A PIRATE HOLD.
On arriving at Rhodes, Wilkinson and Edgar rowed ashore as soon as the
anchor was dropped, and called upon the Turkish governor. They were
received with much honour, and the governor was delighted to hear the
news, which they were the first to bring, that the French had abandoned
the siege of Acre and were retreating in all haste to Egypt. He gave
orders for a salute to be fired at once in honour of this great success,
and then asked Wilkinson what he could do for him, assuring him that he
would put all the resources of the island at his disposal. Edgar, as
interpreter, assured the governor that they had no occasion to avail
themselves largely of the offer, but that, in consequence of the amount
of ammunition expended in the siege they were short of both powder,
ball, and musketry ammunition, and would be very much obliged for as
large a supply as he could spare them. He gave orders at once for the
issue to him of as much as they required. Edgar then went on:
"The object of our coming here, sir, is to endeavour to check the piracy
that is now being carried on among the islands. Numerous complaints have
reached Sir Sidney Smith from Turkish, British, and Greek merchants;
ships are constantly missing, and there is no doubt that they have been
captured and scuttled, and their crews massacred."
"Your ship is a small one for such a purpose," the governor said, for
from the divan on which he was sitting he commanded a view of the port.
"I hope that she is large enough," Edgar replied; "she is heavily armed
for her size, and she is a fast sailer. Sir Sidney Smith had no larger
vessel at his disposal, as he needs the two men-of-war and the small
frigate for watching the Egyptian coast, and, indeed, had he been able
to send a larger craft, it would not have been so well suited for the
purpose, for the pirates would hardly have ventured to attack her. We
shall, after we have put out to sea, disguise the brig and rig her as a
merchantman in order to tempt them out. We shall not do it until we are
well away, for the pirates may have friends here who might send them
information. We shall head for the south, and shall give out that we are
to rejoin our commander off Alexandria, as we have only come round here
to give you news of the retreat of the French. We shall be glad if you
will furnish us with two men having a thorough knowledge of the islands,
and of the spots where the piratical craft are most likely to harbour.
They must be trusty men who will not open their lips here as to our
designs."
"I can find you two such men," the governor said. "They both used to be
captains of craft that traded among the islands, but now own several
vessels; some of these have disappeared, and they are continually coming
up here and pestering us with their complaints, though I have told them
again and again that I can do nothing in the matter; I know that they
would very gladly go with you in order to aid in the punishment of the
pirates."
Such indeed turned out to be the case. Edgar had a long talk with them,
and learned from them the spots where it was supposed that the pirates
had their rendezvous, as many vessels whose course had lain near them
had disappeared. He asked them to go into the town and gather what
further information they could from men whose craft had been chased but
had succeeded in getting away, and told them to be at the landing-place
after dark so that their passage to the ship would be unnoticed, for
they agreed with him that undoubtedly many of the pirates had agents at
Rhodes and other important ports, and that intelligence was carried by
small, quick-sailing craft, to the pirates, of vessels likely to be
valuable prizes. An abundant supply of ammunition was taken off to the
brig in the course of the afternoon, and the supply of fresh provisions
replenished.
The two young officers dined with the governor, who had a large party in
their honour, including many of the military authorities. The next
morning they started at six, and held their course south until they were
sure that the brig could no longer be seen even from the highest point
on the island, and at four bells in the afternoon changed their course,
and, sailing between Scarpanto and Carso, headed north and passed before
nightfall between Slazida and Placa. The crew had been busy painting a
broad yellow line round the brig, in slackening the rigging, and giving
the vessel the appearance of a slovenly merchant brig. They had learned
from the Turks that although undoubtedly acts of piracy took place in
the Western Archipelago, these were comparatively isolated acts
committed upon small vessels becalmed near one or other of the islands,
the attacks being made in boats, but that it was among the numerous
islands lying off the coast of Asia Minor between Nicaria and Samos on
the north, and Serrest and Piscopia on the south, that piracy was most
frequent.
