"Go on, my lad," said I.
"Well, sir, I has to confess that he first tried it on with me. While
the people were dying with the plague, and no one was looking on, he
called me to him, and told me that he knowed where loads of gold was
stowed away--enough to sink the ship and freight another twice the size;
and that if I would help him to get his liberty, he'd show it to me, and
that I might have as much as I wanted. I listened to him, and thought
there would be no great harm if I was to help him to get free, and save
his neck; so I agreed to take a message to the rest of the brig's
people, to tell them to keep up their spirits, and to try and get their
arms and legs out of limbo. He then told me to hunt in the carpenter's
chest for a file, and a cold-chisel and hammer. While I was looking one
night for the tools, the thought struck me, all of a heap like--if this
chap was to get free, what would he do with Mr Vernon and you, sir, who
had been so kind to me, and saved me from so many of that Mr Chissel's
finnams? Why, he'll be cutting their throats, to be sure, and making
off with the schooner; and where should I then be, I should like to
know. So I goes back to Captain Delano, and tells him I couldn't find
the tools. He swears a great deal at this, and tells me to go and look
for them again; and that if I didn't bring them, he'd be the death of
me. How he was to do me any harm while he was chained hand and foot, I
couldn't tell; but still I was very much frightened. Well,
howsomedever, I keeps a watch on him, and I soon seed that he was trying
it on with some of the _Helen's_ crew; and at last, that he'd got one of
our people to listen to him. How far he had succeeded in getting them
over to his plans, I couldn't tell till just now. I had stowed myself
away in the coil of the hawser, just before the bulkhead of his cabin,
where I lay in a dark shadow, so that no one could see me, when I heard
a man talking to him. I made out that he had almost got his fetters off
his limbs, and that the other people would be shortly free of theirs;
and that they knew where the arms were to be found; and that as soon as
they had got them, they would make a rush on deck, and throw overboard
all who wouldn't join them. Then they were to carry the schooner to the
coast of Africa, to the very place where all Captain Delano's gold is
stowed away."
How much of this story might be true, and how much imagination, I could
not tell; but it was too serious a matter to allow any risk to be run;
so I ordered him to slip below, and to beg Mr Vernon would at once join
me on deck with his pistols. He was then to make his way forward, and
to rouse up Watson, with directions to him to come to us. Bobby was so
quick in his movements, that before a minute had passed they both joined
me. They were but just in time, when some dark heads were seen rising
up above the combings of the hatchway. Before, however, they had time
to make their footing good on the deck, Mr Vernon, Watson, and I had
sprung on them, and knocked them below again with the butt-ends of our
pistols. At the same time, before they could make another attempt, the
three men forward came running aft, and we quickly got the hatches on
over them. There they and the two wretched traitors Delano had
inveigled to release them remained, like wild beasts shut up in a
cage,--much more dangerous, however, for they had the sentries' muskets,
and perhaps other arms which might have been conveyed to them. They
were, moreover, driven to desperation, and it therefore required great
caution in dealing with them. Mr Vernon had recourse to a _ruse_ to
assist in damping their spirits.
"Brig ahoy!" he sung out, "send your boat aboard here well-armed; our
prisoners have broken loose. Watson," he whispered, "go and get the
people up from forward. I suppose you can trust them."
"Ay, ay, sir, they are all true enough," he replied; "it's only one of
the merchant-brig's crew, and that poor fellow, Nolan, who was always
weak-like. They ought never to have been placed as sentries."
When all the people were mustered, we outnumbered the pirates; but,
though we had arms in our hands, so had they; and if we took the hatches
off, we could scarcely hope that they would yield without a struggle,
which would very probably prove a bloody one. Still, if we let them
remain below, they might commit some mischief--very probably set the
ship on fire, or force their way out through the bulkheads, either
forward or aft, when we were not expecting them. While this state of
things was continuing, I happened to look over the side: my eyes caught
sight of an object looming through the darkness.
