"'Tis reported that the Dutch at Curacoa have loaded three sloops with goods and sent them to Holland. Perhaps 'twere not amiss to send and watch their arrival in Holland, if it be practicable to lay claim to 'em there.

"Since my commitment of Kidd, I heard that upon his approach to this port, his heart misgave him and he proposed to his men putting out to sea again, and going to Caledonia, the new Scotch settlement near Darien, but they refused. I desire I may have orders what to do with Kidd and all his and Bradish's crew, for as the Law stands in this Country, if a Pyrate were convicted, yet he cannot suffer death; and the Council here refused the bill to punish Privateers and Pyrates, which your Lordships sent with me from England with a direction to recommend it at N. York and here, to be passed into a Law....

"You will observe by some of the information I now send that Kidd did not only rob the two Moors' ships, but also a Portuguese ship, which he denied absolutely to the Council and me. I send your Lordships 24 several papers and evidences relating to Capt. Kidd. 'Tis impossible for me to animadvert and make remarks on the several matters contain'd in the said papers in the weak condition I am at present...."

My Lord Bellomont was in the grip of the gout at this time, which misfortune perhaps increased his irritation toward his partner, Captain William Kidd. In a previous letter to the authorities in London, this royal governor had explained quite frankly that he was trying to lure the troublesome pirate into his clutches, and called Emmot, the lawyer, "a cunning Jacobite, a fast friend of Fletcher's[[11]] and my avowed enemie." He also made this interesting statement:

"I must not forget to tell your Lordships that Campbell brought three or four small Jewels to my Wife which I was to know nothing of, but she came quickly and discover'd them to me and asked me whether she would keep them, which I advised her to do for the present, for I reflected that my showing an over nicety might do hurt before I had made a full discovery what goods and treasure were in the Sloop....

"Mr. Livingston also came to me in a peremptory manner and demanded up his Bond and the articles which he seal'd to me upon Kidd's Expedition, and told me that Kidd swore all the Oaths in the world that unless I did immediately indemnify Mr. Livingston by giving up his Securities, he would never bring in that great ship and cargo. I thought this was such an Impertinence in both Kidd and Livingston that it was time for me to look about me, and to secure Kidd. I had noticed that he designed my wife a thousand pounds in gold dust and Ingotts last Thursday, but I spoil'd his compliment by ordering him to be arrested and committed that day, showing the Council's orders from Court for that purpose....

"If I had kept Mr. Secretary Vernon's orders for seizing and securing Kidd and his associates with all their effects with less secrecy, I had never got him to come in, for his countrymen, Mr. Graham and Livingston, would have been sure to caution him to shift for himself and would have been well paid for their pains."

One by one, Kidd's plans for clearing himself were knocked into a cocked hat. His lawyer did him no good, his hope of bribing the Countess of Bellomont with jewels, "gold dust and Ingotts" went wrong, and his buried treasure of Gardiner's Island was dug up and confiscated by officers of the Crown. It is regrettable that history, by one of its curious omissions, tells us no more about this titled lady. Did Kidd have reason to suppose that she would take his gifts and try to befriend him? When he was in high favor she may, perchance, have admired this dashing shipmaster and privateer as he spun his adventurous yarns in the Governor's mansion. He may have jestingly promised to fetch her home jewels and rich silk stuffs of the Indies filched from pirates. At any rate, she was not to be bought over, and Kidd sat in jail anchored by those sixteen-pound irons, and biting his nails in sullen wrath and disappointment, while a messenger was posting to Gardiner's Island with this order from Bellomont to the proprietor:

BOSTON IN NEW ENGLAND, 8th July, 1699...

Mr. Gardiner: