appearance of the boat's coming from the ship,
considered of separating our prisoners; and we had, indeed, secured them
effectually. Two of them, of whom the captain was less assured than
ordinary, I sent with Friday, and one of the three delivered men, to my
cave, where they were remote enough, and out of danger of being heard or
discovered, or of finding their way out of the woods if they could have
delivered themselves: here they left them bound, but gave them
provisions; and promised them, if they continued there quietly, to give
them their liberty in a day or two; but that if they attempted their
escape, they should be put to death without mercy. They promised
faithfully to bear their confinement with patience, and were very
thankful that they had such good usage as to have provisions and light
left them; for Friday gave them candles (such as we made ourselves) for
their comfort; and they did not know but that he stood centinel over
them at the entrance.

The other prisoners had better usage; two of them were kept pinioned,
indeed, because the captain was not free to trust them; but the other
two were taken into my service, upon the captain's recommendation, and
upon their solemnly engaging to live and die with us; so with them and
the three honest men we were seven men well armed; and I made no doubt
we should be able to deal well enough with the ten that were coming,
considering that the captain had said there were three or four honest
men among them also. As soon as they got to the place where their other
boat lay, they ran their boat into the beach, and came all on shore,
hauling the boat up after them, which I was glad to see; for I was
afraid they would rather have left the boat at an anchor, some distance
from the shore, with some hands in her, to guard her, and so we should
not be able to seize the boat. Being on shore, the first thing they did,
they ran all to their other boat; and it was easy to see they were under
a great surprise to find her stripped, as above, of all that was in her,
and a great hole in her bottom. After they had mused a while upon this,
they set up two or three great shouts, hallooing with all their might,
to try if they could make their companions hear; but all was to no
purpose: then they came all close in a ring, and fired a volley of their
small arms, which, indeed, we heard, and the echoes made the woods
ring; but it was all one; those in the cave we were sure could not hear,
and