Captain Singleton by Daniel Defoe

As it is usual for great persons, whose lives have been remarkable, and

whose actions deserve recording to posterity, to insist much upon their

originals, give full accounts of their families, and the histories of their

ancestors, so, that I may be methodical, I shall do the same, though I can

look but a very little way into my pedigree, as you will see presently.

If I may believe the woman whom I was taught to call mother, I was a little

boy, of about two years old, very well dressed, had a nursery-maid to

attend me, who took me out on a fine summer's evening into the fields

towards Islington, as she pretended, to give the child some air; a little

girl being with her, of twelve or fourteen years old, that lived in the

neighbourhood. The maid, whether by appointment or otherwise, meets with a

fellow, her sweetheart, as I suppose; he carries her into a public-house,

to give her a pot and a cake; and while they were toying in the house the

girl plays about, with me in her hand, in the garden and at the door,

sometimes in sight, sometimes out of sight, thinking no harm.

At this juncture comes by one of those sort of people who, it seems, made

it their business to spirit away little children. This was a hellish trade

in those days, and chiefly practised where they found little children very

well dressed, or for bigger children, to sell them to the plantations.

The woman, pretending to take me up in her arms and kiss me, and play with

me, draws the girl a good way from the house, till at last she makes a fine

story to the girl, and bids her go back to the maid, and tell her where she

was with the child; that a gentlewoman had taken a fancy to the child, and

was kissing of it, but she should not be frighted, or to that purpose; for

they were but just there; and so, while the girl went, she carries me quite

away.

From this time, it seems, I was disposed of to a beggar woman that wanted a

pretty little child to set out her case; and after that, to a gipsy, under

whose government I continued till I was about six years old. And this

woman, though I was continually dragged about with her from one part of the

country to another, yet never let me want for anything; and I called her

mother; though she told me at last she was not my mother, but that she

bought me for twelve shillings of another woman, who told her how she came

by me, and told her that my name was Bob Singleton, not Robert, but plain

Bob; for it seems they never knew by what name I was christened.

It is in vain to reflect here, what a terrible fright the careless hussy

was in that lost me; what treatment she received from my justly enraged

father and mother, and the horror these must be in at the thoughts of their

child being thus carried away; for as I never knew anything of the matter,

but just what I have related, nor who my father and mother were, so it

would make but a needless digression to talk of it here.

My good gipsy mother, for some of her worthy actions no doubt, happened in

process of time to be hanged; and as this fell out something too soon for

me to be perfected in the strolling trade, the parish where I was left,

which for my life I can't remember, took some care of me, to be sure; for

the first thing I can remember of myself afterwards, was, that I went to a

parish school, and the minister of the parish used to talk to me to be a

good boy; and that, though I was but a poor boy, if I minded my book, and

served God, I might make a good man.

I believe I was frequently removed from one town to another, perhaps as the

parishes disputed my supposed mother's last settlement. Whether I was so

shifted by passes, or otherwise, I know not; but the town where I last was

kept, whatever its name was, must be not far off from the seaside; for a

master of a ship who took a fancy to me, was the first that brought me to a

place not far from Southampton, which I afterwards knew to be Bussleton;

and there I attended the carpenters, and such people as were employed in

building a ship for him; and when it was done, though I was not above

twelve years old, he carried me to sea with him on a voyage to

Newfoundland.

I lived well enough, and pleased my master so well that he called me his

own boy; and I would have called him father, but he would not allow it, for

he had children of his own. I went three or four voyages with him, and grew

a great sturdy boy, when, coming home again from the banks of Newfoundland,

we were taken by an Algerine rover, or man-of-war; which, if my account

stands right, was about the year 1695, for you may be sure I kept no

journal.

I was not much concerned at the disaster, though I saw my master, after

having been wounded by a splinter in the head during the engagement, very

barbarously used by the Turks; I say, I was not much concerned, till, upon

some unlucky thing I said, which, as I remember, was about abusing my

master, they took me and beat me most unmercifully with a flat stick on the

soles of my feet, so that I could neither go or stand for several days

together.

But my good fortune was my friend upon this occasion; for, as they were

sailing away with our ship in tow as a prize, steering for the Straits, and

in sight of the bay of Cadiz, the Turkish rover was attacked by two great

Portuguese men-of-war, and taken and carried into Lisbon.

