 20 The Life, Adventures, and Piracies of Captain Singleton by Daniel Defoe The tide was up, as we call it, so that it did not appear very much above the water, but as they made downwards they found it grow bigger and bigger, and the tide soon after ebbing out they found it lay dry upon the sands, and appeared to be the wreck of a considerable vessel, larger than could be expected in that country. After some time, William, taking out his glass to look at it more nearly, was surprised with hearing a musket-shot whistle by him, and immediately after that he heard the gun, and saw the smoke from the other side, upon which our men immediately fired three muskets to discover, if possible, what or who they were. Upon the noise of these guns, abundance of men came running down to the shore from among the trees, and our men could easily perceive that they were Europeans, though they knew not of what nation. However, our men hallowed to them as loud as they could, and by and by they got a long pole and set it up, and hung a white shirt upon it for a flag of truce. They on the other side saw it by the help of their glasses, too, and quickly after our men see a boat launch off from the shore, as they thought, but it was from another creek, it seems, and immediately they came rowing over the creek to our men, carrying also a white flag as a token of truce. It is not easy to describe the surprise or joy and satisfaction that appeared on both sides to see not only white men, but Englishmen in a place so remote, but what then must it be when they came to know one another, and to find that they were not only countrymen, but comrades, and that this was the very ship that Captain Wilmot, our admiral, commanded, and whose company we had lost in the storm at Tobago after making an agreement to run debut at Madagascar. They had, it seems, got intelligence of us when they came to the south part of the island, and had been a roving as far as the Gulf of Bengal, when they met Captain Avery, with whom they joined, took several prizes, and amongst the rest one ship with the great mogul's daughter, and an immense treasure in money and jewels. And from thence they came about the coast of Coromandel, and afterwards that of Malabar, into the Gulf of Persia, where they also took some prize, and then designed for the south part of Madagascar, but the winds blowing hard at southeast and southeast by east, they came to the northward side of the isle, and being after that separated by a furious tempest from the northwest, they were forced into the mouth of that creek, where they lost their ship, and they told us, also, that they heard that Captain Avery himself had lost his ship, also not far off. When they had thus acquainted one another with their fortunes, the poor overjoyed men were in haste to go back to communicate their joy to their comrades, and leaving some of their men with ours, the rest went back, and William was so earnest to see them that he and two more men went back with them, and there he came to their little camp where they lived. There were about 160 men of them in all. They had got their guns on shore, and some ammunition, but a good deal of their powder was spoiled. However, they had raised a fair platform, and mounted twelve pieces of cannon upon it, which was a sufficient defense to them on that side of the sea, and just at the end of the platform they had made a launch and a little yard, and were all hard at work building another little ship, as I may call it, to go to sea in, but they put a stop to this work upon the news they had of our being come in. When our men went into their huts, it was surprising indeed to see the vast stock of wealth they had got in gold and silver and jewels, which, however, they told us was a trifle to what Captain Avery had wherever he was gone. It was five days we had waited for our men, and no news of them, and indeed I gave them over for lost, but was surprised, after five days waiting, to see a ship's boat come rowing towards us along shore. What to make of it I could not tell, but was, at least, better satisfied when our men told me they heard them, halloe, and saw them wave their caps to us. In a little time they came quite up to us, and I saw a friend William stand up in the boat and make signs to us, so they came on board. But when I saw there were but fifteen of our one and thirty men, I asked him what had become of their fellows. Oh, says William, they are all very well, and my dream is fully made good, and the coxswains too. This made me very impatient to know how the case stood, so he told us the whole story, which indeed surprised us all. The next day we wade and stood away southerly to join Captain Wilmot and ship at Mangaheli, where we found them, as I said, a little chagrante at our stay, but we pacified him afterwards, with telling him the history of William's dream, and the consequence of it. In the meantime the camp of our comrades was so near Mangaheli that our admiral and I, friend William, and some of the men, resolved to take the sloop and go and see them, and fetch them all, and their goods, bag and baggage, on board our ship, which accordingly we did, and found their camp, their fortifications, the battery of guns they had erected, their treasure, and all the men, just as William had related it. So after some stay we took all the men into the sloop and brought them away with us. It was some time before we knew what was become of Captain Avery, but after about a month, by the direction of the men who had lost their ship, we sent the sloop to cruise along the shore to find out, if possible, where they were, and in about a week's cruise our men found them, and particularly that they had lost their ship, as well as our men had lost theirs, and that they were every way in as bad a condition as ours. It was about ten days before the sloop returned, and Captain Avery with them, and this was the whole force that, as I remember, Captain Avery ever had with him. For now we joined all our companies together, and it stood thus. We had two ships and a sloop, in which we had 320 men, but much too few to man them as they ought to be, the great Portuguese ship requiring of herself near 400 to man her completely. As for our lost, but now found, comrade, her compliment of men was 180, or thereabouts, and Captain Avery had about 300 men with him, whereof he had ten carpenters with him, most of which were taken aboard the prize they had taken, so that, in a word, all the force Avery had at Madagascar in the year 1699, or thereabouts, amounted to our three ships for his own was lost, as you have heard, and never had any more than about 1200 men in all. It was about a month after this that all our crews got together, and as Avery was unshipped, we all agreed to bring our company into the Portuguese man of war and the sloop, and give Captain Avery the Spanish frigate with all the tackles and furniture, guns and ammunition for his crew by themselves, for which they, being full of wealth, agreed to give us 40,000 pieces of eight. It was next considered what course we should take. Captain Avery, to give him his due, proposed our building a little city here, establishing ourselves on shore with a good fortification, and works proper to defend ourselves, and that, as we had wealth enough, and could increase it to what degree we pleased, we should content ourselves to retire here, and bid defiance to the world. But I soon convinced him that this place would be no security to us if we pretended to carry on our cruising trade, for that then all the nations of Europe, and indeed of that part of the world, would be engaged to root us out. But if we resolved to live there, as in retirement, and plant in the country as private men, and give over our trade of pirating, then indeed we might plant and settle ourselves where we pleased. But then I told him, the best way would be to treat with the natives, and by a tract of land of them, farther up the country, seated upon some navigable river, where boats might go up and down for pleasure, but not ships to endanger us, that thus planting the high ground with cattle, such as cows and goats, of which the country also was full, to be sure we might live here as well as any men in the world. And I owned to him, I thought it was a good retreat for those that were willing to leave off and lay down, and yet did not care to venture home and be hanged, that is to say, to run the risk of it. Captain Avery, however