"A sail on the weather bow!" I sung out, with no little satisfaction.
We hauled up a little, and stood for her. She had seen us and shortened
sail.
"What vessel is that?" I inquired.
"A prize to his Majesty's ship _Harold_," answered the voice of Adam
Stallman.
"All right; we want your aid. Heave-to, and send your boat aboard, with
the people well-armed," I sung out.
In a few minutes Adam himself stood on our deck, with four well-armed
followers. The inconvenience of a lengthened quarantine, to which he
would be exposed, was not, under the circumstances, to be taken into
consideration. A plan of operations was soon settled on. We agreed to
have lanterns ready, and by swinging them down into the hold the moment
the hatches were off, we hoped to discover where the pirates were
stationed, and thus, if they attempted to fire, to be able to take
better aim at them in return. It was an anxious moment. At a signal
the hatches were in a moment thrown off. Delano stood like a lion at
bay, with a musket in his hand. He fired it at Stallman, and then
attempted to spring up on deck. Happily the ball missed its aim, and he
was knocked over by several stout fists, which his head encountered, and
fell like a log back into the hold. Several shots were exchanged, and
the four pirates fought desperately in their hopeless attempt to regain
their freedom. They were soon, however, overpowered, and borne down on
the deck, without loss of life to either party. The only people who did
not fight were the two traitors and the sick pirate, and he remained
bound as before, having refused to be liberated. Delano had been
stunned by his fall, and when he regained his senses, he found himself
again in irons, with additional chains round his arms. This showed him
probably that all that had passed was not a dream, as it might otherwise
have appeared to him. He growled out curses against his ill-luck, but
he had no other means of venting his rage and disappointment. The other
men took the matter very coolly. It appeared to me that their minds
were too dull and brutalised, and their hearts too callous, to
comprehend their awful position. Seared in their consciences, they were
truly given over to a reprobate mind. The two men who had been gained
over by Delano to assist him we sent on board the brig, exchanging them
for two who could be relied on; and now our misfortunes seemed to have
come to an end. The young man I have spoken of belonging to the
pirate's crew, after this seemed to sink faster than ever. Mr Vernon,
in consideration of his condition, had him removed from the immediate
neighbourhood of the others, and placed within a screen in the
after-part of the hold. I then, at his request, went to visit him one
afternoon. He was sitting up, with the Bible on his knees, and his back
resting against the bulkhead, so that the light which came down the
hatchway-glanced on his forehead and the leaves of the sacred book. His
hair, which was of a light brown (almost auburn, it had probably been,
as a lad), was very long, and hung down on either side of his high,
smooth, and sunburnt brow. His dress was that of an ordinary seaman,
and when he was first captured it was perfectly neat and clean. I went
and sat down on a bucket by his side.
"I have asked to see you again, sir, for you are the best friend I have
found for many a year," he began, in a weak voice, speaking apparently
not without pain and difficulty. "From this book I have discovered, at
length, the cause of all my crimes, my sufferings, and ultimate doom.