As I was not much concerned at my captivity, not indeed understanding the

consequences of it, if it had continued, so I was not suitably sensible of

my deliverance; nor, indeed, was it so much a deliverance to me as it would

otherwise have been, for my master, who was the only friend I had in the

world, died at Lisbon of his wounds; and I being then almost reduced to my

primitive state, viz., of starving, had this addition to it, that it was in

a foreign country too, where I knew nobody and could not speak a word of

their language. However, I fared better here than I had reason to expect;

for when all the rest of our men had their liberty to go where they would,

I, that knew not whither to go, stayed in the ship for several days, till

at length one of the lieutenants seeing me, inquired what that young

English dog did there, and why they did not turn him on shore.

I heard him, and partly understood what he meant, though not what he said,

and began then to be in a terrible fright; for I knew not where to get a

bit of bread; when the pilot of the ship, an old seaman, seeing me look

very dull, came to me, and speaking broken English to me, told me I must be

gone. "Whither must I go?" said I. "Where you will," said he, "home to your

own country, if you will." "How must I go thither?" said I. "Why, have you

no friend?" said he. "No," said I, "not in the world, but that dog,"

pointing to the ship's dog (who, having stolen a piece of meat just before,

had brought it close by me, and I had taken it from him, and ate it), "for

he has been a good friend, and brought me my dinner."

"Well, well," says he, "you must have your dinner. Will you go with me?"

"Yes," says I, "with all my heart." In short, the old pilot took me home

with him, and used me tolerably well, though I fared hard enough; and I

lived with him about two years, during which time he was soliciting his

business, and at length got to be master or pilot under Don Garcia de

Pimentesia de Carravallas, captain of a Portuguese galleon or carrack,

which was bound to Goa, in the East Indies; and immediately having gotten

his commission, put me on board to look after his cabin, in which he had

stored himself with abundance of liquors, succades, sugar, spices, and

other things, for his accommodation in the voyage, and laid in afterwards a

considerable quantity of European goods, fine lace and linen; and also

baize, woollen cloth, stuffs, &c., under the pretence of his clothes.

I was too young in the trade to keep any journal of this voyage, though my

master, who was, for a Portuguese, a pretty good artist, prompted me to it;

but my not understanding the language was one hindrance; at least it served

me for an excuse. However, after some time, I began to look into his charts

and books; and, as I could write a tolerable hand, understood some Latin,

and began to have a little smattering of the Portuguese tongue, so I began

to get a superficial knowledge of navigation, but not such as was likely to

be sufficient to carry me through a life of adventure, as mine was to be.

In short, I learned several material things in this voyage among the

Portuguese; I learned particularly to be an arrant thief and a bad sailor;

and I think I may say they are the best masters for teaching both these of

any nation in the world.

We made our way for the East Indies, by the coast of Brazil; not that it is

in the course of sailing the way thither, but our captain, either on his

own account, or by the direction of the merchants, went thither first,

where at All Saints' Bay, or, as they call it in Portugal, the Rio de Todos

los Santos, we delivered near a hundred tons of goods, and took in a

considerable quantity of gold, with some chests of sugar, and seventy or

eighty great rolls of tobacco, every roll weighing at least a

hundredweight.

Here, being lodged on shore by my master's order, I had the charge of the

captain's business, he having seen me very diligent for my own master; and

in requital for his mistaken confidence, I found means to secure, that is

to say, to steal, about twenty moidores out of the gold that was shipped on

board by the merchants, and this was my first adventure.

We had a tolerable voyage from hence to the Cape de Bona Speranza; and I

was reputed as a mighty diligent servant to my master, and very faithful. I

was diligent indeed, but I was very far from honest; however, they thought

me honest, which, by the way, was their very great mistake. Upon this very

mistake the captain took a particular liking to me, and employed me

frequently on his own occasion; and, on the other hand, in recompense for

my officious diligence, I received several particular favours from him;

particularly, I was, by the captain's command, made a kind of a steward

under the ship's steward, for such provisions as the captain demanded for

his own table. He had another steward for his private stores besides, but

my office concerned only what the captain called for of the ship's stores

for his private use.

However, by this means I had opportunity particularly to take care of my

master's man, and to furnish myself with sufficient provisions to make me

live much better than the other people in the ship; for the captain seldom

ordered anything out of the ship's stores, as above, but I snipt some of it

for my own share. We arrived at Goa, in the East Indies, in about seven

months from Lisbon, and remained there eight more; during which time I had

indeed nothing to do, my master being generally on shore, but to learn

everything that is wicked among the Portuguese, a nation the most

perfidious and the most debauched, the most insolent and cruel, of any that

pretend to call themselves Christians, in the world.

