The Privateersman | Page 9

two
remaining officers also fell a few seconds after him. Astonished and
terrified, the men stopped short in their career of success, and wildly
looked round for a leader. The French, who had retreated to the
forecastle, perceiving our confusion I renewed the attack, our few
remaining men were seized with a panic, and throwing down our arms,
we asked for quarter where a moment before victory was in our
hands;--such was the finale of our bloody drama.
Out of fifty-five men twenty-two had been killed in this murderous
conflict, and almost all the survivors desperately or severely wounded.
Most of the remaining crew after we had cried for quarter jumped down
the hatchway, to avoid the cutlasses of their enraged victors. I and
about eight others, having been driven past the hatchway, threw down
our arms and begged for quarter, which we had little reason to expect
would be shown to us. At first no quarter was given by our savage
enemies, who cut down several of our disarmed men and hacked them
to pieces. Perceiving this, I got on the gunwale ready to jump
overboard, in the hopes of being taken up after the slaughter had ceased,
when a French lieutenant coming up protected us, and saved the poor

remains of our crew from the fury of his men. Our lives, however, were
all he counted upon preserving--we were instantly stripped and
plundered without mercy. I lost everything I possessed; the watch, ring,
and sword I had taken from the gallant Frenchman were soon forced
from me, and, not stripping off my apparel fast enough to please a
Mulatto sailor, I received a blow with the butt-end of a pistol under the
left ear, which precipitated me down the hatchway, near which I was
standing, and I fell senseless into the hold.
CHAPTER THREE.
WE ARE SENT IN, ON BOARD THE REVENGE, AND TREATED
WITH GREAT CRUELTY-- ARE AFTERWARDS RECAPTURED
BY THE HERO PRIVATEER, AND RETALIATE ON THE
FRENCH--I AM TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL AT PORT ROYAL,
WHERE I MEET THE FRENCH LADY--HER SAVAGE
EXULTATION AT MY CONDITION--SHE IS PUNISHED BY ONE
OF MY COMRADES.
On coming to my senses, I found myself stripped naked and suffering
acute pain. I found that my right arm was broken, my shoulder severely
injured by my fall; and, as I had received three severe cutlass-wounds
during the action, I had lost so much blood that I had not strength to
rise or do anything for myself. There I lay, groaning and naked, upon
the ballast of the vessel, at times ruminating upon the events of the
action, upon the death of our gallant commander, upon the loss of our
vessel, of so many of our comrades, and of our liberty. After some time,
the surgeon, by order of the French commander, came down to dress
my wounds. He treated me with the greatest barbarity. As he twisted
about my broken limb I could not help crying at the anguish which he
caused me. He compelled me to silence by blows and maledictions,
wishing I had broken my rascally neck rather than he should have been
put to the trouble of coming down to dress me. However, dress me he
did, out of fear of his captain, who, he knew well, would send round to
see if he had executed his orders, and then he left me, with a kick in the
ribs by way of remembrance. Shortly afterwards the vessels separated.
Fourteen of us, who were the most severely hurt, were left in the

Revenge, which was manned by an officer and twenty Frenchmen, with
orders to take her into Port-au-Paix. The rest of our men were put on
board of the French privateer, who sailed away in search of a more
profitable adventure.
About an hour after they had made sail on the vessel, the officer who
had charge of her, looking down the hatchway, and perceiving my
naked and forlorn condition, threw me a pair of trousers, which had
been rejected by the French seamen as not worth having; and a check
shirt, in an equally ragged condition, I picked up in the hold; this, with
a piece of old rope to tie round my neck as a sling for my broken arm,
was my whole wardrobe. In the evening I gained the deck, that I might
be refreshed by the breeze, which cooled my feverish body and
somewhat restored me.
We remained in this condition for several days, tortured with pain, but
more tortured, perhaps, by the insolence and bragging of the
Frenchmen, who set no bounds to their triumph and self-applause.
Among those who had charge of the prize were two, one of whom had
my watch and the other my ring; the first would hold it to me