As a rule, they said, vessels coming down from the Dardanelles kept well
west of Mitylene and Chios, rounded Naxos and Syra and bore south to
Santorin before shaping their course east, if bound for Syria, so as to
avoid the dangerous neighbourhood. To begin with, they advised that the
course should be laid so as to pass a short distance east of
Astropalaia. This, they said, had long been one of the headquarters of
piracy. It had, before the war began, been several times attacked by
Turkish or European ships of war, the craft found there burnt, and the
coast villages destroyed; but since then it was believed that it had
again become the headquarters of pirates from some of the other
islands, as its position was a favourable one for attack, lying in the
direct lines of traffic between both Constantinople and Greece and the
eastern trades with Rhodes, Cyprus, Syria, or Egypt.
The night was fine, with a gentle breeze. A sharp look-out was kept for
two groups of tiny islands that were scarce more than rocks, that had to
be passed before nearing Astropalaia. The breeze died away at daybreak,
and left the vessel becalmed at a distance of some six miles from the
island.
"We could not be better placed," one of the Turks said. "You see the
group of islands at the mouth of that bay; they are called the Pirate
Rocks, and in the old days every one of those rocks was the stronghold
of a pirate ship. Thirty years ago four Turkish frigates caught eighteen
piratical craft lying at anchor behind their shelter, and destroyed
every one of them, but it was not long before others took their places."
"If there were a good wind blowing, Edgar, I should like nothing better
than to sail right in there," Wilkinson said, "but in this light breeze
those fellows would run away from us with their big sails and their
sweeps."
"If there are any of them in there now," one of the Turks remarked as
Wilkinson closely surveyed the islets through his glass, "most likely
they have made you out before this. I only hope there will not be too
many of them."
"The more the merrier!" Wilkinson laughed as Edgar translated this.
"With ten guns and sixty blue-jackets we ought to be able to beat off
any number of the scoundrels. Ask him how many guns these fellows
generally mount?"
The Turk shook his head.
"They are of all sizes; some are only row-boats, without guns at all,
and carrying perhaps not more than a dozen men. Two will row, and the
rest lie down in the bottom. They will have some fruit, perhaps, piled
up in the stern, and as they row up to a small craft at anchor or
becalmed, there are no suspicions of their real character until they get
close alongside. Then they leap up, and carry the vessel before the crew
have time to arm themselves. If she is very small and useless to them,
they will take out everything of value, fasten the prisoners down below,
and scuttle her; if she is larger, they will tow her into some little
bay and take out the cargo in boats at their leisure, cut the throats of
the prisoners, alter the appearance of the ship so that she cannot be
recognized, engage a dozen more hands, and set up on a larger scale.
"Some of the craft are used as fishing-boats when times are quiet and
there are ships of war about, while the larger ones may go into trade.
Some of the smaller craft will carry a couple of guns, the larger ones
eight or ten, but these are generally much smaller than yours, though
sometimes they are armed with cannon taken from prizes; but, as a rule,
they do not trust at all to their guns. They do not wish to draw
attention by their sound to what is going on, and they either attack at
night and carry their prey by boarding, or, if it be in the day, the
crew are sent below, the guns hidden, and they have so peaceful an
aspect that it is only when they change their course suddenly, when
within a few hundred yards, that any alarm is excited, and they are
alongside before a trader can load his guns, and, as they are crowded
with men, carry her before any serious resistance can be offered."
[Illustration: WITH A TREMENDOUS CHEER, FLUNG THEMSELVES UPON THE
PIRATES
_Page 262_]
At Rhodes they had taken on board a dozen bucket-loads of earth. The
night before, some of these had been emptied into a large tub, which was
then filled up with water and stirred briskly, after which the
sailors had gone aloft and wetted the sails with muddy water, rendering
their appearance dingy in the extreme. Here and there white patches had
been left, which gave the sails the appearance of being old and recently
mended, and with the yards set at different angles and slackened
rigging, the _Tigress_ would not have been recognized as the smart craft
that had, twenty-four hours before, sailed from Rhodes. The sailors were
all in high glee. After the hard work they had had at Acre they looked
upon this as a holiday, and entered with the greatest zest into the work
of disguising the ship.
"Now, lads, you must sit down," Wilkinson said, "and only five or six
heads must be shown above the bulwarks. They doubtless have some good
glasses taken from the ships they have captured, and if they saw that we
had an unusually strong crew they might smell a rat."
