“I found this to be of great advantage,” he writes. “For, notwithstanding their promise not to harm me, some of them would have cut me to pieces, had it not been for their chief, Captain Edward England, and some others whom I knew.”
And he used his powers of persuasion to such effect that: “They made me a present of the shattered ship—which was Dutch built—called the Fancy, her burden being about three hundred tons.
“With jury-masts, and such other old sails as they left me, I set sail on September 8th, with forty-three of my ship’s crew, including two passengers and twelve soldiers. After a passage of forty-eight days I arrived at Bombay on the 26th of October, almost naked and starved, having been reduced to a pint of water a day, and almost in despair of ever seeing land, by reason of the calms we met with between the coast of Arabia and Malabar.”
The gallant writer of this interesting description was certainly in imminent danger of his life, when he trusted himself upon the pirate ship, and unquestionably nothing could have justified such a hazardous step but the desperate circumstances in which he was placed. The honor and influence of Captain England, however, protected him and his men from the wrath of the crew, who would willingly have wreaked their vengeance upon those who had dealt them such heavy blows in the recent fight.
But the generosity of Captain England toward the unfortunate Mackra proved to be calamitous to himself.
“You are no true pirate,” cried one of his crew. “For a buccaneer never allows his foes to get away.”
“No! No!” shouted others. “This fighting Mackra will soon come against us with a strong force. You did wrong in letting him escape.”
“To the yard-arm with the traitor!” sounded from the throat of many a ruffianly seaman.
Thus grew the feeling of mutiny—and the result of these murmurs of discontent—was that Captain England was put ashore by the cruel villains; and, with three others was marooned upon the island of Mauritius. Had they not been destitute of every necessity they might have been able to live in comfort, for the island abounds in deer, hogs, and other animals. Dissatisfied, however, with this solitary situation, Captain England and his three men exerted their industry and ingenuity, built a small boat, and sailed to Madagascar, where they lived upon the generosity of some more fortunate piratical companions.
But can a pirate remain happy when not pirating?