meddle with the women or children.

By the time the men got to the shore again with the pinnace our men began
to appear; they came dropping in, not in two bodies as they went, but
straggling here and there in such a manner, that a small force of
resolute men might have cut them all off. But the dread of them was upon
the whole country; and the men were surprised, and so frightened, that I
believe a hundred of them would have fled at the sight of but five of our
men. Nor in all this terrible action was there a man that made any
considerable defence: they were so surprised between the terror of the
fire and the sudden attack of our men in the dark, that they knew not
which way to turn themselves; for if they fled one way they were met by
one party, if back again by another, so that they were everywhere knocked
down; nor did any of our men receive the least hurt, except one that
sprained his foot, and another that had one of his hands burned.

CHAPTER X--HE IS LEFT ON SHORE

I was very angry with my nephew, the captain, and indeed with all the
men, but with him in particular, as well for his acting so out of his
duty as a commander of the ship, and having the charge of the voyage upon
him, as in his prompting, rather than cooling, the rage of his blind men
in so bloody and cruel an enterprise. My nephew answered me very
respectfully, but told me that when he saw the body of the poor seaman
whom they had murdered in so cruel and barbarous a manner, he was not
master of himself, neither could he govern his passion; he owned he
should not have done so, as he was commander of the ship; but as he was a
man, and nature moved him, he could not bear it. As for the rest of the
men, they were not subject to me at all, and they knew it well enough; so
they took no notice of my dislike. The next day we set sail, so we never
heard any more of it. Our men differed in the account of the number they
had killed; but according to the best of their accounts, put all
together, they killed or destroyed about one hundred and fifty people,
men, women, and children, and left not a house standing in the town. As
for the poor fellow Tom Jeffry, as he was quite dead (for his throat was
so cut that his head was half off), it would do him no service to bring
him away; so they