It was now a dead calm, the sails hung idly down, and the brig lay
almost motionless on a waveless sea.
"I am pretty sure that I can make out the upper spars of two or three
craft behind that long, low islet, Wilkinson," Edgar said after, for the
twentieth time, gazing long and earnestly through his telescope.
"I fancied so two or three times, Edgar, but I am by no means sure that
it is not fancy. I felt more sure of it at first than I do now, for
there is a slight mist rising from the water. If they don't come out to
us by the afternoon we will go in and have a look at them. We have got
half a dozen sweeps on board, and with those and the boats we could work
her in in a couple of hours."
"I hope we sha'n't have to do that," Edgar replied. "They would guess
what we were at once, and would be scattering in all directions. We
might pick up one or two, the rest would get off and carry news of us to
all the islands round."
"Perhaps you are right," Wilkinson agreed. "It would certainly be
unfortunate to begin by giving them a scare."
"Besides," Edgar went on, "if the calm holds till night, they may come
out and try to take us by surprise."
The day passed very slowly. The heat was great, and the men picked out
spots on the deck where the sails threw a shade, and dosed off to sleep.
They had, long before, made every preparation; the cutlasses had been
ground, the boarding-pikes sharpened, and the pistols loaded and primed.
Piles of shot lay by the side of the guns, and it needed only to fetch
up the powder cartridges from the magazine to be ready for action. The
marines had cleaned and loaded all the muskets, and placed them in the
racks. At two o'clock, after dinner had been eaten, Wilkinson said to
the boatswain:
"The starboard-watch can sling their hammocks and turn in if they like.
If these fellows mean to come out and attack us, they will hardly do it
before it becomes dark; perhaps not until two or three o'clock in the
morning, and as we shall have to be watchful, there is no occasion for
both watches to stay on deck now. The port watch shall go off from two
bells till eight; as they take the first watch they will be all the
brighter for a snooze beforehand."
"I wish the beggars would come out and have done with it," he went on to
Edgar, as the boatswain turned away and blew his whistle. "I think I may
as well go down, as it is your watch on deck. Have me roused when they
change at two bells if I don't wake of my own accord."
Contrary to their usual custom in a calm, the earnest desire of all on
board was that it should continue, for should a breeze spring up they
would be forced to sail away, and the pirates might not pursue them. As
soon as it got dark, Wilkinson told the boatswain that it would be as
well that a song should be started occasionally, but that not more than
five or six men were to join in chorus. If, as they came out, they heard
a dead silence they might think it unnatural, and it was quite possible
that a boat would come on ahead of them to try and make out what they
really were. In the intervals between the songs silence reigned, and all
on deck listened intently.
About nine o'clock Edgar exclaimed: "I can hear oars!"
"So can I," Wilkinson replied, after listening for a minute. "I don't
think that they are sweeps. No, it is a boat rowed by either two or four
men--four, I think."
In a minute or two they were satisfied that it was but a boat. The order
was given for another song, after which three or four men were to talk
and the rest to sit down below the bulwarks and to keep silence. The two
Turks took their places near the officers. From the speed at which the
boat was approaching it was certain that she was not deeply laden, and
there was no fear, therefore, of a surprise being attempted. She passed
within twenty yards of the tafrail, and they could make out that she was
an ordinary fisherman's boat. There was a pile of nets in the stern, and
four men were standing up rowing.
"I wish we could get a little wind!" one of them called out.
"We wish so, too," one of the Turks answered. "We have been lying
becalmed all day."
"Bound for Constantinople, I suppose?" came from the boat.
"No, for Smyrna. We are bringing a cargo from Ancona, and shall load up
at Smyrna with fruit."
With a Turkish good-night the men rowed on, and the singer forward at
once began another song. For a quarter of an hour they could hear the
sound of the oars growing fainter and fainter, then it ceased.
"They have rowed straight on till they think they are out of hearing,"
Wilkinson said. "Now they will make a circuit and go back to their
friends with the news. There is no doubt we are in luck if we get a
brush with them the first night after our arrival on our cruising
ground."