he made no positive discovery of his intentions, seemed to me to decline my notion of going up into the country to plant. On the contrary, it was apparent he was of Captain Wilmett's opinion, that they might maintain themselves on shore, and yet carry on their cruising trade too, and upon this they resolved. But as I afterwards understood, about fifty of their men went up the country and settled themselves in an inland place as a colony. Whether they are there still or not, I cannot tell, or how many of them are left alive. But it is my opinion they are there still, and that they are considerably increased. For, as I hear, they have got some women among them, though not many, for it seems five Dutch women, and three or four little girls, were taken by them in a Dutch ship, which they afterwards took along to Mocha. And three of these women, marrying some of these men, went with them to live in their new plantation. But of this I speak only by hearsay. As we lay here some time, I found our people mightily divided in their notions. Some were foregoing this way, and some that. Till at last I began to foresee they would part company, and perhaps we should not have many enough to keep together to man the great ship. So I took Captain Wilmot aside and began to talk to him about it, but soon perceived that he inclined himself to stay at Madagascar. And having got a vast wealth for his own share had secret designs of getting home some way or other. I argued the impossibility of it, and the hazard he would run either of falling into the hands of thieves and murderers in the Red Sea, who would never let such a treasure as his pass their hands, or of his falling into the hands of the English, Dutch or French, who would certainly hang him for a pirate. I gave him an account of the voyage I had made from this very place to the continent of Africa, and what a journey it was to travel on foot. In short, nothing could persuade him, but he would go into the Red Sea with the sloop, and where the children of Israel passed through the sea dry shod, and landing there would travel to Grand Cairo by land, which is not above 80 miles, and from thence he said he could ship himself, by the way of Alexandria, to any part of the world. I represented the hazard, and indeed the impossibility of his passing by Mocha in Jida without being attacked, if he offered it by force, or plundered, if he went to get leave. And explained the reasons of it so much, and so effectually that, though at last he would not hearken to it himself, none of his men would go with him. They told him they would go anywhere with him to serve him, but that this was running himself, and them, into certain destruction, without any possibility of avoiding it, or probability of answering his end. The captain took what I said to him quite wrong, and pretended to resent it, and gave me some buccaneer words upon it, but I gave him no return to it but this, that I advised him for his advantage, that if he did not understand it so, it was his fault, not mine, that I did not forbid him to go, nor had I offered to persuade any of the men not to go with him, though it was to their apparent destruction. However warm heads are not easily cooled, the captain was so eager that he quitted our company, and with most part of his crew went over to captain Avery, and sorted with his people, taking all the treasure with him, which by the way was not very fair in him, we have been agreed to share all our gains, whether more or less, whether absent or present. Our men muttered a little at it, but I pacified them as well as I could, and told them it was easy for us to get as much if we minded our hits, and captain Wilmot had set us a very good example, for by the same rule, the agreement of any further sharing of profits with them was at an end. I took this occasion to put into their heads some part of my further designs, which were to range over the eastern sea, and see if we could not make ourselves as rich as Mr. Avery, who, it was true, had gotten a prodigious deal of money, though not half of what was said of it in Europe. Our men were so pleased with my forward, enterprising temper, that they assured me they would go with me, one and all, over the whole globe, wherever I would carry them, and, as for captain Wilmot, they would have nothing more to do with him. This came to his ears, and put him into a great rage, so that he threatened, if I came on shore, he would cut my throat. I had information of it privately, but took no notice of it at all. Only I took care not to go unprovided for him, and seldom walked about, but in very good company. However, at last captain Wilmot and I met, and talked over the matter very seriously, and I offered him the sloop to go where he pleased, or, if he was not satisfied with that, I offered to take the sloop, and leave him the great ship. But he declined both, and only desired that I would leave him six carpenters, which I had in our ship more than I had need of, to help his men, to finish the sloop that was begun before we came thither, by the men that lost their ship. This I consented readily to, and lent him several other hands that were useful to them, and, in a little time, they built a stout brigantine, able to carry fourteen guns, and two hundred men. What measures they took, and how Captain Avery managed afterwards, is too long a story to meddle with here, nor is it any of my business, having my own story still upon my hands. We lay here, about these several simple disputes, almost five months, when, about the latter end of March, I set sail with the great ship, having in her forty-four guns and four hundred men, and the sloop carrying eighty men. We did not steer to the Malabar coast, and so to the Gulf of Persia, as was first intended, the East Monsoons blowing yet too strong. But we kept more under the African coast, where we had the Wynn variable, till we passed the line, and made the Cape Bassa, in the latitude of four degrees ten minutes. From thence, the Monsoons beginning to change to the northeast, and north northeast, we led it away, with the wind large to the Maldives, a famous ledge of islands, well known by all the sailors who have gone into those parts of the world. And leaving these islands a little to the south, we made Cape Comeran, the southernmost land of the coast of Malabar, and went round the Isle of Ceylon. Here we lay by a while to wait for purchase, and here we saw three large English East India ships going from Bengal, or from Fort St. George, homeward for England, or rather for Bombay and Surat, till the trade set in. We brought two, and, hoisting an English ancient and pendant, lay by for them, as if we intended to attack them. They could not tell what to make of us a good while, though they saw our colors, and I believe at first they thought us to be French. But as they came nearer to us, we let them soon see what we were for. We hoisted a black flag, with two cross daggers in it, on our main top mast head, which let them see what they were to expect. We soon found the effects for this, for at first they spread their ancients, and made up to us in a line, as if they would fight us, having the wind off shore. Fair enough to have brought them on board us. But when they saw what force we were of, and found we were cruisers of another kind, they stood away from us again, with all the sail they could make. If they had come up, we should have given them an unexpected welcome, but as it was, we had no mind to follow them, so we let them go, for the same reasons which I mentioned before. But though we let them pass, we did not design to let others go at so easy a price. It was but the next morning that we saw a sail standing round Cape Comorran, and steering, as we thought, the same course with us. We knew not at first what to do with her, because she had the shore on her lardbird quarter, and if we offered to chase her, she might put into any port or creek and escape us. But to prevent this, we sent the sloop to get in between her and the land. As soon as she saw that, she hauled in to keep the land aboard, and when the sloop stood towards her, she made right ashore, with all the canvas she could spread. The sloop, however, came up with her and engaged her, and found she was a vessel of ten guns, Portuguese built, but in the Dutch traders' hands, and manned by Dutchmen, who were bound from the Gulf of Persia to Batavia, to fetch spices, and other goods from thence. The