Disobedience brought me to what I now am. I never learned to obey or to
fear God or man. I was born in the same rank of life in which you move,
perhaps with far greater expectations; and when I think of what I might
have been and what I am, it drives me to madness, and I wish that I had
never been born. My father was a man of property and position, and much
esteemed for many virtues. My mother was highly educated and refined,
and of religions feeling. It might be supposed that a child of such
parents could not but turn out well. Unhappily for me, they loved me
much, but not wisely. I was allowed to have my own way in all things, I
was never taught to obey. As I grew up, my self-willed disposition
became more and more developed. I could not bear constraint of any
sort. Too late they discovered their error. I had received at home
some little religious instruction; I even knew something about the
contents of the Bible, but its spirit was totally beyond my
comprehension. At last it was determined to send me to school. I went
willingly enough, for the sake of the change; but, not liking it, ran
away. I was not sent back, but instead a tutor was provided for me. He
was totally unfitted for his occupation, and was unable, had he tried,
to make any good impression on me. We quarrelled so continually, that
he was dismissed, and I was persuaded to go to school again. Once more
I ran away; but this time I did not run home. I wanted to see the
world, and I was resolved to become a sailor. I cannot bear to dwell on
my ingratitude and heartlessness. I knew that my disappearance would
almost break my mother's heart, and that my father would suffer equally;
yet I persevered. I little thought what I was to go through. A fine
brig was on the point of sailing for the coast of Africa. I fell in
with the master, and offered to go with him. He asked no questions as
to who I was, or where I came from; but, wanting a boy, he shipped me at
once. The next day we were at sea, and all means of tracing me were
lost. I was not ill-treated; for the captain, though bad enough in many
respects, had taken a fancy to me. We were to engage, I found, in the
slave-trade. At first I was shocked at the barbarities I witnessed, but
soon got accustomed to them. We did not always keep to that business.
The profits were not large enough to satisfy our avarice; and even
piracy we did not hesitate to commit at times, when opportunity offered.
At length the brig was cast away, and many of the crew and all our
ill-gotten gains were lost. I, with two or three others, who escaped,
shipped on board a Spanish slaver. We changed from bad to worse.
Knives were in constant requisition; more than once I dyed my hands in
blood. I gained a name, though a bad one; and was feared, if not loved.
Such was the training--such the scenes of my youth. After a time I
began to weary of the life, and wished to see English faces, and to hear
English spoken once more; so, finding a vessel short of hands returning
home, I ran from the slaver, and shipped on board her. We were cast
away on the south coast of England; many of my shipmates never reached
the land. I was picked up by a boat's crew when almost exhausted, and
was carried by them into a cave near the shore.
"They belonged to a large band of smugglers,--their leader one of the
most daring and successful on the coast. I was too much hurt to be
moved for some days, and passed the time listening to their adventures,
which they were at no pains to conceal. I became so much interested in
their mode of life, that a few words of encouragement from their chief,
who was known under the name of Myers, induced me to join them. I
thought I would take a few cruises with him before I paid a visit to my
home, to inquire for my father and mother. A wild life I spent for some
time. Our lawless occupation led us into many acts of violence, in
which I was never backward. One you are cognisant of. I was in the
cavern when you and your commanding officer were brought there, and I
assisted in hanging you over the pit. I was a favourite with Myers; and
he trusted me entirely. When he was obliged to leave the country, I had
resolved to start homeward; but was engaged in running a cargo on shore,
when I was captured by the revenue men, and after an imprisonment of
some months, sent on board a man-of-war. She was bound for the coast of
Africa. I laughed at the climate which carried off many of my
shipmates; but the discipline of a king's ship did not suit me, and I
took an early opportunity of running from her.
"I lived among the blacks for some time; but it was a weary life, and
finding a trader homeward bound, I got on board, and at length reached
Liverpool. I went to my father's house. Both he and my mother were
alive, but I had great difficulty in persuading them of my identity.
When they were convinced of it, they were ready to receive me like the
Prodigal. But I had not repented. I was not fit to dwell with them. I
felt like a wild beast among lambs. I had not an idea in common with
them. When the novelty wore off, my evil habits came uppermost. I
asked my father for money. He told me that he wished me to embrace some
regular calling, and desired to know what I would choose. I laughed at
the notion. He still declined giving me the sum I asked for, but I
insisted that I must have it. My looks alarmed him, and at length he
reluctantly gave it me. With it I set off for Liverpool, where I soon
spent it. Then the first pang of remorse came across me. I thought of
the calm quiet of that home for which I had so completely unfitted
myself. I was meditating returning to it once more, and asking my
father to explain his wishes, when, as I was sauntering along the quays,
I encountered Myers. He was much disguised, but he knew me and stopped
me. He told me that he was engaged in a scheme by which a rapid fortune
was to be made; that he could not then unfold it; but that, if I would
ship on board a vessel with him, he would explain it when we were at
sea. My impulse was to refuse; but I was tired and weary, and consented
to enter a tavern with him. He there plied me with liquor till all my
scruples vanished, and I became once more his slave.
