While we were here, and going often on shore for refreshment, there comes to me one day an Englishman, and he was, it seems, a gunner’s mate on board an English East India ship, which rode in the same river, up at or near the city of Cambodia: what brought him hither we knew not; but he comes up to me, and, speaking English, “Sir,” says he, “you are a stranger to me, and I to you; but I have something to tell you, that very nearly concerns you.”
I looked stedfastly at him a good while, and he thought at first I had known him, but I did not. “If it very nearly concerns me,” said I, “and not yourself, what moves you to tell it me?”—“I am moved,” says he, “by the imminent danger you are in; and, for aught I see, you have no knowledge of it.”—“I know no danger I am in,” said I, “but that my ship is leaky, and I cannot find it out; but I propose to lay her aground to-morrow, to see if I can find it.”—“But, Sir,” says he, “leaky or not leaky, find it or not find it, you will be wiser than to lay your ship on shore to-morrow, when you hear what I have to say to you. Do you know, Sir,” said he, “the town of Cambodia lies about fifteen leagues up this river? And there are two large English ships about five leagues on this side, and three Dutch.”—“Well,” said I, “and what is that to me?”—“Why, Sir,” says he, “is it for a man that is upon such adventures as you are, to come into a port, and not examine first what ships there are there, and whether he is able to deal with them? I suppose you do not think you are a match for them?” I was amused very much at his discourse, but not amazed at it; for I could not conceive what he meant; and I turned short upon him, and said, “Sir, I wish you would explain yourself; I cannot imagine what reason I have to be afraid of any of the Company’s ships, or Dutch ships; I am no interloper; what can they have to say to me?”
He looked like a man half angry, half pleased; and pausing awhile, but smiling, “Well, Sir,” says he, “if you think yourself secure, you must take your chance; I am sorry your fate should blind you against good advice; but assure yourself if you do not put to sea immediately, you will the very next tide be attacked by five long-boats full of men; and, perhaps, if you are taken, you will be hanged for a pirate, and the particulars be examined into afterwards. I thought, Sir,” added he, “I should have met with a better reception than this, for doing you a piece of service of such importance.”—“I can never be ungrateful,” said I, “for any service, or to any man that offers me any kindness; but it is past my comprehension,” said I, “what they should have such a design upon me for; however, since you say there is no time to be lost, and that there is some villanous design in hand against me, I will go on board this minute, and put to sea immediately, if my men can stop the leak, or if we can swim without stopping it: but, Sir,” said I, “shall I go away ignorant of the reason of all this? Can you give me no farther light into it?”
“I can tell you but part of the story, Sir,” says he; “but I have a Dutch seaman here with me, and, I believe, I could persuade him to tell you the rest; but there is scarce time for it: but the short of the story is this, the first part of which, I suppose, you know well enough, viz. that you were with this ship at Sumatra; that there your captain was murdered by the Malaccans, with three of his men; and that you, or some of those that were on board with you, ran away with the ship, and are since turned pirates. This is the sum of the story, and you will all be seized as pirates, I can assure you, and executed with very little ceremony; for you know merchant-ships shew but little law to pirates, if they get them in their power.”
“Now you speak plain English,” said I, “and I thank you; and though I know nothing that we have done, like what you talk of, but I am sure we came honestly and fairly by the ship; yet seeing such work is a-doing, as you say, and that you seem to mean honestly, I will be upon my guard.”—“Nay, Sir,” says he, “do not talk of being upon your guard; the best defence is to be out of the danger: if you have any regard to your life, and the lives of all your men, put out to sea without fail at high-water; and as you have a whole tide before you, you will be gone too far out before they can come down; for they will come away at high water; and as they have twenty miles to come, you’ll get near two hours of them by the difference of the tide, not reckoning the length of the way: besides, as they are only boats, and not ships, they will not venture to follow you far out to sea, especially if it blows.”
“Well,” said I, “you have been very kind in this: what shall I do for you to make you amends?”—“Sir,” says he, “you may not be so willing to make me amends, because you may not be convinced of the truth of it: I will make an offer to you; I have nineteen months pay due to me on board the ship ——, which I came out of England in; and the Dutchman, that is with me, has seven months pay due to him; if you will make good our pay to us, we will go along with you: if you find nothing more in it, we will desire no more; but if we do convince you, that we have saved your life, and the ship, and the lives of all the men in her, we will leave the rest to you.”
I consented to this readily; and went immediately on board, and the two men with me. As soon as I came to the ship’s side, my partner, who was on board, came on the quarter-deck, and called to me with a great deal of joy, “O ho! O ho! we have stopped the leak!”—“Say you so?” said I; “thank God; but weigh the anchor then immediately.”—“Weigh!” says he; “what do you mean by that? What is the matter?” says he. “Ask no questions,” said I, “but all hands to work, and weigh without losing a minute.” He was surprised: but, however, he called the captain, and he immediately ordered the anchor to be got up; and though the tide was not quite done, yet a little land breeze blowing, we stood out to sea; then I called him into the cabin, and told him the story at large; and we called in the men, and they told us the rest of it: but as it took us up a great deal of time, so before we had done, a seaman comes to the cabin door, and calls out to us, that the captain made him tell us, we were chased. “Chased!” said I; “by whom, and by what?”—“By five sloops, or boats,” said the fellow, “full of men.”—“Very well,” said I; “then it is apparent there is something in it.” In the next place, I ordered all our men to be called up; and told them, that there was a design to seize the ship, and to take us for pirates; and asked them, if they would stand by us, and by one another? The men answered, cheerfully, one and all, that they would live and die with us. Then I asked the captain, what way he thought best for us to manage a fight with them; for resist them I resolved we would, and that to the last drop. He said, readily, that the way was to keep them off with our great shot, as long as we could, and then to fire at them with our small arms, to keep them from boarding us; but when neither of these would do any longer, we should retire to our close quarters; perhaps they had not materials to break open our bulk-heads, or get in upon us.
The gunner had, in the mean time, orders to bring two guns to bear fore and aft, out of the steerage, to clear the deck, and load them with musket-bullets and small pieces of old iron, and what next came to hand; and thus we made ready for fight; but all this while kept out to sea, with wind enough, and could see the boats at a distance, being five large long-boats following us, with all the sail they could make.
Two of these boats, which, by our glasses, we could see were English, had outsailed the rest, were near two leagues a head of them, and gained upon us considerably; so that we found they would come up with us: upon which we fired a gun without a shot, to intimate that they should bring to; and we put out a flag of truce, as a signal for parley; but they kept crowding after us, till they came within shot: upon this we took in our white flag, they having made no answer to it; hung out the red flag, and fired at them with shot; notwithstanding this, they came on till they were near enough to call to them with a speaking trumpet, which we had on board; so we called to them, and bade them keep off at their peril.
It was all one, they crowded after us, and endeavoured to come under our stern, so to board us on our quarter: upon which, seeing they were resolute for mischief, and depended upon the strength that followed them, I ordered to bring the ship to, so that they lay upon our broadside, when immediately we fired five guns at them; one of them had been levelled so true, as to carry away the stern of the hindermost boat, and bring them to the necessity of taking down their sail, and running all to the head of the boat to keep her from sinking; so she lay by, and had enough of it; but seeing the foremost boat still crowd on after us, we made ready to fire at her in particular.