sloop's men took her, and had the rummaging of her, before we came up. She had in her some European goods, and a good round sum of money, and some pearl, so that, though we did not go to the Gulf, for the pearl, the pearl came to us out of the Gulf, and we had our share of it. This was a rich ship, and the goods were of very considerable value, besides the money and the pearl. We had a long consultation here, what we should do with the men, for to give them the ship, and let them pursue their voyage to Java, would be to alarm the Dutch factory there, who are by far the strongest in the Indies, and to make our passage that way impracticable. Whereas we resolved to visit that part of the world in our way, but were not willing to pass the great Bay of Bengal, where we hoped for a great deal of purchase, and therefore it behooved us not to be waylaid before we came there, because they knew we must pass by the Straits of Malacca, or those of Sunda, and either way it was very easy to prevent us. While we were consulting this in the Great Cabin, the men had had the same debate before the mast. It seems the majority there were for pickling up the poor Dutchmen among the herrings, in a word, they were for throwing them all into the sea. Poor William, the Quaker, was in great concern about this, and comes directly to me to talk about it. Heart thee, says William, what wilt thou do with these Dutchmen that thou hast on board? Thou wilt not let them go, I suppose, says he. Why, says I, William, would you advise me to let them go? No, says William, I cannot say it is fit for thee to let them go, that is to say, to go on with their voyage to Batavia, because it is not for thy turn that the Dutch at Batavia should have any knowledge of thy being in these seas. Well then, says I to him, I know no remedy but to throw them overboard. You know, William, says I, a Dutchman swims like a fish, and all our people here are of the same opinion as well as I, at the same time I resolved it should not be done, but wanted to hear what William would say. He gravely replied, if all the men of the ship were of that mind, I will never believe that thou wilt be of that mind thyself, for I have heard the protest against cruelty in all other cases. Well, William, says I, that is true, but what then shall we do with them? Why, says William, is there no way but to murder them? I am persuaded thou canst not be in earnest. No, indeed, William, says I, I am not in earnest, but they shall not go to Java, no, nor to Ceylon, that is certain. But, says William, the men have done thee no injury at all. Thou hast taken a great treasure from them. What canst thou pretend to hurt them for? Nay, William, says I, do not talk of that. I have pretence enough, if that be all. My pretence is to prevent doing me hurt, and that is as necessary a piece of the law of self-preservation as any you can name. But the main thing is, I know not what to do with them, to prevent their prating. While William and I were talking, the poor Dutchmen were openly condemned to die, as it may be called, by the whole ship's company. And so warm were the men upon it, that they grew very clamorous. And when they heard that William was against it, some of them swore they should die, and if William opposed it, he should drown along with them. But, as I was resolved to put an end to their cruel project, so I found it was time to take upon me a little, or the bloody humor, might grow too strong. So I called the Dutchmen up, and talked a little with them. First, I asked them if they were willing to go with us. Two of them offered it presently, but the rest, which were fourteen, declined it. Well then, said I, where would you go? They desired they should go to Ceylon. No, I told them I could not allow them to go to any Dutch factory, and told them very plainly the reasons of it, which they could not deny to be just. I let them know, also, the cruel, bloody measures of our men, but that I had resolved to save them, if possible. And therefore, I told them I would set them on shore at some English factory in the Bay of Bengal, or put them on board any English ship I met, after I was past the Straits of Sunda, or of Malacca, but not before. For, as to my coming back again, I told them I would run the venture of their Dutch power from Batavia, but I would not have the news come there before me, because it would make all their merchant ships lay up and keep out of our way. It came next into our consideration what we should do with their ship, but that was not long resolving, for there were but two ways, either to set her on fire, or to run her on shore, and we chose the last. So we set her forciel with the tack at the cat head, and lashed her helm a little to starboard to answer her head sail, and so set her a going, with neither cat or dog in her, and it was not above two hours before we saw her run, right ashore upon the coast, a little beyond the Cape Comoran, and away we went round about Salon for the coast of Coromandel. End of section 20, read by Dennis Sayers in Modesto, California for LibriVox. Section 21 of Captain Singleton. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Dennis Sayers. The Life Adventures and Piracies of Captain Singleton by Daniel Defoe. Section 21. We sailed along there not in sight of the shore only, but so near as to see the ships in the road at Fort St. David, Fort St. George, and at the other factories along that shore, as well as along the coast of Golconda, carrying our English ancient when we came near the Dutch factories, and Dutch colors when we passed by the English factories. We met with little purchase upon this coast, except two small vessels of Golconda, bound across the bay with bales of calicoes and muslins and wrought silks, and fifteen bales of romals from the bottom of the bay, which were going on whose account we knew not to Echin and to the other ports on the coast of Malacca. We did not inquire to what place in particular, but we let the vessels go, having none but Indians on board. In the bottom of the bay, we met with a great junk belonging to the moguls court, with a great many people, passengers as we supposed them to be. It seems they were bound for the River Hoogley, or Ganges, and came from Sumatra. This was a prize worth taking indeed, and we got so much gold in her, besides other goods, which we did not meddle with, pepper in particular, that it had like to have put an end to our crews. For almost all my men said we were rich enough, and desired to go back again to Madagascar. But I had other things in my head still, and when I came to talk with them, and set friend William to talk with them, we put such further golden hopes into their heads that we soon prevailed with them to let us go on. The next design was to leave all the dangerous straits of Malacca, Singapore and Sunda, where we could expect no great booty, but what we might light on in European ships, which we must fight for. And though we were able to fight, and wanted no courage, even to desperation, yet we were rich too, and resolved to be richer, and took this for our maximum, that while we were sure the wealth we sought was to be had without fighting, we had no occasion to put ourselves to the necessity of fighting for that which would come upon easy terms. We left, therefore, the Bay of Bengal, and coming to the coast of Sumatra, we put in at a small port, where there was a town inhabited only by malaise, and here we took in fresh water and a large quantity of good pork, pickled up and well salted, notwithstanding the heat of the climate, being in the very middle of the torrid zone, viz in three degrees fifteen minutes north latitude. We also took on board both our vessels forty hogs alive, which served us for fresh provisions, having abundance of food for them, such as the country produced, such as guams, potatoes, and a sort of coarse rice, good for nothing else but to feed the swine. We killed one of these hogs every day, and found them to be excellent to meet. We took in also a monstrous quantity of ducks, and cocks and hens, the same kind as we have in England, which we kept for change of provisions, and if I remember right, we had no less than two thousand of them, so that at first we were pestered with them very much, but we soon lessened them by boiling, roasting, stewing, etc., for we never wanted while we had them. My long projected design now lay open to me, which was to fall in amongst the Dutch Spice