"What occurred on board that vessel I cannot now tell; but you will
probably know ere long. But the favour I have to ask of you is, that if
I die, as I hope to do before our trial, you will find out my parents,
and tell them, not all the truth, but how you encountered me on the
point of death, and that I died repentant."
I promised the unhappy young man that I would do as he desired, and, at
his request, I took down the name and address of his parents.
I have often since thought, as I recollected this story, that if parents
did but consider the misery they were storing up for themselves and
their children by neglecting the precepts of the wise King of Israel,
they would, oftener than they do, search that book for counsel and
advice, and would teach their children also to seek instruction from its
copious pages.
Oh! my young friends, remember that you cannot live well without some
rule of conduct, any more than you can steer a ship across the ocean
without a compass or knowledge of the stars. Then, let me urge you to
take the best rule you can find; and where, let me ask, does there exist
one comparable, in any way, to that found in the Proverbs of Solomon?
If you would be truly wise, learn them by heart, and remember them
always.
We were very thankful when, at length, we reached Malta harbour. Of
course we were put into quarantine, but we were relieved from the charge
of our prisoners. To his own surprise, as well as mine, Charles Adams--
so he called himself--the young man whose short history I have just
narrated, still survived, and there appeared every probability that he
would be able to undergo his trial. Our first inquiry was to ascertain
if any news had been received of the _Ariadne_; but nothing had been
heard of her, and poor Mr Vernon was doomed still longer to endure the
tortures of suspense.
At last our quarantine was concluded, the pirates were carried off to
prison, and we returned on board our ship, which had come in from a
cruise just in time to receive us. For several days we did nothing but
talk about our adventures with our own messmates, as well as with
various people who came off to see us. I got great credit for the way
in which I had saved the brig from being blown up; though, as I was as
much interested as any one else in the success of the performance, I
cannot say that I thought I had done any great thing.
Poor Bobby Smudge came in, too, for his share of praise for having
informed us of the plot of the pirates to retake the schooner; and most
certainly he had been the means of saving all our lives. No one after
this attempted to bully him, and I observed a marked improvement in his
appearance and character.
The trial of the pirates came on at once; and the _Harold_ was kept in
harbour, that we might attend it as witnesses. I will not enter into
minute particulars. The leading facts of the case will be of sufficient
interest. Evidence had been collected to prove that the _William_ had
sailed from England with one description of cargo, and that her master
had disposed of various articles not among it. To account for this,
Captain Delano replied that he had fallen in with an abandoned ship, and
had taken part of her cargo out of her. He stood bold and unabashed, as
if confiding in his innocence; but his countenance fell when two of his
own crew appeared in the witness-box, and he was informed that they had
turned King's evidence.
"Then there is a conspiracy against me, and my life will be sworn away,"
was his reply.
Nothing that he could say, however, made any one doubt his guilt.
I was in hopes that the young man in whom I had taken so much interest
would have been allowed to turn King's evidence, but I found that he had
refused to do so.
"No," said he, when asked the question; "I do not wish to preserve my
own worthless life by aiding in the condemnation of others. If I am
found guilty, I am ready to suffer with them."
Nothing, I found, would alter his determination. When brought into
dock, he was far too weak to stand; but there was a look of calm
contentment in his countenance--I might describe it almost as
happiness--seldom borne by a person in his awful position. His
appearance excited much interest in all those who saw him, though few
were aware of the mighty change which had taken place within his bosom,
and still less of the cause of that change. How different did he look
from the rest! No ferocity, no callousness, no stoical indifference, no
assumption of innocence could be traced in any one of his features.
