“I promise to join you for good or bad. Turn me loose and give your orders.”
“And you?” he said, quietly, addressing Brown.
“I’ll follow Mr. Gore in anything,” he answered.
O’Toole gasped, struggled, and half-rose in a sitting posture, crying out:
“My God! Mr. Gore! Mr. Gore! What have ye done? What have ye done?”
Benson opened the door in the bulkhead which separated the fore and after cabins, and instantly three men, who appeared to be his chief followers, entered and cut my lashings and cast me adrift to my ankles. These fellows had evidently been listening and waiting for this.
Then they handed me a sheet of paper and placed pen and ink on the cabin table. I was requested to write that agreement with Benson that stated I joined him of my own free will. This paper was used against me at the trial to prove my piracy. I wrote it and signed it without being threatened in any way.
After that my ankles were freed and Brown was cast loose. He was bleeding slightly from a bullet-hole through his leg, and could scarcely stand from weakness caused by the loss of blood, which had continued for hours.
He was given the paper and pen and he wrote as I had already written.
O’Toole was loosened as far up as his waist and allowed to stand. He avoided our looks, and stood with his gaze bent on a seam in the planking beneath his feet.