Thieving, lying, swearing, forswearing, joined to the most abominable

lewdness, was the stated practice of the ship's crew; adding to it, that,

with the most insufferable boasts of their own courage, they were,

generally speaking, the most complete cowards that I ever met with; and the

consequence of their cowardice was evident upon many occasions. However,

there was here and there one among them that was not so bad as the rest;

and, as my lot fell among them, it made me have the most contemptible

thoughts of the rest, as indeed they deserved.

I was exactly fitted for their society indeed; for I had no sense of virtue

or religion upon me. I had never heard much of either, except what a good

old parson had said to me when I was a child of about eight or nine years

old; nay, I was preparing and growing up apace to be as wicked as anybody

could be, or perhaps ever was. Fate certainly thus directed my beginning,

knowing that I had work which I had to do in the world, which nothing but

one hardened against all sense of honesty or religion could go through; and

yet, even in this state of original wickedness, I entertained such a

settled abhorrence of the abandoned vileness of the Portuguese, that I

could not but hate them most heartily from the beginning, and all my life

afterwards. They were so brutishly wicked, so base and perfidious, not only

to strangers but to one another, so meanly submissive when subjected, so

insolent, or barbarous and tyrannical, when superior, that I thought there

was something in them that shocked my very nature. Add to this that it is

natural to an Englishman to hate a coward, it all joined together to make

the devil and a Portuguese equally my aversion.

However, according to the English proverb, he that is shipped with the

devil must sail with the devil; I was among them, and I managed myself as

well as I could. My master had consented that I should assist the captain

in the office, as above; but, as I understood afterwards that the captain

allowed my master half a moidore a month for my service, and that he had my

name upon the ship's books also, I expected that when the ship came to be

paid four months' wages at the Indies, as they, it seems, always do, my

master would let me have something for myself.

But I was wrong in my man, for he was none of that kind; he had taken me up

as in distress, and his business was to keep me so, and make his market of

me as well as he could, which I began to think of after a different manner

than I did at first, for at first I thought he had entertained me in mere

charity, upon seeing my distressed circumstances, but did not doubt but

when he put me on board the ship, I should have some wages for my service.

But he thought, it seems, quite otherwise; and when I procured one to

speak to him about it, when the ship was paid at Goa, he flew into the

greatest rage imaginable, and called me English dog, young heretic, and

threatened to put me into the Inquisition. Indeed, of all the names the

four-and-twenty letters could make up, he should not have called me

heretic; for as I knew nothing about religion, neither Protestant from

Papist, or either of them from a Mahometan, I could never be a heretic.

However, it passed but a little, but, as young as I was, I had been

carried into the Inquisition, and there, if they had asked me if I was a

Protestant or a Catholic, I should have said yes to that which came

first. If it had been the Protestant they had asked first, it had

certainly made a martyr of me for I did not know what.

But the very priest they carried with them, or chaplain of the ship, as we

called him, saved me; for seeing me a boy entirely ignorant of religion,

and ready to do or say anything they bid me, he asked me some questions

about it, which he found I answered so very simply, that he took it upon

him to tell them he would answer for my being a good Catholic, and he hoped

he should be the means of saving my soul, and he pleased himself that it

was to be a work of merit to him; so he made me as good a Papist as any of

them in about a week's time.

I then told him my case about my master; how, it is true, he had taken me

up in a miserable case on board a man-of-war at Lisbon; and I was indebted

to him for bringing me on board this ship; that if I had been left at

Lisbon, I might have starved, and the like; and therefore I was willing to

serve him, but that I hoped he would give me some little consideration for

my service, or let me know how long he expected I should serve him for

nothing.

It was all one; neither the priest nor any one else could prevail with him,

but that I was not his servant but his slave, that he took me in the

Algerine, and that I was a Turk, only pretended to be an English boy to get

my liberty, and he would carry me to the Inquisition as a Turk.

This frighted me out of my wits, for I had nobody to vouch for me what I

was, or from whence I came; but the good Padre Antonio, for that was his

name, cleared me of that part by a way I did not understand; for he came to

me one morning with two sailors, and told me they must search me, to bear

witness that I was not a Turk. I was amazed at them, and frighted, and did

not understand them, nor could I imagine what they intended to do to me.