Calm and thoughtful, he sat watching the proceedings, as one deeply
interested in their result. People could scarcely believe their senses
when they heard the evidence given against him. Who more blood-thirsty,
who more eager for plunder, who so regardless of the terror and
sufferings of others, as Charles Adams?
From the evidence brought out in court, it appeared that Delano, late
master of the _William_ brig, belonged to New York, in the United States
of America. Though of most respectable parents, at an early age he had
taken to evil courses, and was at length compelled to leave his native
city for some notorious act of atrocity. His plausible manners,
however, enabled him after a time to get command of several merchantmen
in succession. One after another, they were cast away under very
suspicious circumstances. The underwriters suffered, and the owners
built larger and finer vessels, while he had evidently more money than
ever at command. It now appeared, by the evidence of one of the
prisoners who had sailed with him, that one at least he had purposely
cast away, for the purpose of obtaining the insurance, she being insured
for a far larger amount than she was worth. After this he got into the
employment of a highly respectable firm in Liverpool, and sailed in
command of a fine brig for the Mediterranean. Here was a good opening
for making an honest livelihood; but such a course did not suit the
taste of Delano. Several of his crew, brought up in the slave-trade, or
as smugglers, were ill-disposed men; others were weak, ignorant, and
unprincipled, and were easily gained by his persuasions to abet him in
his evil designs. Finding, after they had been some time at sea
together, that neither his mates nor his crew were likely to refuse
joining in any project he might suggest, he boldly proposed to them to
turn pirates; and not only to plunder any vessels they might fall in
with, whose crews were unable to offer resistance, but, by putting them
out of the way, to prevent all chance of detection. They waited,
however, till they got into the Mediterranean, and they there fell in
with a fine brig, out of London, laden with a valuable cargo. They
surprised and overpowered the crew, whom they confined below, while they
plundered her of everything valuable. Some of her crew had recognised
them. To let them live would certainly lead to their own detection; so
they scuttled the ship, and remained by her till she sunk beneath the
waves, with the hapless people they had plundered on board. Then they
went on their way rejoicing, and confident that no witnesses existed of
their crime. They knew not of the Eye above which had watched them;
they thought not of the avenging witness in their own bosoms. In the
wildest revels and debauchery they spent their ill-gotten wealth. This
time they were true to each other, and if any one suspected that their
gold was obtained by unfair means, it was found impossible to prove
anything against them. It was before this, I believe, that Delano had
attempted to carry out some smuggling transaction at Malta, and had been
thrown into prison; on being liberated from which, ruined in fortune, he
had taken to the desperate courses I have described. He next got
command of the _William_ brig, in which he was joined by four of his old
crew. Two were put in by the owners,--the carpenter and another man.
He would willingly have sailed without them. He was also joined by an
old comrade, Bill Myers, who had just lost his cutter off Portland. He
had no fears of finding any opposition to his projects from his
scruples. The _William_ lay alongside the _Helen_, which vessel was
taking in a rich cargo. He easily excited the cupidity of his crew by
pointing it out to them. His own vessel had a cargo of very inferior
value--chiefly, I believe, of earthenware. The _William_ sailed a short
time before the _Helen_. He first proposed the plan of plundering her
to the four old pirates. They did not offer the slightest objection,
but expressed their doubts whether all the crew would join them.
"They must be made to do it," answered Delano, fiercely.
Myers at once acceded to Delano's proposal. Charles Adams was the next
to join them. They now felt themselves strong enough to talk openly of
their project. Each man boasted of the deeds of atrocity he had
committed with impunity, especially of their last act of piracy, and of
the mode in which they had spent the proceeds of their crime. They told
tales of the buccaneers of old--of the adventures of pirates in their
own day, of which they had heard, and of some with which they were
acquainted--of the hoards of wealth they had acquired. When they found
that these stories had not sufficient effect with some of their
shipmates, they applied to Delano, and liquor was freely served out.
