262 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES

mate and carpenter with the butt end of their muskets.’ Being very
faithfully seconded by their men, they secured all the rest that were
upon the main and quarter decks, and began to fasten the hatches to
keep them down who were below; when the other boat, and their men,
entering at the fore-chains, secured the forecastle of the ship, and the
skuttle which went down into the cook-room, making three men they
found there prisoners.

When this was done, and all safe upon the deck, the captain ordered
the mate, with three men, to break into the round-house, where the
new rebel captain lay, and, having taken the alarm, was gotten up,
and, with two men and a boy, had gotten firearms in their hands;
and when the mate with a crow split open the door, the new captain
and his men fired boldly among them, and wounded the mate with a
musket-ball, which broke his arm and wounded two more of the men,
but killed nobody.

The mate, calling for help, rushed, however, into the round-house,
wounded as he was, and with his pistol shot the new captain through
the head, the bullets entering at his mouth, and came out again behind
one of his ears, so that he never spoke a word; upon which the rest
yielded, and the ship was taken effectually without any more lives
being lost. .

As soon as the ship was thus secured, the captain ordered seven
guns to be fired, which was the signal agreed upon with me, to give
me notice of his success; which, you may be sure, I was very glad to
hear, having sat watching upon the shore for it till near two of the
clock in the morning.

Having thus heard the signal plainly, I laid me down; and it having
been a day of great fatigue to me, I slept very sound, till I was some-
thing surprised with the noise of a gun; and presently starting up, I
heard a man call me by the name of “Governor, governor !’’ and
presently I knew the captain’s voice; when climbing up to the top of
the hill, there he stood, and pointing to the ship, he embraced me in
his arms: ‘My dear friend and deliverer!” says he, “there’s your
ship, for she is all yours, and so are we, and all that belong to her.”
I cast my eyes to the ship, and there she rode within a little more
than half a mile of the shore: for they had weighed her anchor as soon
as they were masters of her; and the weather being fair, had brought
her to an anchor just against the mouth of a little creek ; and the tide
being up, the captain had brought the pinnace in near the place where
I first landed my rafts, and so landed just at my door.

I was, at first, ready to sink down with the surprise: for I saw my
‘deliverance indeed visibly put into my hands, all things easy, and a.