However, stripping me, they were soon satisfied, and Father Antony bade me

be easy, for they could all witness that I was no Turk. So I escaped that

part of my master's cruelty.

And now I resolved from that time to run away from him if I could, but

there was no doing of it there, for there were not ships of any nation in

the world in that port, except two or three Persian vessels from Ormus, so

that if I had offered to go away from him, he would have had me seized on

shore, and brought on board by force; so that I had no remedy but patience.

And this he brought to an end too as soon as he could, for after this he

began to use me ill, and not only to straiten my provisions, but to beat

and torture me in a barbarous manner for every trifle, so that, in a word,

my life began to be very miserable.

The violence of this usage of me, and the impossibility of my escape from

his hands, set my head a-working upon all sorts of mischief, and in

particular I resolved, after studying all other ways to deliver myself, and

finding all ineffectual, I say, I resolved to murder him. With this hellish

resolution in my head, I spent whole nights and days contriving how to put

it in execution, the devil prompting me very warmly to the fact. I was

indeed entirely at a loss for the means, for I had neither gun or sword,

nor any weapon to assault him with; poison I had my thoughts much upon, but

knew not where to get any; or, if I might have got it, I did not know the

country word for it, or by what name to ask for it.

In this manner I quitted the fact, intentionally, a hundred and a hundred

times; but Providence, either for his sake or for mine, always frustrated

my designs, and I could never bring it to pass; so I was obliged to

continue in his chains till the ship, having taken in her loading, set sail

for Portugal.

I can say nothing here to the manner of our voyage, for, as I said, I kept

no journal; but this I can give an account of, that having been once as

high as the Cape of Good Hope, as we call it, or Cabo de Bona Speranza, as

they call it, we were driven back again by a violent storm from the W.S.W.,

which held us six days and nights a great way to the eastward, and after

that, standing afore the wind for several days more, we at last came to an

anchor on the coast of Madagascar.

The storm had been so violent that the ship had received a great deal of

damage, and it required some time to repair her; so, standing in nearer the

shore, the pilot, my master, brought the ship into a very good harbour,

where we rid in twenty-six fathoms water, about half a mile from the shore.

While the ship rode here there happened a most desperate mutiny among the

men, upon account of some deficiency in their allowance, which came to that

height that they threatened the captain to set him on shore, and go back

with the ship to Goa. I wished they would with all my heart, for I was full

of mischief in my head, and ready enough to do any. So, though I was but a

boy, as they called me, yet I prompted the mischief all I could, and

embarked in it so openly, that I escaped very little being hanged in the

first and most early part of my life; for the captain had some notice that

there was a design laid by some of the company to murder him; and having,

partly by money and promises, and partly by threatening and torture,

brought two fellows to confess the particulars, and the names of the

persons concerned, they were presently apprehended, till, one accusing

another, no less than sixteen men were seized and put into irons, whereof I

was one.

The captain, who was made desperate by his danger, resolving to clear the

ship of his enemies, tried us all, and we were all condemned to die. The

manner of his process I was too young to take notice of; but the purser and

one of the gunners were hanged immediately, and I expected it with the

rest. I do not remember any great concern I was under about it, only that I

cried very much, for I knew little then of this world, and nothing at all

of the next.

However, the captain contented himself with executing these two, and some

of the rest, upon their humble submission and promise of future good

behaviour, were pardoned; but five were ordered to be set on shore on the

island and left there, of which I was one. My master used all his interest

with the captain to have me excused, but could not obtain it; for somebody

having told him that I was one of them who was singled out to have killed

him, when my master desired I might not be set on shore, the captain told

him I should stay on board if he desired it, but then I should be hanged,

so he might choose for me which he thought best. The captain, it seems, was

particularly provoked at my being concerned in the treachery, because of

his having been so kind to me, and of his having singled me out to serve

him, as I have said above; and this, perhaps, obliged him to give my master

such a rough choice, either to set me on shore or to have me hanged on

board. And had my master, indeed, known what good-will I had for him, he

would not have been long in choosing for me; for I had certainly determined

to do him a mischief the first opportunity I had for it. This was,

therefore, a good providence for me to keep me from dipping my hands in

blood, and it made me more tender afterwards in matters of blood than I

believe I should otherwise have been. But as to my being one of them that

was to kill the captain, that I was wronged in, for I was not the person,

but it was really one of them that were pardoned, he having the good luck

not to have that part discovered.