Most of those who had before resisted now consented, in their drunken
state, to join in the proposed scheme. The most persevering and eager
tempter was the mate. If he could not persuade, he laughed away the
scruples of the more honest or more timid.
"Detection! nonsense!" he exclaimed. "Who can ever find it out? Who
can know it, unless you go and talk of it yourselves? What's the reason
against it? Let's be men! Let's be above such folly! If they go to
the bottom--why, a gale of wind and a started butt might easily send
them there; so, where's the difference? In one case, their rich cargo
would go with them; now, you see, shipmates, we shall get it. So, hurra
for the black flag, and overboard with all scruples!"
Now, however glaring the folly and wickedness of such reasoning may
appear to us, it seemed very tempting and sensible to the miserable men
to whom it was addressed. The carpenter only, and another man, refused
to drink, or to participate in any way in the project. They could not,
however, turn the rest from their intentions. The treacherous mode in
which the _Helen_ was taken possession of, I have already described.
The carpenter alone held out; the other man pretended to join them, with
the hope, it appeared, of saving the lives of their prisoners. When
they had mastered the crew of the _Helen_, the pirates jeered and
laughed at them, as they were removing the cargo, and, bound as they
were, even kicked and struck them, and treated them with every
indignity. They then compelled the carpenter to accompany them on board
with his tools, and, holding a pistol at his head, made him bore holes
in the ship's bottom. No one appeared to have been wilder or more
savage than Adams. Having completed this nefarious work, as they
thought, effectually, the pirates left their victims to their fate.
They would certainly have returned to remedy their mistake, and to send
the _Helen_ more speedily to the bottom, when they caught sight of a
ship of war in the distance. They watched impatiently, but still the
_Helen_ floated. At length the strange sail drew near, and, fearful of
being found by her in the neighbourhood of the plundered vessel, they
stood away under every stitch of canvas they could set. Scarcely had
the deed been committed, than each began to fear that the other would
betray him; and, as if oaths could bind such wretches effectually, they
all agreed to swear, on crossed swords, that they would never divulge
what had occurred. They compelled the carpenter and the other honest
man to join them in their profane oath, threatening to blow out their
brains forthwith, if they refused. It seems strange that men guilty of
such crimes should make use of the sign of the cross to confirm their
oaths, and call God especially to witness their misdeeds. What
extraordinary perversity such is of reason! Yes; but are not those we
mix with every day guilty of similar wickedness and madness, when in
their common conversation they call on the name of the most high God to
witness to some act of folly, if not of vice, of extravagance, of
cruelty, or senselessness?
The pirates sailed first for Leghorn, where they sold part of the
plundered cargo, and spent the proceeds in a way to excite much
suspicion. They then sailed for the island of Sardinia; but they there
found that they were already suspected. Nothing could be more foolhardy
than their visit to Malta, where the crew spent their money in rigging
themselves out in gold chains, silk waistcoats, and green coats. How
their conduct should not have excited suspicion, I cannot say; but it
does not appear that the people with whom they dealt thought anything
was wrong. It is one of the numberless examples to prove that criminals
are deprived even of ordinary wisdom. Delano, however, saw, from the
way his crew were behaving, that if he remained long at Malta, they
would inevitably bring destruction on themselves. Having, therefore,
got them on board, he sailed for Smyrna. On the voyage Myers tried to
induce them to plunder other vessels; but none they could venture to
attack fell in their way. Their rage against Myers was excessive when
they found that he had attempted to blow them up, and that he had done
so doubtless for the purpose of getting possession of a considerable
amount of treasure which had been left on shore in the hands of an agent
of Delano's. I afterwards heard that he had in all probability
succeeded, as the agent had stated that he had presented an order from
Delano for its payment about the very moment we were taking possession
of the brig, and, as he thought, being blown into the air. Search was
made for him throughout Smyrna before we left the place, and continued
for some time afterwards; but the last accounts had brought no
intelligence of him, and it was concluded that he had escaped in
disguise.
