“‘No! surely! humph! ha! Yes, it must be. You rascal, I’ve found you, at last,’ exclaimed the old brute, as he approached, and seized me by the collar. I had a wooden mallet in my hand at the moment; I gave it a swing round, and the gaoler fell senseless at my feet. Without stopping to acquaint any one with what I had done, I ran out of the house; and bending my way to the water-side, I inquired if any ship was on the point of sailing, and hearing that a merchant-vessel was waiting for a few hands before she started, I presented myself on board, offered my services, was engaged, and was sailing, far out of the reach of all pursuit, the same evening.
“Our voyage was a long one. We were bound to China: the crew were a medley of various nations picked up at random. The captain was proud and tyrannical; ignorant of his duty, yet continually interfering with those who were better seamen than himself. His mate was a mean-spirited sycophant, who exceeded his superior in insolence and tyranny. Punishments were frequent, and often without any thing like sufficient cause; and the men became discontented, grumbled, and at last began to threaten vengeance on their oppressors. To add to their causes of complaint the provisions fell short, which was entirely owing to the mismanagement of the captain—the men were placed on short allowance; and their officers, instead of endeavouring to render the privation as endurable as possible, by their arrogance and oppression seemed to seek every opportunity of increasing their miseries. Secret meetings were held in the ship—plans of resistance were discussed by the crew—and every day made an open revolt among them more probable. Neither the captain nor his mate appeared to entertain the least apprehension of danger, for they did not alter their behaviour in the slightest degree. In the conspiracies which had been agitated I had always been an active hand—I counselled the boldest measures, and advised their early adoption; but although my ability in seamanship was generally acknowledged, they had no knowledge of my character, and wanted what they called a more experienced leader. The mutiny broke out, however, at last, before all our plans were ripe.
“I had committed some slight offence, so trifling, that men of any sense would have passed it over; but I was seized upon by the despots, and sentenced to a hundred lashes. I was rather a favourite with all, and a loud murmur of discontent arose amongst the crew as soon as my sentence became known; but their cries were unheeded. I was being lashed to the grating, and both the tyrants were swearing at and threatening the men for not showing more alacrity in proceeding with my punishment, when the mate was felled to the deck with a handspike, and the captain was whipped up in the arms of a tall negro and hurled overboard. All who opposed would have met with similar treatment; but there was no opposition, nor was there any commiseration for the fate of the men who had been killed. I was speedily released from my disagreeable situation, and then we commenced overhauling the cargo, which we found valuable, and examining the stores, which were pronounced inadequate for the wants of a long voyage. Many plans were agitated by which we might govern our future conduct. Some were for sailing for Borneo, and there disposing of the ship and cargo for the benefit of the crew; others were for steering direct for Sumatra; there disposing of the cargo, and sail from thence to enjoy ourselves with the proceeds in one or other of the islands in the Indian Ocean. I advised, that as we were close upon the Philippine islands, where we should meet with plenty of customers for what we did not require, and could easily purchase from them whatever we wanted, it was not advisable to risk a longer voyage. We could there dispose of that portion of the cargo that found the readiest market, have the ship disguised, and fitted with as many guns as she could carry, and afterwards commence war against all the rich vessels we met from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean.
“All the bold spirits among the crew applauded this proposal; but the timorous dispositions saw in it too much danger, and gave it their opposition; however, when it was found that the provisions would not last a longer voyage, part of the plan was agreed upon, and the helm was turned towards Mindanao. I was ambitious of being chosen captain, for which office I knew myself better fitted than any of my companions, but I was disappointed; and a man rather more than thirty, a native of Mozambique, on the southern coast of Africa, was promoted to the command, who was bold enough for a leader in an attack of boarders, but had not the seamanship that could conduct a vessel through every variety of danger. I concealed my disappointment as well as I could, determining to wait my opportunity till I could put forth my claims in a way that should insure their being properly acknowledged. I had some staunch friends among my associates, and these were the bravest of the whole crew. I saw that with a few more of the same kind nothing could prevent the realisation of my ambition.
“We anchored in a noble bay in the island I have mentioned; and as I was thought, even by the captain, to know more of the value of the things than any of the others, I was sent ashore, in company with two or three messmates considerably older than myself, to arrange about the sale. We were dressed as merchants; and as no one appeared to have any suspicion of our real characters, we soon negotiated, upon what we thought very favourable terms, a sale of a great portion of our merchandise. A division having been made of the proceeds, here most of those upon whom I could not depend left us, a proceeding with which I was exceedingly well satisfied; and my intentions were put into execution with regard to the alterations required in the ship to make her fit for piratical expeditions, that gratified me in a similar degree.
“While our vessel was changing her appearance, I was leading a life of indolent luxury. The part of the island near which we had anchored abounded in the most delightful kind of scenery. Plains, rich with vegetation—forests of gigantic trees, bending beneath their heavy crops of tempting fruit—and a sky over head always looking down with a warm delicious aspect—and there were other enjoyments in which I also had an abundant share. I found hearts not less warm than their climate, and looks not less glowing than their skies. To these pleasures I abandoned myself with all the heedlessness of such a wild unbridled nature as mine had always been. I revelled in a continual intoxication of the passions. I was entranced in a perpetual dream of luxurious enjoyment. But madly as I plunged into the dissipation with which I was surrounded, I never was so happy as I was while I remained in the little bed-room of the gaoler’s daughter; and I have often found myself turning away from the voluptuous beauties whose ready smiles I had purchased, to think of the innocent love of the simple Virgo, who had shown to me such wonderful disinterestedness in her devotion. But these thoughts were of little avail, and why should they be otherwise? Man was made to enjoy the pleasures within his reach, or why were those pleasures created to tempt him with their near approximation? I did nothing more, therefore, in giving loose to the passions that formed part of my nature, than was natural, and the excesses into which they led were forced upon me as things impossible to be avoided.