Islands, and see what mischief I could do there. Accordingly, we put out to see the 12th of August, and passing the line on the seventeenth, we stood away due south, leaving the Straits of Sunda and the Isle of Java on the east, till we came to the latitude of eleven degrees, twenty minutes, when we steered east and east northeast, having easy gales from the west southwest, till we came among the Moluccas, or Spice Islands. We passed those seas with less difficulty than in other places, the winds to the south of Java being more variable, and the weather good, though sometimes we met with squally weather and short storms, but when we came in among the Spice Islands themselves, we had a share of the monsoons, or trade winds, and made use of them accordingly. The infinite number of islands which lie in the seas embarrassed us strangely, and it was with great difficulty that we worked our way through them. Then we steered for the north side of the Philippines, when we had a double chance for purchase, viz either to meet with the Spanish ships from Acapulco on the coast of New Spain, or we were certain not to fail of finding some ships or junks of China, who, if they came from China, would have a great quantity of goods of value on board, as well as money, or if we took them going back, we should find them laden with nutmegs and cloves from Banda and Ternate, or from some of the other islands. We were right, and our guess is here, to a tiddle, and we steered directly through a large outlet, which they call a straight, though it be fifteen miles broad, and to an island they called Dammer, and from thence north northeast to Banda. Between these islands we met with a Dutch junk, or vessel, going to Amboina. We took her without much trouble, and I had much ado to prevent our men murdering all the men, as soon as they heard them say they belonged to Amboina. The reasons, I suppose, anyone will guess. We took out of her about sixteen tons of nutmegs, some provisions, and their small arms, for they had no great guns, and let the ship go. From thence we sailed directly to the Banda Island, or islands, where we were sure to get more nutmegs if we thought fit. For my part I would willingly have got more nutmegs, though I had paid for them, but our people abhorred pain for anything, so we got about twelve ton more at several times, most of them from shore, and only a few in a small boat of the natives, which was going to Guilolo. We would have traded openly, but the Dutch, who have made themselves masters of all these islands, forbade the people dealing with us, or any strangers, whatever, and kept them so in awe that they durced not to do it. So we could indeed have made nothing of it if we had stayed longer, and therefore resolved to be gone for Ternate, and see if we could make up our loading with clothes. Accordingly we stood away north, but found ourselves so entangled among innumerable islands, and without any pilot that understood the channel and races between them, that we were obliged to give it over, and resolved to go back again to Banda, and see what we could get among the other islands thereabouts. The first adventure we made here had liked to have been fatal to us all, for the sloop, being ahead, made the signal to us foreseeing a sail, and afterwards another and a third, by which we understood she saw three sail, whereupon we made more sail to come up with her, but on a sudden were gotten among some rocks, falling foul upon them in such a manner as frightened us all very heartily. For having, it seems, but just water enough, as it were to an inch, our rudder struck upon the top of a rock, which gave us a terrible shock, and split a great piece off the rudder, and indeed disabled it so that our ship would not steer at all, at least not so as to be depended upon, and we were glad to hand all our sails except our foremail and main top sail, and with them we stood away to the east to see if we could find any creek, or harbour, where we might lay the ship on shore, and repair our rudder. Besides, we found the ship herself had received some damage, for she had some little leak near her stern post, but a great way under water. By this mischance we lost the advantages, whatever they were, of the three sail of ships, which we afterwards came to hear, were small Dutch ships from Batavia, going from Banda and Ambonia to load spice, and no doubt had a good quantity of money on board. Upon the disaster I have been speaking of, you may very well suppose that we came to an anchor as soon as we could, which was on a small island not far from Banda, where though the Dutch keep no factory, yet they come at the season to buy nutmegs and mace. We stayed here 13 days, but there being no place where we could lay the ship on shore, we sent the sloop to cruise among the islands to look for a place fit for us. In the meantime, we got very good water here, some provisions, roots and fruits, and a good quantity of nutmegs and mace, which we found ways to trade with the natives for, without the knowledge of their masters, the Dutch. At length our sloop returned, having found another island where there was a very good harbor, and we ran in and came to an anchor. We immediately unbent all our sails, sent them ashore upon the island, and set up seven or eight tenths with them. Then we unrugged our top masts and cut them down, hoisted all our guns out, our provisions and loading, and put them ashore in the tents. With the guns we made two small batteries, for fear of a surprise, and kept a lookout upon the hill. When we were all ready, we laid the ship of ground upon a hard sand, the upper end of the harbor, and shored her up on each side. At low water, she lay almost dry, so we mended her bottom, and stopped the leak, which was occasioned by straining some of the rudder irons with the shock which the ship had against the rock. Having done this, we also took occasion to clean her bottom, which having been at sea so long, was very foul. The sloop washed and tallowed also, but was ready before us, and cruised eight or ten days among the islands, but met with no purchase, so that we began to be tired of the place, having little to divert us, but the most furious claps of thunder that ever were heard, or read of, in the world. We were in hopes to have met with some purchase here among the Chinese, who, we had been told, came to Ternate to trade for clothes, and to Banda Isles for nutmegs, and we would have been very glad to have loaded our galleon, or great ship, with these two sorts of spice, and having thought it a glorious voyage. But we found nothing stirring more than what I have said, except Dutchmen, who, by what means we could not imagine, had either a jealousy of us, or intelligence of us, and kept themselves close in their ports. I was once resolved to have made a dissent at the island of Dumas, the place most famous for the best nutmegs. Brought friend William, who was always for doing our business without fighting, dissuaded me from it, and gave such reasons for it, that we could not resist, particularly the great heats of the season, and of the place, for we were now in the latitude of just half a degree south. But while we were disputing this point, we were soon determined by the following accident. We had a strong gale of wind at southwest by west, and the ship had fresh way, but a great sea rolling in upon us from the northeast, which we afterwards found, was the pouring in of the great ocean east of New Guinea. However, as I said, we stood away large, and made fresh way, when, on the sudden, from a dark cloud which hovered over our heads came a flash, or rather blast of lightning, which was so terrible and quivered so long among us, that not I only, but all our men, thought the ship was on fire. The heat of the flash, or fire, was so sensibly felt in our faces that some of our men had blisters raised by it on their skins, not immediately, perhaps, by the heat, but by the poisonous or noxious particles which mixed themselves with the matter inflamed. But this was not all. The shock of the air, which the fracture in the clouds made, was such that our ship shook as when a broadside is fired, and her motion being checked, as it were at once, by a repulse superior to the force that gave her way before, the sails all flew back in a moment, and the ship lay, as we might truly say, thunder struck. As the blast from the cloud was so very near us, it was but a few moments after the