“I answer’d, That since the Gentlemen were so good-natur’d, as not only to take in good Part what I had hitherto said, but also to give me free Liberty to pursue my Discourse, I should make Use of their Indulgence, and answer what Capt. Russel had said last to me, in as brief and inoffensive a Manner as I was capable of.
“Then turning to Russel, I said, Sir, Your Opinion of my Notion of the Right you have to any Ship or Goods you may take, is exactly true; and I think your Right cannot extend farther than your Power to maintain that Right; and therefore it must follow, you can transfer no other Right to any one than what you have your selves, which will render any Person who receiv’d them, as guilty for detaining them from the proper Owners, as you for the taking them.
“He said, Be it so; we will suppose (and seemed a little angry) for Argument Sake, we have taken a Ship, and are resolv’d to sink or burn her, unless you will accept of her: Now, pray, where is the Owner’s Property, when the Ship is sunk, or burned? I think the Impossibility of his having her again, cuts off his Property to all Intents and Purposes, and our Power was the same, notwithstanding our giving her to you, if we had thought fit to make use of it.
“I was loth to argue any farther, seeing him begin to be peevish; and knowing, by the Information afore given me by the three Men, that all his pretended Kindness and Arguments were only in order to detain me, without the Imputation of having broken their Articles; which he found the major Part of the Company very averse to; wherefore, to cut all short, I told him, I was very sensible of the Favours design’d me; and should always retain a grateful Sense of them: That I knew I was absolutely in their Power, and they might dispose of me as they pleas’d; but that having been hitherto treated so generously by them, I could not doubt of their future Goodness to me. And that if they would be pleas’d to give me my Sloop again, it was all I requested at their Hands; and I doubted not, but that, by the Blessing of God on my honest Endeavours, I should soon be able to retrieve my present Loss; at least, I said, I should have nothing to reproach myself with, whatever should befal me, as I should have, if I were to comply with the Favour they had so kindly intended for me.
“Upon which, Capt. Loe said, Gentlemen, the Master, I must needs say, has spoke nothing but what is very reasonable, and I think he ought to have his Sloop. What do you say Gentlemen?
“The greatest Part of them answered aloud, Ay, Ay, by G—, let the poor Man have his Sloop again, and go in God’s Name, and seek a Living in her for his Family. Ay, said some of them, and we ought to make something of a Gathering for the poor Man, since we have taken every Thing that he had on Board his Vessel. This put an End to the Dispute; and every Body talked according to their Inclinations, the Punch, Wine, and Tobacco being moving Commodities all this Time: And every one who had an Opportunity of speaking to me, wish’d me much Joy with, and success in, my newly obtain’d Sloop.
“Towards Night, Russel told Capt. Loe, that as the Company had agreed to give me the Sloop again, it was to be hoped they would discharge me, and let me go about my Business in a short Time; and therefore, with his Leave, he would take me on Board the Scooner with him, to treat me with a Sneaker of Punch before parting. Accordingly, I accompany’d him on Board his Vessel, tho’ I had rather stay’d with Loe, and he welcomed me there, and made abundance of Protestations of his Kindness and Respect to me; but still argued, that he thought I was very much overseen in not accepting what he had so kindly, and out of pure Respect, offer’d to me, and which, he said, would really have been the making of me. I told him, I thank’d him for his Favour and Good-will; but was very well satisfy’d with the Company’s Generosity in agreeing to give me the Sloop again, which, I said, was more satisfactory to me, than the richest Prize that they could take.
“Well, says he, I wish it may prove according to your Expectation. I thank’d him; so down we went into the Cabbin, and, with the Officers only, diverted ourselves in talking ’till Supper was laid on the Table.
“After Supper, a Bowl of Punch, and half a Dozen of Claret, being set on the Table, Capt. Russel took a Bumper, and drank Success to their Undertaking; which went round, I not daring to refuse it. Next Health was Prosperity to Trade, meaning their own Trade. The third Health was, The King of France: After which, Russel began the King of England’s Health; so they all drank round, some saying, The King of England’s Health, others only The aforesaid Health, ’till it came round to me; and Capt. Russel having empty’d two Bottles of Claret into the Bowl, as a Recruit, and there being no Liquor that I have a greater Aversion to, than red Wine in Punch, I heartily begg’d the Captain and the Company would excuse my drinking any more of that Bowl, and give me leave to pledge the Health in a Bumper of Claret.
“Hereupon Russel said, Damn you, you shall drink in your Turn a full Bumper of that Sort of Liquor that the Company does. Well, Gentlemen, said I, rather than have any Words about it, I will drink it, tho’ it is in a Manner Poyson to me; because I never drank any of this Liquor, to the best of my Remembrance, but it made me sick two or three Days at least after it. And d—n you, says Russel, if it be in a Manner, or out of a Manner, or really, rank Poyson, you shall drink as much, and as often, as any one here, unless you fall down dead, dead!