follow you far out to sea, especially if it blows."--"Well," said I, "you
have been very kind in this: what shall I do to make you amends?"--"Sir,"
says he, "you may not be willing to make me any amends, because you may
not be convinced of the truth of it. I will make an offer to you: I have
nineteen months' pay due to me on board the ship ---, which I came out of
England in; and the Dutchman that is with me has seven months' pay due to
him. If you will make good our pay to us we will go along with you; if
you find nothing more in it we will desire no more; but if we do convince
you that we have saved your lives, and the ship, and the lives of all the
men in her, we will leave the rest to you."

I consented to this readily, and went immediately on board, and the two
men with me. As soon as I came to the ship's side, my partner, who was
on board, came out on the quarter-deck, and called to me, with a great
deal of joy, "We have stopped the leak--we have stopped the leak!"--"Say
you so?" said I; "thank God; but weigh anchor, then,
immediately."--"Weigh!" says he; "what do you mean by that? What is the
matter?"--"Ask no questions," said I; "but set all hands to work, and
weigh without losing a minute." He was surprised; however, he called the
captain, and he immediately ordered the anchor to be got up; and though
the tide was not quite down, yet a little land-breeze blowing, we stood
out to sea. Then I called him into the cabin, and told him the story;
and we called in the men, and they told us the rest of it; but as it took
up a great deal of time, before we had done a seaman comes to the cabin
door, and called out to us that the captain bade him tell us we were
chased by five sloops, or boats, full of men. "Very well," said I, "then
it is apparent there is something in it." I then ordered all our men to
be called up, and told them there was a design to seize the ship, and
take us for pirates, and asked them if they would stand by us, and by one
another; the men answered cheerfully, one and all, that they would live
and die with us. Then I asked the captain what way he thought best for
us to manage a fight with them; for resist them I was resolved we would,
and that to the last drop. He said readily, that the way was to keep
them off with our great shot as long as we could, and then to use our
small arms, to keep them from boarding us; but when neither of these
would do any longer, we would retire to our close qu