flash, that the terribleist clap of thunder followed that was ever heard by mortals. I firmly believe a blast of a hundred thousand barrels of gunpowder could not have been greater to our hearing. Nay, indeed, to some of our men it took away their hearing. It is not possible for me to describe, or anyone to conceive, the terror of that moment. Our men were in such a consternation that not a man on board the ship had presence of mind to apply to the proper duty of a sailor. Except friend William, and had he not run very nimbly, and with a composure that I am sure I was not master of, to let go the foresheet, set in the weather brace of the foreyard, and haul down the top sails, we had certainly brought all our masts by the board, and perhaps have been overwhelmed by the sea. As for myself, I must confess, my eyes were open to my danger, though not the least to anything of application for remedy. I was all amazement and confusion, and this was the first time that I can say I began to feel the effects of that horror, which I know sense much more of upon the just reflection on my former life. I thought myself doomed by heaven to sink that moment into eternal destruction, and with this peculiar mark of terror, vis that the vengeance was not executed in the ordinary way of human justice, but that God had taken me into his immediate disposing, and had resolved to be the executor of his own vengeance. Let them alone describe the confusion I was in who knew what was the case of John Child of Shadwell or Francis Spira. It is impossible to describe it. My soul was all amazement and surprise. I thought myself just sinking into eternity, owning the divine justice of my punishment, but not at all feeling any of the moving, softening tokens of a sincere penitent, afflicted at the punishment, but not at the crime, alarmed at the vengeance, but not terrified at the guilt, having the same gust to the crime, though terrified to the last degree at the thought of the punishment, which I concluded I was just now going to receive. But perhaps many that read this will be sensible of the thunder and lightning, that may think nothing of the rest, or rather may make a jest of it all. So I say no more of it at this time, but proceed to the story of the voyage. When the amazement was over, and the men began to come to themselves, they fell a calling for one another, every one for his friend, or for those he had most respect for, and it was a singular satisfaction to find that nobody was hurt. The next thing was to inquire if the ship had received no damage, when the boson stepping forward found that part of the head was gone, but not so as to endanger the bowsprit. So we hoisted our top sails again, hauled after the foresheet, braced the yards, and went our course as before. Nor can I deny but that we were all somewhat like the ship, our first astonishment being a little over, and that we found the ship swim again. We were soon the same irreligious, hardened crew that we were before, and I among the rest. As we now steered our course lay north, northeast, and we passed, thus with a fair wind, through the strait or channel between the island of Gilolo and the land of Nova Guinea, when we were soon in the open sea, or ocean, on the southeast of the Philippines, being the Great Pacific or South Sea, where it may be said to join itself with the vast Indian Ocean. As we passed into these seas, steering due north, so we soon crossed the line to the north side, and so sailed on towards Mindanao and Manila, the chief of the Philippine islands, without meeting with any purchase till we came to the northward of Manila, and then our trade began. For here we took three Japanese vessels, though at some distance from Manila. Two of them had made their market, and were going home with nutmegs, cinnamon, cloves, etc., besides all sorts of European goods brought with the Spanish ships from Makapulco. They had, together, eight and thirty ton of cloves and five or six ton of nutmegs, and as much cinnamon. We took the spice, but meddled very little of the European goods, they being, as we thought, not worth our while, but we were very sorry for it soon after, and therefore grew wiser upon the next occasion. The third Japanese was the best prize to us, for he came with money, and a great deal of gold uncoined, to buy such goods as we mentioned above. We eased him of his gold, and did him no other harm, and having no intention to stay long here, we stood away for China. We were at sea above two months upon this voyage, beating it up against the wind, which blew steadily from the northeast, and within a point or two, one way or other, and this indeed was the reason why we met with more prizes in our voyage. We were just gotten clear of the Philippines, and we proposed to go to the island of Formosa, but the wind blew so fresh at north northeast that there was no making anything of it, and we were forced to put back to Laconia, the most northerly of those islands. We rode here very secure, and shifted our situation, not in view of any danger, there was none, but for a better supply of provisions, which we found the people very willing to supply us with. There lay, while we remained here, three very great galleons, or Spanish ships, from the South Seas. Whether newly come in, or ready to sail, we could not understand at first, but as we found the China traders began to load and set forward to the north, we concluded the Spanish ships had newly unloaded their cargo, and these had been buying, so we doubted not, but we should meet with purchase in the rest of the voyage. Neither, indeed, could we well miss of it. We stayed here till the beginning of May, when we were told the Chinese traders would set forward, for the northern monsoons end about the latter end of March, or beginning of April, so that they are sure of fair winds home. Accordingly, we hired some of the country boats, which are very swift sailors, to go and bring us word how affairs stood at Manila, and when the Chinese junks would sail. And, by this intelligence, we ordered our matters so well, that three days after we set sail, we fell in with no less than eleven of them, out of which, however, having by misfortune of discovering ourselves, taken but three. We contented ourselves, and pursued our voyage to Formosa. In these three vessels we took in short such a quantity of cloves, nutmegs, cinnamon, and mace, besides silver, that our men began to be of my opinion, that we were rich enough, and in short, we had nothing to do now, but to consider by what methods to secure the immense treasure we had got. I was secretly glad to hear that they were of this opinion, for I had long before resolved, if it were possible, to persuade them to think of returning, having fully perfected my first projected design of rummaging among the Spice Islands, and all those prizes, which were exceeding rich at Manila, was quite beyond my design. But now I had heard what the men said, and how they thought we were very well. I let them know, by friend William, that I intended only to sail to the island of Formosa, where I should find opportunity to turn our spices and Europe goods into ready money, and that then I would tack about for the south, the northern monsoons being perhaps by that time also ready to set in. They all approved of my design and willingly went forward, because besides the winds, which would not permit until October to go to the south, I say, besides this, we were now a very deep ship, having near 200 tons of goods on board, and particularly some very valuable. This loop also had a proportion. With this resolution, we went on cheerfully, when, within about 12 days sail more, we made the island Formosa at a great distance, but were ourselves shot beyond the southernmost part of the island being to Leeward, and almost upon the coast of China. Here we were a little at a loss, for the English factories were not far off, and we might be obliged to fight some of their ships if we met with them, which though we were able enough to do, yet we did not desire it on many accounts, and particularly because we did not think it was our business to have it known who we were, or that such a kind of people as we had been seen on the coast. However, we were obliged to keep to the northward, keeping as good an offing as we could with respect to the coast of China. We had not sailed long, but we chased a small Chinese junk, and having taken her, we found she was bound to