for aid; but we could not get very
near them without danger to ourselves. We sent out our long-boat, with
two of our men; but the rope that held her to the ship broke with the
violence of the waves, and she was carried away, nor did we ever hear
what became of our unhappy comrades. Very soon, in spite of the labour
of the crew, the vessel we were trying to help went down, and out of
fifty-four men, only four were saved who had the good fortune to catch
the ropes we threw out to them. When they told us their story, however,
we could not help wondering at the escape we had had, for the lost ship
belonged to a pirate, who had only been waiting till the storm was over
to attack us, and the men we had saved had, according to their own
account, been compelled against their will to serve the pirates.

Very soon the storm abated, and we continued our voyage. It was not long
before we had another adventure with pirates, and the next time they
caught us at midnight, and, hailing us, commanded us to come on board
their ship with our captain. We answered that we had no boat, and asked
them to wait till the morning. At this, the pirate captain threatened to
sink us, and therewith fired a gun at our vessel.

But we, being on our guard, had already mustered our guns and our
forces, thirty-eight men, counting the passengers, who were as ready to
fight as any of us. So we sent them back a broadside, which surprised
them and did them some damage. Then we tacked about, and with six of our
guns raked the enemy fore and aft; but we were answered very quickly
with a broadside that killed two of our men and wounded a third.
Presently they boarded us with about fourscore men, and we found all our
resistance idle, for they drove us into the forecastle, where we managed
to barricade ourselves, and threatened to turn our own guns against us
if we did not surrender immediately. But our captain being resolute,
ordered us to fire on them with our small-arms. Now close to our
steerage was a large cistern lined with tin, where several cartridges of
powder happened to be; and, happily for us, in the tumult of the firing
this powder took fire, and blew part of the quarter-deck and at least
thirty of the enemy into the air. On this we sallied out, and drove the
rest into their own vessel again with our cutlasses, killing several.
But, alas! with the explosion and the breach of the quarter-deck our
powder-room was quite blocked up, and we had to go on fig