About three o'clock in the morning a confused sound could be heard. In
two or three minutes every man was at his post.
"There are only two, or at most three of them," Edgar said, in a tone of
disappointment, "and I doubt whether they are not big rowing-boats. The
strokes are too quick for either sweeps or for boats towing. What a
beastly nuisance! I suppose when these fellows took back the report,
that though we were a good-sized brig we did not seem to have many
hands, they thought that it was not worth while to tow out a big craft
when row-boats would do. They think that with twelve or fifteen hands in
each boat, and the advantage of surprise, they would be able to
overpower us at once."
"The surprise will be the other way," Wilkinson said angrily. "We shall
send them all three to the bottom at the first broadside."
"I don't think I should do that, Wilkinson; for, if you do, there is an
end of our chance of capturing any of their larger craft."
"Of course I see that; that is the annoying part of the business. What
do you propose, then?"
"I should say that the best plan would be, not to hail them until they
get close on board, then for a man forward to give a sudden shout, as if
he had been asleep on his watch and had only just heard them. Then they
will come tumbling on board, thinking that the ship is already theirs.
We might divide our men, and keep them half forward and half aft. The
moment they all get on board, rush down upon them. Tell off six men,
with orders to jump down into their boats as soon as they can, and to
push them off, so as to cut off their retreat. The boats will be very
useful to us, for we can tow the brig in with them. The people in there
will think that she has been captured, and we shall get right in the
middle of them before they find out that they have caught a tartar."
"By Jove, that is a first-rate idea!"
To their surprise, the men were at once called away from their guns and
divided into two parties. Edgar and the boatswain commanded that
gathered forward, Wilkinson and the gunner that aft. Nine men were told
off for the capture of the boats, for, as Edgar pointed out, when the
pirates found that they were caught in a trap, a good many of them might
leap overboard and try to get into the boats, and it might need fully
three men to keep them off.
"Now, lads, you understand," Wilkinson said, as the parties were about
to take up their places, "you must crouch down and keep yourselves
perfectly quiet until the word is given; it is important to get them all
on board. When they see no one on deck they will think that the one or
two men who might be on the watch have run below. You can use your
pistols freely when the fighting once begins. When the fellows find that
they are trapped, they are likely enough to fight hard, and I don't want
to lose any men. Keep your cutlasses in readiness, but trust principally
to your boarding-pikes."
The boats were but four or five hundred yards away when the crew of the
_Tigress_ took up their position. A minute later one of the men in the
bow shouted suddenly:
"There are boats coming!--quick, on deck!--pirates! pirates!"
Then four or five men down in the forecastle also shouted, ran up on
deck, and then, with cries of alarm, ran below again, and then, but
quietly this time, joined their comrades, who were crouching as closely
together as possible forward of the bitts. There was a roar of voices
from the boats. They could hear the oars plied desperately; then closely
following this came three bumps against the side of the brig, and,
clambering up the chains, the pirates poured tumultuously upon the deck,
breaking into a shout of triumph as they met with no resistance. There
was a pause of astonishment as the guns were seen; then their leader
shouted that these could be but dummies, intended to run out and
frighten people in the daytime.
"Down below, men!" one shouted; "finish with them first; it will be time
to talk afterwards."
One of the Turks, who spoke a little French, crouching by the side of
Wilkinson, translated his words. Some of the pirates rushed towards the
forecastle, others aft to the cabins, where they would find the
officers. Then some figures crawled out from below the tarpaulins that
were loosely thrown over the guns, looked over the rail, and then sprang
down into the boats, which were entirely deserted. As they did so there
was a shout from Wilkinson; it was answered by Edgar, and then
five-and-twenty seamen sprang up from each end of the vessel, and with a
tremendous cheer flung themselves upon the pirates. Taken completely by
surprise, and somewhat outnumbered, many of these were cut down or run
through by the pikes before anything like serious resistance could be
offered; then, headed by their leaders, they fought with the desperation
of cornered animals.
All of them carried pistols as well as yataghans. Some few of them ran
to the side, and with yells of fury leaped overboard to recapture the
boats. Pistols cracked on both sides, cutlass and yataghan clashed
together; but the British shouts rose high over the yells of the
pirates. In three minutes the fighting was virtually over, the greater
portion of the pirates lay dead on the deck; a few had jumped overboard,
and the rest, throwing down their arms, fell on their knees and cried
for mercy.