the island of Formosa, having no goods on board, but some rice and a small quantity of tea. But she had three Chinese merchants in her, and they told us that they were going to meet a large vessel of their country, which came from Tongqing in Leina River in Formosa, whose name I forgot. And they were going to the Philippine islands with silks, muslins, calicoes, and such goods as are the product of China, and some gold, that their business was to sell their cargo, and buy spices and European goods. This suited very well with our purpose, so I resolved now that we would leave off being pirates and turn merchants, so we told them what goods we had on board, and that if they would bring their supercargos or merchants on board, we would trade with them. They were very willing to trade with us, but terribly afraid to trust us. Nor was it an unjust fear, for we had plundered them already of what they had. On the other hand, we were as diffident as they, and very uncertain what to do. But William the Quaker put this matter into a way of barter. He came to me and told me he really thought the merchants looked like fair men, that meant honestly. And besides, says William, it is their interest to be honest. Now, for as they know, upon what terms we got the goods, we are to truck with them, so they know we can afford good penny worths. And in the next place it saves them going the whole voyage, so that the southerly monsoons, yet holding, if they traded with us, they could immediately return with their cargo to China. Though, by the way, we afterwards found they intended for Japan. But that was all one, for by this means they saved at least eight months voyage. Upon these foundations, William said he was satisfied we might trust them. For, says William, I would as soon trust a man whose interest binds him to be just to me as a man whose principle binds himself. Upon the whole, William proposed that two of the merchants should be left on board our ship, as hostages, and that part of our goods should be loaded in their vessel, and let the third go with it into the port where their ship lay. And when he had delivered the spices, he should bring back such things as it was agreed should be exchanged. This was concluded on, and William the Quaker ventured to go along with them, which upon my word I should not have cared to have done, nor was I willing that he should, but he went still upon the notion that it was their interest to treat him friendly. End of Section 21, read by Dennis Sayers in Modesto, California, for LibriVox. Section 22 of Captain Singleton. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, read by Dennis Sayers. The Life, Adventures, and Piracies of Captain Singleton by Daniel Defoe. In the meantime we came to anchor under a little island in the latitude of 23 degrees, 28 minutes, being just under the northern traffic, and about 20 leagues from the island. Here we lay 13 days, and began to be very uneasy for my friend William, for they had promised to be back again in four days, which they might very easily have done. However, at the end of 13 days we saw three sail coming directly to us, which a little surprised us all at first, not knowing what might be the case, and we began to put ourselves in a posture of defense. But as they came nearer us, we were soon satisfied, for the first vessel was that which William went in, who carried a flag of truce, and in a few hours they all came to an anchor, and William came on board us with a little boat with the Chinese merchant in his company, and two other merchants who seemed to be a kind of brokers for the rest. Here he gave us an account how civilly he had been used, how they had treated him with all imaginable frankness and openness, that they had not only given him the full value of his spices and other goods which he carried in gold by good weight, but had loaded the vessel again with such goods as he knew we were willing to trade for, and that afterwards they had resolved to bring the great ship out of the harbor to lie where we were, that so we might make what bargain we thought fit. Only William said he had promised in our name that we should use no violence with them, nor detain any of the vessels after we had done trading with them. I told him we would strive to outdo them in civility, and that we would make good every part of his agreement. In tokenware of, I caused a white flag likewise to be spread at the poop of our great ship, which was the signal agreed on. As to the third vessel which came with them, it was a kind of bark of the country who, having intelligence of our design to traffic, came off to deal with us, bringing a great deal of gold and some provisions which at that time we were very glad of. In short, we traded upon the high seas with these men, and indeed we made a very good market, and yet sold thieves, penny-worths, too. We sold here about sixty ton of spice, chiefly cloves and nutmegs, and above two hundred bales of European goods, such as linen and woollen manufacturers. We considered we should have occasion for some such things ourselves, and so we kept a good quantity of English stuffs, cloth, bays, etc. for ourselves. I shall not take up any of the little room I have left here, with the further particulars of our trade. It is enough to mention that, except a parcel of tea and twelve bales of fine china wrought silks, we took nothing in exchange for our goods but gold, so that the sum we took here in that glittering commodity amounted to above fifty thousand ounces. Good weight. When we had finished our burger, we restored the hostages and gave the three merchants about the quantity of twelve hundred weight of nutmegs, and as many of cloves, with a handsome present of European linen and stuff for themselves, as a recompense for what we had taken from them, so we sent them away exceedingly well satisfied. Here it was that William gave me an account, that while he was on board the Japanese vessel, he met with a kind of religious or Japan priest who spoke some words of English to him, and being very inquisitive to know how he came to learn any of those words, he told him that there was in his country thirteen Englishmen. He called them Englishmen very articulately and distinctly, for he had conversed with them very frequently and freely. He said that they were all that were left of two and thirty men who came on shore on the north side of Japan, being driven upon a great rock and a stormy night, where they lost their ship, and the rest of their men were drowned. That he had persuaded the king of his country to send boats off to the rock or island where the ship was lost, to save the rest of the men, and to bring them on shore, which was done, and they were used very kindly, and had houses built for them, and land given them to plant for provision, and that they lived by themselves. He said he went frequently among them to persuade them to worship their God, an idol, I suppose, of their own making, which he said they ungratefully refused, and that therefore the king had once or twice ordered them all to be put to death, but that, as he said, he had prevailed upon the king to spare them, and let them live their own way, as long as they were quiet and peaceable, and did not go about to withdraw others from the worship of the country. I asked William why he did not inquire from whence they came. I did, said William, for how could I but think it strange, said he, to hear him talk of Englishmen on the north side of Japan. Well, said I, what account did he give of it? An account, said William, that will surprise thee, and all the world after thee, that shall hear of it, and which makes me wish thou wouldst go up to Japan and find them out. What do you mean, said I, whence could they come? Why, says William, he pulled out a little book, and in it a piece of paper, where it was written, in an Englishman's hand, and in plain English words, thus, and, says William, I read it myself. We came from Greenland and from the North Pole. This indeed was amazing to us all, and more so to those seamen among us who knew anything of the infinite attempts which had been made from Europe, as well by the English as the Dutch, to discover a passage that way into those parts of the world. And as William pressed as earnestly to go on to the North and to rescue those poor men, so the ship's company began to incline to it. And in a word, we all came to this, that we would stand in to the shore of Formosa to