“It was in this island I first formed the acquaintance of Master Boor, who was then a clerk in a merchant’s counting-house. We met at some place of licentious indulgence. A similarity of tastes soon made us intimate—and a certain quickness of comprehension possessed by both made each familiar with the character of the other. I found him a deep, designing, low minded wretch, whose sole object was the accumulation of money by any means that cunning could devise or cruelty execute. He thought me an admirable agent to assist in carrying his plans into execution, and believing that he would be particularly useful in my pursuits, I lent myself in some measure to forward his designs. His true disposition he had well concealed from the people by whom he was surrounded, who placing unbounded confidence in his integrity, by degrees gave up to him nearly the entire management of their business. To him at all times I disposed of my plunder, and although I found him an avaricious scoundrel, over-reaching me in every way, he was too necessary to be quarrelled with. Chiefly by his assistance I got intelligence of what desirable ships were on the neighbouring seas, where they were to be found, and how the vessels of war protecting their traffic were best to be avoided; and soon as ever our ship could be got into proper trim for our purposes, we commenced a career of plunder which in a few years made us the terror and scourge of that part of the world.
“I had made myself so useful to the captain by this time, that he had named me his second in command, and intrusted me with the principal duties of the ship, with the idea of so concealing his own inefficiency; but I was not to be satisfied with a second place, when I knew the first was my right; and having now attained to the full maturity of manhood, and having about me a numerous crew of brave fellows, the majority of whom I knew were in my interest, I set about devising a plan by which my ambitious ideas might be satisfied. The man was of a fiery temper when roused, and hesitated not to commit any action to rid himself of an enemy. I watched my opportunity, picked a quarrel with him:—he attacked me with his usual violence, and after a short struggle I slew him on the deck. It was a fair stand-up fight, and none of the men attempted to interfere. After the body had been cast into the sea, I was unanimously voted into the vacant command: some through fear, and some through choice, desired that I should become their captain; but I cared not what they thought, or what they felt. I resolved, now I had obtained the superiority I wanted, to allow no obstacles that were likely to prevent me from retaining it. It was a difficult thing to get a band of fierce unruly men to obey the commands of one of themselves, but I knew that the strong will only be ruled by the strongest, and that fear was the surest chain to control the reckless; so I soon began to show them I was not to be trifled with—I made them pay the most implicit obedience to my commands—well rewarded those whom I found most tractable, and punished with instant death all who attempted resistance. In this way I created around me a set of daring spirits, ready to obey my slightest wish, and willing to follow wherever I chose to lead.
“By this time Boor had become a partner in the house whose servant he had previously been, and seemed to live in much estimation with his coadjutors; but he had not been above a year in this promotion, when both his partners died suddenly in a way best known to himself; and as he produced a will, in which he was made sole heir to their property, he took possession of the whole business, and went on with his usual cunning and treachery, accumulating money as fast as he could. I continued to live, sometimes enjoying myself like a prince on shore, at other times, when afloat, striking terror wherever I went. But in that part of the world, I found that this state of things could not last much longer. The daring manner with which our proceedings were carried on, the boldness with which we plundered, and the fierceness with which we destroyed, while it created alarm among the merchants, forced the governments to use something like activity in their measures for our extermination. Ships of war were sent after us in every direction: we were chased from sea to sea, and from coast to coast, with a rapidity that allowed us no repose; and every day, at considerable disadvantages, we were obliged to fight our way wherever we went, continually losing some of the bravest of the crew, and not being allowed a single opportunity of gaining any prizes. However, by the intelligence I received from Boor, I managed to elude being taken; and as he found that suspicions of his true character were afloat on the island, and that arrangements were being made to take him into custody upon charges he would have found it difficult to answer, he secretly and suddenly disposed of the greater portion of his property; and by an arrangement with me, he embarked on board my ship as soon as I could with safety appear on the coast, when, without losing a moment’s time, we steered direct for the southern coast of Africa; and soon after my landing him at his desire at Caffreton, he commenced business there as a broker of merchandise, with a great portion of which he was supplied through me.
“I now began to feel rather desirous of knowing what had become of Virgo; for in all the scenes of danger and of pleasure in which I had since moved, I could not banish from my mind the cheerful, pure, and devoted little creature, who had risked so much to preserve my existence. Many years had passed by; I had become more stern and savage: knowing that every man’s hand was raised against me, I showed but little mercy when any of the class to which I was opposed fell into my power; but though I was continually the daring leader in scenes of bloodshed, and in all animal gratifications upon every fitting opportunity abandoned myself with no other thought than to get as much pleasure into the moment as the moment could possess, I had frequently found myself looking back to what always appeared my happiest hours, to the innocent enjoyments I had known in the little bedroom of the gaoler’s daughter; and finding myself, comparatively speaking, so near Madagascar, and knowing that I was so altered by time and climate that it was impossible for me to be recognised by any of my old acquaintances, I resolved to visit the old town, and try if I could discover the only being in the world for whom I ever entertained any thing like affection. The external character of the ship was always so mercantile, that the most knowing seamen were deceived by her; and as whenever I entered a port I took especial caution to make the men and every part of the vessel within observation disguised in such a manner that no suspicion could be entertained, I felt satisfied that from that quarter there was also no occasion for apprehension.