"That will do, men--that will do!" Wilkinson shouted; "scoundrels as
they are, we cannot kill them in cold blood. Get some lengths of rope,
boatswain, and tie them hand and foot."
The men who had leapt into the water and swam towards the boats did not
attempt to climb in when they saw three sailors in each, standing with
cutlass and pistol ready to oppose them, and they swam back towards the
brig. A rope was thrown to them, and they were permitted to climb up one
by one, being bound and laid by their comrades as they gained the deck.
None of the sailors had been killed, though several had received ugly
gashes.
"Now, boatswain, put the starboard watch into the boats; lower the two
ship's boats also--we will get as many oars to work as possible till
daylight."
Each of the captured boats rowed six oars, and thirty men were soon at
work towing the vessel towards the bay. The port watch then set to work
to clear the deck. The dead were all thrown overboard; the others were
unbound, made to strip off their jackets, then bound again and carried
down to the hold, the hatchway being closed on them. They found that
most of the survivors were Greeks, the Turks having to a man fallen
fighting.
"These mixed crews are worst of all," one of the Turks said. "The
Turkish pirates are bad enough, and so are the Greeks--there is little
to choose between them; but it is only the worst desperadoes who will
consort together. You did wrong to spare a man."
"We could not kill them when they threw down their arms," Wilkinson
said. "We will hand them over to your authorities, either at Smyrna or
at Rhodes. They will make short work of them, I fancy."
As soon as the first gleam of dawn appeared in the sky the boats were
called alongside. Those of the _Tigress_ were hoisted up, and the men in
the others were given the jackets of the prisoners, some having turbans
and some the Greek headgear. These garments had also been stripped from
the dead before the bodies were thrown overboard, and were laid in a
heap in readiness for those on deck to put on when they approached the
bay. When it became daylight they were not more than a mile and a half
from the islands. The men in the boats had been warned not to row too
regularly; and those on board had already put on their disguises. As
they passed between two of the islets exclamations of satisfaction burst
from Wilkinson and Edgar, for six vessels were anchored behind the
largest of these. The brig's head was turned towards them, and as they
approached shouts of welcome and exultation could be heard from their
crews.
The craft were of various sizes, two of them were not above thirty tons
burden, and each carried two light guns, the others were from fifty to a
hundred and fifty tons, and carried from six to twelve guns. The
_Tigress_ was within about four hundred yards of the line when the helm
was put down, as if to take her in between two of the largest craft.
Then Wilkinson, who, with Edgar, were both in the Turkish disguises,
waved his hand for the men in the boats to come alongside. As they did
so there was a shout of surprise from the crew of the nearest vessel,
for there was no mistaking the sailors' white trousers for the baggy
integuments of the Turks. At the same moment the port-holes opened, the
guns were run out, and before the last man had gained the deck, the ten
guns poured in their broadsides.
By Wilkinson's orders three on each side were trained on the craft
nearest to them, the remaining two on each broadside being aimed at the
vessels next to these. The guns had all been double-shotted, and at the
same moment the broadsides were fired the ensign was run up to the peak.
A wild hubbub of shouts of astonishment, fury, and alarm rose from the
pirate ships, and were re-echoed by numbers of men belonging to their
crews, clustered on the shore, to see the prize brought in. Some ran to
their guns and began to load them, others jumped into their boats or
sprang overboard and swam towards the shore. As fast as the guns on
board the _Tigress_ could be loaded the fire was kept up, the forward
ones sweeping the deck of the craft nearest to them with grape, while
the others sent round-shot into those farther away.
It was but for a short time that the pirates thought of fighting; their
light guns were no match for the heavy metal of those on board the brig,
and in a quarter of an hour after the first shot was fired the largest
of their craft had been sunk, and the other five were entirely deserted.