find this priest again, and have a further account of it all from him. Accordingly, the sloop went over, but when they came there, the vessels were very unhappily sailed, and this put an end to our inquiry after them, and perhaps may have disappointed mankind of one of the most noble discoveries that ever was made, or will again be made, in the world, for the good of mankind in general, but so much for that. William was so uneasy at losing this opportunity that he pressed us earnestly to go up to Japan to find out these men. He told us that if it was nothing but to recover 13 honest, poor men from a kind of captivity which they would otherwise never be redeemed from, and where, perhaps, they might, sometime other, be murdered by the barbarous people in defense of their idolatry, it were very well worth our while, and it would be, in some measure, making amends for the mischiefs we had done in the world. But we, that had no concern upon us for the mischiefs we had done, had much less about any satisfactions to be made for it, so he found that kind of discourse would weigh very little with us. Then he pressed us very earnestly to let him have the sloop to go by himself, and, I told him, I would not oppose it. But when he came to the sloop, none of the men would go with him. For the case was plain. They had all a share in the cargo of the great ship, as well as in that of the sloop, and the richness of the cargo was such they would not leave it by any means. So poor William, much to his mortification, was obliged to give it over. What became of those thirteen men, or whether they are not there still, I can give no account of. We are now at the end of our cruise. What we had taken was indeed so considerable that it was not only enough to satisfy the most covetous and the most ambitious minds in the world, but it did indeed satisfy us, and our men declared they did not desire any more. The next motion, therefore, was about going back, and the way by which we should perform the voyage, so as not to be attacked by the Dutch in the Straits of Sunda. We had pretty well restored ourselves here with provisions, and it being now near the end of the Mansoons, we resolved to stand away to the southward, and not only to keep without the Philippine islands, that is to say to the eastward of them, but to keep on to the southward, and see if we could not leave not only the Maluccas, or Spice Islands behind us, but even Novogenny, and Nova Holandia also. And so getting into the variable winds to the south of the Tropic of Capricorn, steer away to the west over the great Indian Ocean. This was indeed, at first, a monstrous voyage in its appearance, and the want of provisions threatened us. William told us, in so many words, that it was impossible we could carry provisions enough to subsist us for such a voyage, and especially fresh water, and that, as there would be no land for us to touch at where we could get any supply, it was a madness to undertake it. But I undertook to remedy this evil, and therefore desired them not to be uneasy at that, for I knew that we might supply ourselves at Mendenau, the most southerly island of the Philippines. Accordingly, we set sail, having taken all the provisions here that we could get, the 28th of September, the wind veering a little at first from north northwest to the northeast by east, but afterwards settled about the northeast and the east northeast. We were nine weeks in this voyage, having met with several interruptions by the weather, and put in under the lee of a small island in the latitude of sixteen degrees twelve minutes, of which we never knew the name, none of our charts having given any account of it. I say we put in here by reason of a strange tornado, or hurricane, which brought us into a great deal of danger. Here we wrote about sixteen days, the winds being very tempestuous, and the weather uncertain. However, we got some provisions on shore, such as plants, and roots, and a few hogs. We believed there were inhabitants on the island, but we saw none of them. From hence, the weather settling again, we went on and came to the southernmost part of Mendenau, where we took in fresh water and some cows, but the climate was so hot that we did not attempt to salt up any more than so as to keep a fortnight, or three weeks. And away we stood southward, crossing the line, and leaving Gilolo on the starboard side, we coasted the country they call New Guinea, where in the latitude of eight degrees south we put in again for provisions and water, and where we found inhabitants, but they fled from us, and were altogether inconversible. From hence, sailing still southward, we left all behind us that any of our charts and maps took any notice of, and went on till we came to the latitude of seventeen degrees, the wind continuing still northeast. Here we made land to the westward, which, when we had kept in sight for three days, coasting along the shore for the distance of about four leagues, we began to fear that we should find no outlet west, and so should be obliged to go back again, and put in among the Maluchus at last. But at length we found the land break off, and go trending away to the west sea, seeming to be all open to the south and southwest, and the great sea came rolling out of the south, which gave us to understand that there was no land for a great way. In a word, we kept on our course to the south, a little westerly, till we passed the south traffic, where we found the wind's variable, and now we stood away fair west, and held it out for about twenty days, when we discovered land right ahead, and on our larbored bow. We made directly to the shore, being willing to take all advantages now for supplying ourselves with fresh provisions and water, knowing we were now entering on that vast, unknown Indian Ocean, perhaps the greatest sea on the globe, having, with very little interruption of islands, a continued sea, quite around the globe. We found a good road here, and some people on shore, but when we landed they fled up the country, nor would they hold any correspondence with us, nor come near us, but shot at us several times with arrows as long as lances. We set up white flags for a truce, but they either did not or would not understand it. On the contrary, they shot our flag of truce through several times with their arrows, so that, in a word, we never came near any of them. We found good water here, though it was somewhat difficult to get at, but for living creatures we could see none, for the people, if they had any cattle, drove them all away, and showed us nothing but themselves, and that sometimes in a threatening posture, and in numbers so great, that made us suppose the island to be greater than we first imagined. It is true they would not come near enough for us to engage with them, at least not openly, but they came near enough for us to see them, and by the help of our glasses, to see that they were clothed and armed, but their clothes were only about their lower and middle parts, that they had long lances, half-pikes in their hands, besides bows and arrows, that they had great high things on their heads, made, as we believed, of feathers, and which looked something like our grenadiers' caps in England. When we saw them so shy that they would not come near us, our men began to range over the island, if it was such, for we never surrounded it, to search for cattle and for any of the Indian plantations, for fruits or plants, but they soon found, to their cost, that they were to use more caution than that came to, and that they were to discover perfectly every bush and every tree before they ventured abroad in the country, for about 14 of our men going farther than the rest into a part of the country, which seemed to be planted, as they thought, for it did but seem so, only I think it was overgrown with canes, such as we make our cane chairs with. I say, venturing too far, they were suddenly attacked with the shower of arrows from almost every side of them, as they thought, out of the tops of the trees. They had nothing to do but to fly for it, which, however, they could not resolve on, till five of them were wounded, nor had they escaped, so if one of them had not been so wiser or thoughtfuler than the rest, as to consider that though they could not see the enemy, so as to shoot at them, yet perhaps the noise of their shot might terrify them, and that they should rather fire at a venture. Accordingly, ten of them