I was now to enter upon a part of independent life, a thing I was indeed

very ill prepared to manage, for I was perfectly loose and dissolute in my

behaviour, bold and wicked while I was under government, and now perfectly

unfit to be trusted with liberty, for I was as ripe for any villainy as a

young fellow that had no solid thought ever placed in his mind could be

supposed to be. Education, as you have heard, I had none; and all the

little scenes of life I had passed through had been full of dangers and

desperate circumstances; but I was either so young or so stupid, that I

escaped the grief and anxiety of them, for want of having a sense of their

tendency and consequences.

This thoughtless, unconcerned temper had one felicity indeed in it, that it

made me daring and ready for doing any mischief, and kept off the sorrow

which otherwise ought to have attended me when I fell into any mischief;

that this stupidity was instead of a happiness to me, for it left my

thoughts free to act upon means of escape and deliverance in my distress,

however great it might be; whereas my companions in the misery were so sunk

by their fear and grief, that they abandoned themselves to the misery of

their condition, and gave over all thought but of their perishing and

starving, being devoured by wild beasts, murdered, and perhaps eaten by

cannibals, and the like.

I was but a young fellow, about seventeen or eighteen; but hearing what was

to be my fate, I received it with no appearance of discouragement; but I

asked what my master said to it, and being told that he had used his utmost

interest to save me, but the captain had answered I should either go on

shore or be hanged on board, which he pleased, I then gave over all hope of

being received again. I was not very thankful in my thoughts to my master

for his soliciting the captain for me, because I knew that what he did was

not in kindness to me so much as in kindness to himself; I mean, to

preserve the wages which he got for me, which amounted to above six dollars

a month, including what the captain allowed him for my particular service

to him.

When I understood that my master was so apparently kind, I asked if I might

not be admitted to speak with him, and they told me I might, if my master

would come down to me, but I could not be allowed to come up to him; so

then I desired my master might be spoke to to come to me, and he

accordingly came to me. I fell on my knees to him, and begged he would

forgive me what I had done to displease him; and indeed the resolution I

had taken to murder him lay with some horror upon my mind just at that

time, so that I was once just a-going to confess it, and beg him to forgive

me, but I kept it in. He told me he had done all he could to obtain my

pardon of the captain, but could not and he knew no way for me but to have

patience, and submit to my fate; and if they came to speak with any ship of

their nation at the Cape, he would endeavour to have them stand in, and

fetch us off again, if we might be found.

Then I begged I might have my clothes on shore with me. He told me he was

afraid I should have little need of clothes, for he did not see how we

could long subsist on the island, and that he had been told that the

inhabitants were cannibals or men-eaters (though he had no reason for that

suggestion), and we should not be able to live among them. I told him I was

not so afraid of that as I was of starving for want of victuals; and as for

the inhabitants being cannibals, I believed we should be more likely to eat

them than they us, if we could but get at them. But I was mightily

concerned, I said, we should have no weapons with us to defend ourselves,

and I begged nothing now, but that he would give me a gun and a sword, with

a little powder and shot.

He smiled, and said they would signify nothing to us, for it was impossible

for us to pretend to preserve our lives among such a populous and desperate

nation as the people of this island were. I told him that, however, it

would do us this good, for we should not be devoured or destroyed

immediately; so I begged hard for the gun. At last he told me he did not

know whether the captain would give him leave to give me a gun, and if not,

he durst not do it; but he promised to use his interest to obtain it for

me, which he did, and the next day he sent me a gun, with some ammunition,

but told me the captain would not suffer the ammunition to be given us till

we were set all on shore, and till he was just going to set sail. He also

sent me the few clothes I had in the ship, which indeed were not many.

Two days after this, we were all carried on shore together; the rest of my

fellow-criminals hearing I had a gun, and some powder and shot, solicited

for liberty to carry the like with them, which was also granted them; and

thus we were set on shore to shift for ourselves.

At our first coming into the island we were terrified exceedingly with the

sight of the barbarous people, whose figure was made more terrible to us

than it really was by the report we had of them from the seamen; but when

we came to converse with them awhile, we found they were not cannibals, as

was reported, or such as would fall immediately upon us and eat us up; but

they came and sat down by us, and wondered much at our clothes and arms,

and made signs to give us some victuals, such as they had, which was only

roots and plants dug out of the ground for the present, but they brought us

fowls and flesh afterwards in good plenty.

