582 THE ‘ BUTCHER'S BILI.”

By the time the men got to the shore again with the pinnace
our men began to appear. They came dropping in, some and
some; not in two bodies, and in form, as they went, but all in
heaps, straggling here and there in such a manner that a small
force of resolute men might have cut them all off,

But the dread of them was upon the whole country ; and the
men were amazed and surprised, and so frightened, that T believe
a hundred of them would have fled at the sight of but five of our
men. Nor in all this terrible action was there a man who made
any considerable defence. They were so surprised between the
terror of the fire and the sudden attack of our men in the dark,
that they knew not which way to turn themselves: for if they fled
one way, they were met by one party; if back again, by another ;
so that they were everywhere knocked down. Nor did any of our
men receive the least hurt, except one, who strained his foot ; and
another had one of his hands very much burned.

T was very angry with my nephew the captain, and indeed
with all the men, in my mind; but with him in particular, as
well for his acting so out of his duty as commander of the ship,
and haying the charge of the voyage upon him, as in his prompting
rather than cooling the rage of his men in so bloody and cruel an
enterprise. My nephew answered me very respectfully; but told
me that when he saw the body of the poor seaman, whom they had
murdered in such a cruel and barbarous manner, he was not master
of himself, neither could he govern his passion. He owned he
should not have done so, as he was commander of the ship; but as
he was a man, and nature moved him, he could not bear it. As
for the rest of the men, they were not subject to me at all; and
they knew it well enough, so they took no notice of my dislike.

The next day we set sail, so we never heard any more of it.
Our men differed in the account of the number they killed: some
said one thing, some another; but according to the best of their
accounts put together, they killed or destroyed about one hundred
and fifty people, men, women, and children, and left not a house
standing in the town. As for the poor fellow, Thomas Jeffery, as
he was quite dead, for his throat was so cut that his head was
half off, it would do him no service to bring him away. So they