faced about and fired at random, anywhere among the canes. The noise and the fire not only terrified the enemy, but as they believed, their shot had luckily hit some of them, for they found not only that the arrows, which came thick among them before, ceased, but they heard the Indians halloo after their way to one another, and make a strange noise, more uncouth and inimitably strange than any they had ever heard, more like the howling and barking of wild creatures in the woods than like the voice of men, only that sometimes they seemed to speak words. They observed also that this noise of the Indians went farther and farther off, so that they were satisfied the Indians fled away, except on one side, where they heard a doleful groaning and howling, and where it continued a good while, which they supposed was from some or other of them being wounded and howling by reason of their wounds, or killed and others howling over them. But our men had enough of making discoveries, so they did not trouble themselves to look farther, but resolved to take this opportunity to retreat. But the worst of their adventure was to come, for as they came back, they passed by a prodigious great trunk of an old tree. What tree it was, they said, they did not know, but it stood like an old decayed oak in a park, where the keepers in England take a stand, as they call it, to shoot a deer, and it stood just under the steep side of a great rock or hill, that our people could not see what was beyond it. As they came by this tree, they were of a sudden shot at from the top of the tree, with seven arrows and three lances, which, to our grief, killed two of our men, and wounded three more. This was the more surprising, because being without any defense, and so near the trees, they expected more lances and arrows every moment, nor would flying do them any service. The Indians being, as appeared, very good marksmen. In this extremity, they had happily this presence of mind, viz, to run close to the tree and stand, as it were, under it, so that those above could not come at or see them, to throw their lances at them. This succeeded and gave them time to consider what to do. They knew their enemies and murderers were above, they heard them talk, and those above knew those were below, but they below were obliged to keep close for fear of their lances from above. At length, one of our men, looking a little more strictly than the rest, thought he saw the head of one of the Indians just over a dead limb of the tree, which, it seems, the creature sat upon. One man immediately fired, and leveled his piece so true that the shot went through the fellow's head, and down he fell out of the tree immediately, and came upon the ground with such force, with the height of his fall, that if he had not been killed with the shot, he would certainly have been killed with dashing his body against the ground. This so frightened them that, besides the howling noise they made in the tree, our men heard a strange clutter of them in the body of the tree. From whence, they concluded, they had made the tree hollow, and were got to hide themselves there. Now, had this been the case, they were secure enough from our men, for it was impossible any of our men could get up the tree on the outside, there being no branches to climb by, and to shoot at the tree, that they tried several times to no purpose, for the tree was so thick that no shot would enter it. They made no doubt, however, but that they had their enemies in a trap, and that a small siege would either bring them down, tree and all, or starve them out, so they resolved to keep their post, and send to us for help. Accordingly, two of them came away to us for more hands, and particularly desired that some of our carpenters might come with tools to help cut down the tree, or at least to cut down other wood and set fire to it, and that, they concluded, would not fail to bring them out. Accordingly, our men went like a little army, and with mighty preparations for an enterprise, the like of which has scarce been ever heard, to form the siege of a great tree. However, when they came there, they found the task difficult enough, for the old trunk was indeed a very great one, and very tall, being at least two and twenty feet high, with seven old limbs standing out every way from the top, but decayed, and very few leaves, if any, left on it. William, the Quaker, whose curiosity led him to go among the rest, proposed that they should make a ladder, and get upon the top, and then throw wildfire into the tree, and smoke them out. Others proposed going back, and getting a great gun out of the ship, which would split the tree in pieces with the iron bullets. Others that they should cut down a great deal of wood, and pile it up around the tree, and set it on fire, and burn the tree, and the Indians in it. These consultations took up our people no less than two or three days, in all which time they heard nothing of the supposed garrison within this wooden castle, nor any noise within. William's project was first gone about, and a large, strong ladder was made to scale this wooden tower, and in two or three hours time it would have been ready to mount, when, on a sudden, they heard the noise of the Indians in the body of the tree again, and, a little after, several of them appeared at the top of the tree, and threw some lances down at our men, one of which struck one of our seamen atop of the shoulder, and gave him such a desperate wound that the surgeons not only had a great deal of difficulty to cure him, but the poor man endured such horrible torture that we all said they had better have killed him outright. However, he was cured at last, though he never recovered the perfect use of his arm, the lance having cut some of the tendons on the top of the arm, near the shoulder, which, as I suppose, performed the office of motion to the limb before, so that the poor man was a cripple all the days of his life. But, to return to the desperate rogues in the tree, our men shot at them, but did not find they had hit them, or any of them, but as soon as ever they shot at them, they could hear them huddle down into the trunk of the tree again, and there, to be sure, they were safe. Well, however, it was this which put by the project of William's Ladder, for when it was done, who would venture up among such a troop of bold creatures, as were there, and who, they suppose, were desperate by their circumstances? And, as but one man at a time could go up, they began to think it would not do. And indeed, I was of the opinion, for about this time I was come to their assistance, that going up the ladder would not do, unless it was thus, that a man should, as it were, run just up to the top, and throw some fireworks into the tree, and come down again, and this we did two or three times, but found no effect of it. At last one of our gunners made a stink pot, as we called it, being a composition which only smokes, but does not flame or burn. But with all, the smoke of it is so thick, and the smell of it so intolerably nauseous, that it is not to be suffered. This he threw into the tree himself, and we waited for the effect of it, but heard or saw nothing, all that night or the next day. So we concluded the men within were all smothered. When, on a sudden, the next night, we heard them upon the top of the tree again, shouting and hallowing like madmen. We concluded, as anybody would, that this was to call for help, and we resolved to continue our siege, for we were all enraged to see ourselves so balked by a few wild people, whom we thought we had safe in our clutches. And indeed, never were there so many concurring circumstances to delude men in any case we had met with. We resolved, however, to try another stink pot the next night, and our engineer and gunner had got it ready, when, hearing a noise of the enemy on the top of the tree, and in the body of the tree, I was not willing to let the gunner go up the ladder, which I said would be but to be certain of being murdered. However, he found a medium for it, and that was to go up a few steps, and with a long pole in his hand, to throw it in upon the top of the tree, the ladder being standing all this while against the top of the tree. But when the gunner, with his machine at the top of his pole, came to the tree with three other men to help him, behold, the ladder was gone. End of section 22, read by Dennis Ayers in Modesto, California for LibriVox.