This encouraged the other four men that were with me very much, for they

were quite dejected before; but now they began to be very familiar with

them, and made signs, that if they would use us kindly, we would stay and

live with them; which they seemed glad of, though they knew little of the

necessity we were under to do so, or how much we were afraid of them.

However, upon second thoughts we resolved that we would only stay in that

part so long as the ship rid in the bay, and then making them believe we

were gone with the ship, we would go and place ourselves, if possible,

where there were no inhabitants to be seen, and so live as we could, or

perhaps watch for a ship that might be driven upon the coast as we were.

The ship continued a fortnight in the roads, repairing some damage which

had been done her in the late storm, and taking in wood and water; and

during this time, the boat coming often on shore, the men brought us

several refreshments, and the natives believing we only belonged to the

ship, were civil enough. We lived in a kind of a tent on the shore, or

rather a hut, which we made with the boughs of trees, and sometimes in the

night retired to a wood a little out of their way, to let them think we

were gone on board the ship. However, we found them barbarous, treacherous,

and villainous enough in their nature, only civil from fear, and therefore

concluded we should soon fall into their hands when the ship was gone.

The sense of this wrought upon my fellow-sufferers even to distraction; and

one of them, being a carpenter, in his mad fit, swam off to the ship in the

night, though she lay then a league to sea, and made such pitiful moan to

be taken in, that the captain was prevailed with at last to take him in,

though they let him lie swimming three hours in the water before he

consented to it.

Upon this, and his humble submission, the captain received him, and, in a

word, the importunity of this man (who for some time petitioned to be taken

in, though they hanged him as soon as they had him) was such as could not

be resisted; for, after he had swam so long about the ship, he was not able

to reach the shore again; and the captain saw evidently that the man must

be taken on board or suffered to drown, and the whole ship's company

offering to be bound for him for his good behaviour, the captain at last

yielded, and he was taken up, but almost dead with his being so long in the

water.

When this man was got in, he never left importuning the captain, and all

the rest of the officers, in behalf of us that were behind, but to the very

last day the captain was inexorable; when, at the time their preparations

were making to sail, and orders given to hoist the boats into the ship, all

the seamen in a body came up to the rail of the quarter-deck, where the

captain was walking with some of his officers, and appointing the boatswain

to speak for them, he went up, and falling on his knees to the captain,

begged of him, in the humblest manner possible, to receive the four men on

board again, offering to answer for their fidelity, or to have them kept in

chains till they came to Lisbon, and there to be delivered up to justice,

rather than, as they said, to have them left to be murdered by savages, or

devoured by wild beasts. It was a great while ere the captain took any

notice of them, but when he did, he ordered the boatswain to be seized, and

threatened to bring him to the capstan for speaking for them.

Upon this severity, one of the seamen, bolder than the rest, but still with

all possible respect to the captain, besought his honour, as he called him,

that he would give leave to some more of them to go on shore, and die with

their companions, or, if possible, to assist them to resist the barbarians.

The captain, rather provoked than cowed with this, came to the barricade of

the quarter-deck, and speaking very prudently to the men (for had he spoken

roughly, two-thirds of them would have left the ship, if not all of them),

he told them, it was for their safety as well as his own that he had been

obliged to that severity; that mutiny on board a ship was the same thing as

treason in a king's palace, and he could not answer it to his owners and

employers to trust the ship and goods committed to his charge with men who

had entertained thoughts of the worst and blackest nature; that he wished

heartily that it had been anywhere else that they had been set on shore,

where they might have been in less hazard from the savages; that, if he had

designed they should be destroyed, he could as well have executed them on

board as the other two; that he wished it had been in some other part of

the world, where he might have delivered them up to the civil justice, or

might have left them among Christians; but it was better their lives were

put in hazard than his life, and the safety of the ship; and that though he

did not know that he had deserved so ill of any of them as that they should

leave the ship rather than do their duty, yet if any of them were resolved

to do so unless he would consent to take a gang of traitors on board, who,

as he had proved before them all, had conspired to murder him, he would not

hinder them, nor for the present would he resent their importunity; but, if

there was nobody left in the ship but himself, he would never consent to

take them on board.

This discourse was delivered so well, was in itself so reasonable, was

managed with so much temper, yet so boldly concluded with a negative, that

the greatest part of the men were satisfied for the present. However, as it

put the men into juntos and cabals, they were not composed for some hours;

the wind also slackening towards night, the captain ordered not to weigh

till next morning.