not bear the sight, much less the horrible noise and cries of the
poor wretches that fell into their hands.
I got nobody to come back with me but the supercargo and two men,
and with these walked back to the boat. It was a very great piece
of folly in me, I confess, to venture back, as it were, alone; for
as it began now to be almost day, and the alarm had run over the
country, there stood about forty men armed with lances and boughs
at the little place where the twelve or thirteen houses stood,
mentioned before: but by accident I missed the place, and came
directly to the seaside, and by the time I got to the seaside it
was broad day: immediately I took the pinnace and went on board,
and sent her back to assist the men in what might happen. I
observed, about the time that I came to the boat-side, that the
fire was pretty well out, and the noise abated; but in about half-
an-hour after I got on board, I heard a volley of our men’s
firearms, and saw a great smoke. This, as I understood afterwards,
was our men falling upon the men, who, as I said, stood at the few
houses on the way, of whom they killed sixteen or seventeen, and
set all the houses on fire, but did not meddle with the women or
children.
By the time the men got to the shore again with the pinnace our men
began to appear; they came dropping in, not in two bodies as they
went, but straggling here and there in such a manner, that a small
force of resolute men might have cut them all off. But the dread
of them was upon the whole country; and the men were surprised, and
so frightened, that I believe a hundred of them would have fled at
the sight of but five of our men. Nor in all this terrible action
was there a man that made any considerable defence: they were so
surprised between the terror of the fire and the sudden attack of
our men in the dark, that they knew not which way to turn
themselves; for if they fled one way they were met by one party, if
back again by another, so that they were everywhere knocked down;
nor did any of our men receive the least hurt, except one that
sprained his foot, and another that had one of his hands burned.
CHAPTER X – HE IS LEFT ON SHORE
I WAS very angry with my nephew, the captain, and indeed with all
the men, but with him in particular, as well for his acting so out
of his duty as a commander of the ship, and having the charge of
the voyage upon him, as in his prompting, rather than cooling, the
rage of his blind men in so bloody and cruel an enterprise. My
nephew answered me very respectfully, but told me that when he saw
the body of the poor seaman whom they had murdered in so cruel and
barbarous a manner, he was not master of himself, neither could he
govern his passion; he owned he should not have done so, as he was
commander of the ship; but as he was a man, and nature moved him,
he could not bear it. As for the rest of the men, they were not
subject to me at all, and they knew it well enough; so they took no
notice of my dislike. The next day we set sail, so we never heard
any more of it. Our men differed in the account of the number they
had killed; but according to the best of their accounts, put all
together, they killed or destroyed about one hundred and fifty
people, men, women, and children, and left not a house standing in
the town. As for the poor fellow Tom Jeffry, as he was quite dead
(for his throat was so cut that his head was half off), it would do
him no service to bring him away; so they only took him down from
the tree, where he was hanging by one hand.