could do fo very well, and there was a great Dutch ship gone up that way just before. This gave me a little fhock; a Dutch fhip was now our terror, and we had much rather have met the devil, at least if he had not come in too frightful a figure: we depended upon it, that a Dutch ship would be our destruction, for we were in no condition to fight them; all the fhips they trade with in thofe parts being of burden, and of much greater force than we were. great The old man found me a little confused, and under fome concern, when he named a Dutch ship; and faid to me, Sir, you need be under no apprehension of the Dutch, I suppose they are not now at war with your nation. No, faid I, that's true; but I know. not what liberties men may take, when they are out of the reach of the laws of their country. Why, faid he, you are no pirates, what need you fear? They will not meddle with peaceable merchants, fure. If I had any blood in my body that did not fly up into my face at that word, it was hindered by fome ftop in the veffels appointed by nature to circulate it; for it put me into the greatest disorder and confufion imaginable; nor was it poffible for me to conceal it fo, but that the old man eafily perceived it. Sir, faid he, I find you are in fome disorder in your thoughts at my talk: pray be pleased to go which way you think fit; and depend upon it, I'll do you all the fervice I can. Why, Seignior, faid I, it is true, I am a little unfettled in my refolution at this time, whither to go in particular; and I am fomething more fo, for what you faid about pirates; I hope there are no pirates in these feas; we are but fee we in an ill condition to meet with them; for you have but a small force, and but very weakly manned. O, Sir, faid he, do not be concerned; I do not know that there have been any pirates in these feas these fifteen years, except one, which was seen, as I hear, in the bay of Siam, about a month fince; but you may be affured fhe is gone to the fouthward; nor was fhe a ship of any great force, or fit for the work: fhe was not built for a privateer, but was run away with by a reprobate crew that were on board, after the captain and fome of his men had been murdered by the Malaccans, at or near the island of Sumatra. What! faid I, feeming to know nothing of the matter, did they murder the captain? No, said he, I do not understand that they murdered him; but, as they afterwards ran away with the ship, it is generally believed they betrayed him into the hands of the Malaccans, who did murder him; and, perhaps, they procured them to do it. Why then, faid I, they deserved death, as much as if they had done it themselves. Nay, faid the old man, they do deserve it; and they will certainly have it if they light upon any English or Dutch fhip; for they have all agreed together, that if they meet that rogue, they will give him no quarter. But, faid I to him, you fay the pirate is gone out of these feas; how can they meet with him then? Why, that is true, faid he, they do fay fo; but he was, as I tell you, in the bay of Siam, in the river Cambodia, and was discovered there by fome Dutchmen, who belonged to the fhip, and who were left on fhore when when they run away with her; and fome English and Dutch traders being in the river, they were within a little of taking him. Nay, faid he, if the foremost boats had been well feconded by the reft, they had certainly taken him; but he, finding only two boats within reach of him, tacked about, and fired at these two, and difabled them before the others came up; and then flanding off to fea, the others were not able to follow him, and fo he got away. But they have all so exact a description of the ship, that they will be fure to know him; and wherever they find him, they have vowed to give no quarter to either the captain or the feamen, but to hang them all up at the yard-arm. What! faid I, will they execute them right or wrong; hang them first, and judge them afterwards? O, Sir! faid the old pilot, there is no need to make a formal business of it with fuch rogues as those; let them tie them back to back, and set them a diving; it is no more than they rightly deferve. I knew I had my old man fast aboard, and that he could do me no harm; fo I turned fhort upon him: Well, Seignior, faid I, and this is the very reason why I would have you carry us to Nanquin, and not to put back to Macao, or to any other part of the country, where the English or Dutch fhips came; for, be it known to you, Seignior, thofe captains of the English and Dutch fhips, are a parcel of rafh, proud, infolent fellows, that neither know what belongs to justice, or how to behave themfelves, as the laws of GoD and nature direct; but being proud of their offices, and not understanding their power, they would act the murderers to punish robbers; robbers; would take upon them to infult men falfely accused, and determine them guilty without due enquiry; and perhaps I may live to call fome of them to an account for it, where they may be taught how juftice is to be executed; and that no man ought to be treated as a criminal till fome evidence, may be had of the crime, and that he is the man. With this I told him, that this was the very fhip they had attacked; and gave him a full account of the skirmish we had with their boats, and how foolifhly and coward-like they had behaved. I told him all the ftory of our buying the fhip, and how the Dutchmen ferved us. I told him the reafons I had to believe that this ftory of killing the master by the Malaccans was not true; as alfo the running away with the fhip; but that it was all a fiction of their own, to fuggeft that the men were turned pirates; and they ought to have been fure it was fo, before they had ventured to attack us by surprise, and oblige us to refift them; adding, that they would have the blood of those men, who were killed there, in our just defence, to answer for. The old man was amazed at this relation; and told us, we were very much in the right to go away to the north; and that if he might advife us, it fhould be to fell the fhip in China, which we might very well do, and buy or build another in the country: and, faid he, though you will not get fo good a fhip, yet you may get one able enough to carry you and all your goods back again to Bengal, or any where else. I told him I would take his advice, when I came to any port where I could find a ship for my turn, or get any customer to buy this. He replied, I fhould VOL. II. T meet meet with customers enough for the fhip at Nanquin, and that a Chinese junk would serve me very well to go back again; and that he would procure me people both to buy one, and fell the other. Well, but, Seignior, fays I, as you fay they know the fhip fo well, I may, perhaps, if I follow your measures, be inftrumental to bring fome honeft innocent men into a terrible broil, and, perhaps, be murdered in cold blood; for wherever they find the ship they will prove the guilt upon the men, by proving this was the fhip; and fo innocent men may probably be overpowered and murdered. Why, faid the old man, I'll find out a way to prevent that alfo; for as I know all thofe con:manders you speak of very well, and fhall fee them all as they pass by, I will be fure to set them to rights in the thing, and let them know that they had been fo much in the wrong; that though the people who were on board at first might run away with the ship, yet it was not true that they had turned pirates; and that in particular those were not the men that first went off with the fhip, but innocently bought her for their trade and I am perfuaded they will fo far believe me, as, at least, to act more cautiously for the time to come. Well, faid I, and will you deliver one meffage to them from me? Yes, I will, fays he, if you will give it under your hand, in writing, that I may be able to prove it came from you, and not out of my own head. I answered, that I would readily give it him under my hand. So I took a pen and ink, and paper, and wrote at large the story of assaulting me with the long-boats, &c. the pretended reason of it, and the unjust cruel defign of it; and concluded to the commanders, that they had |