During the greater part of the trial, Delano had maintained his
confidence and composure; but at length the evidence of his own people,
and the master and crew of the _Helen_, became so overwhelming that he
lost all hope, and, overcome by the most abject fear, sunk down, and
would have fallen, had he not been supported. Recovering himself a
little, he broke forth into earnest petitions that his life might be
spared. He made the most trivial and weak excuses for his conduct,
utterly unlikely to avail him anything. He declared that he had been
led on by Myers; that his crew had forced him to consent to the piracy;
that he had endeavoured to dissuade them from it, and that the fear of
death alone had induced him to consent. Nothing he could say could, of
course, alter the decision of his judges; and he, with six of his
companions, was condemned to be hung at the fore-yard-arms of the
_William_, then lying in Quarantine Harbour. It was dreadful to hear
the shriek of despair to which Delano now gave vent.
"Mercy! mercy! mercy!" he cried. "Oh, spare my life! I am unfit to
die! Send me to toil from day to day in chains, with the meanest in the
land; but, oh, take not away that which you cannot restore!"
"Let him be removed," said the judge of the court; and he was borne
away, still crying out for mercy.
The miserable man, who had never shown mercy to others, still besought
it for himself. The other prisoners said not a word in their defence.
One only voice was heard when all others were hushed in the court. It
was solemn, though hollow and weak.
"Our doom is most just. We suffer rightly; and may God have mercy on
our souls," were the words spoken.
I recognised the voice of Charles Adams. I saw him the night before his
execution. He was calm and happy.
"O that my fate," said he, "might be a warning to others! and I should
feel still more contented to die."
He begged to keep my Bible to the last, promising to give it to the
chaplain to be delivered to me. I will not dwell on the dreadful
particulars of the execution. No Maltese could be found willing to
perform the office of executioner. The chief of the police, therefore,
ordered a swinging stage to be formed on either side of the vessel, on
which the criminals were placed with ropes round their necks, secured to
the fore-yard-arms, three on each side. These stages were secured in
their horizontal position by ropes rove through blocks made fast to the
fore-rigging, with lanyards at the end. As the chaplain reached a
certain word in the Service, the seamen stationed at the lanyards were
ordered to cut them. This was done, and the stages sinking from under
their feet, the miserable men were launched into eternity. A barge was
then brought alongside, into which the bodies were lowered, and carried
to Fort Ricasoli, at the entrance of the great harbour. Four of the
bodies, being sewn up in tarred canvas, were hung in chains to a lofty
gibbet; while two were buried beneath it. For many long months
afterwards the four pirates hung there,--a terrible and disgusting
sight, and an awful warning to all who might be inclined to pursue the
same evil course.
The chaplain returned me my Bible the following day. Within it I found
a note from Adams, first, thanking me warmly for my attention to him;
and it then continued,--"Shameful as is my merited fate, I would that
all my young countrymen may know it. Tell all you meet that they are
sent into this world, not to live for themselves, but for others,--as a
place of trial, not of amusement; that if they would secure contentment
now, and happiness for the future, they must, first of all things, learn
to conquer themselves; they must overcome their tempers--their
passions--their love of ease--of self-indulgence; they must remember
that they are surrounded by snares and temptations of all sorts, all
allowed to exist for the purpose of trying them; that the devil is
always going about, ever ready to present the bait most likely to lure
them to destruction. I entreat you--I adjure you--to make this known
wherever you can. The knowledge of this may save numbers from ruin. It
cannot too often be brought before the minds of the young. I was
ignorant of it. I thought that I had a right to follow my own
inclinations,--that it was manly to do so; and, oh! how sorely have I
suffered for my ignorance!--how bitterly do I repent my infatuation.
Yet, miserable as is my fate, if I can but prove a warning to others, I
shall not have lived in vain."