The boats were manned, the brig's head was first pulled round until her
broadside bore on the shore, then the anchor was dropped, and the guns
on the port side opened with grape upon the pirates on shore, and at
five or six houses that were perched high on the rock. Leaving the
boatswain in charge, Wilkinson and Edgar both took their places in the
boats and rowed from ship to ship. All were found empty, and as they
agreed that only two of the largest were worth taking away, the other
three were burned.
When they were fairly on fire the boats returned to the brig. Not a
pirate was to be seen on the island, though they were sure that although
numbers of them had been killed, there must still be fully two hundred
of them there, but they must either have hidden among rocks or made
their way down to the seaward face. As several boatloads might have
rowed away to other islets, it was decided to take a landing party of
five-and-thirty men on shore, for as their operations would be covered
by the guns of the brig, there was little probability of the pirates
attempting to attack them. As soon as they landed, the sailors, led by
the two midshipmen, climbed rapidly up the hill, and without a shot
being fired approached the houses on the top. From these a heavy
musketry fire suddenly broke out. The men would have rushed forward at
once, but Wilkinson called out to them to throw themselves down behind
shelter, and as they did so a shell flew overhead, struck the largest of
the houses and exploded.
Shot followed shot rapidly, the fire of the pirates ceased, then
Wilkinson gave the word, and the sailors leapt up and with a cheer
rushed forward. Save for a few women the houses were entirely deserted,
but some fifty men were seen running down the seaward face. A couple of
volleys were poured into these, and then, placing a dozen of the men on
guard, the midshipmen entered the houses. The shells had worked great
damage. Over a score of men lay dead within them, and as many others
wounded. The women had been in the cellars, and they were glad to find
that none of them had been hurt. These cellars were very extensive, each
house having one. Several of them were crammed with goods of all sorts,
evidently the proceeds of prizes, and of such varied description that
they judged that each house formed a storehouse to one vessel, as
otherwise the more valuable goods would have been collected together,
instead of sails, ship-gear, bales of valuable silks and embroideries
from Constantinople, Broussa, Smyrna, Chios, Alexandria, and Syria being
mixed promiscuously together.
Here too were a quantity of European manufactures, showing that it was
not only native craft that had suffered from their depredations. There
were numbers of barrels of Greek wine, puncheons of rum, cases of
bottled wines of different kinds evidently taken from English ships,
great quantities of Smyrna figs, and of currants, Egyptian dates, and
sacks of flour.
"This will bring us in a nice lot of prize-money, Blagrove," Wilkinson
said, after they had roughly examined the contents of the great
subterranean storehouses. Presently a still larger find was made. There
was, close to the houses, what appeared to be a well. One of the sailors
let down a bucket, and hauling it up found, to his surprise, that it was
salt water. The well was deep, but certainly not deep enough to reach
down to the sea level, and he carried the bucket to Wilkinson and
pointed out where he had got the water from.
"There is something curious about this," the latter said. "Lower me down
in the bucket, lads." As he descended he saw that the well was an
ancient one, and probably at one time had been carried very much lower
than at present. In some places the masonry had fallen in. At one of
these points there was an opening cut into the rock. He called to those
above to hoist him up again, and procuring a lamp at one of the houses,
he and Edgar descended together. Entering the passage they found that it
widened into a great chamber some forty feet square and thirty high,
which was literally crammed with goods.
"I should never have given the fellows credit for having taken the
trouble to cut out such a place as this," Wilkinson said.
"I have no doubt that it is ancient work," Edgar remarked. "I should say
that at some time, perhaps when the Genoese were masters here, a castle
may have stood above, and this was cut either as a storehouse or as a
place of confinement for prisoners, or one where the garrison might hide
themselves, with provisions enough to last for a long time, in case the
place was captured. The pirates may have discovered it in going down to
see if the well could be cleared out, and saw that it would make a
splendid place of concealment."
"But how about the salt water, Edgar?"
"I should say that they cemented the bottom or rammed it with clay to
make it water-tight, and that as fresh water was scarce they brought up
sea water, so that anyone who happened to look down would see that there
was water in it. If, as was probable, it would be the Turks who captured
the place, they would, when they found that it was salt, not trouble
their heads further about the matter. Possibly even these pirates may
know nothing of the existence of this store, which may have lain here
since the last time the Turks broke up this nest of pirates, and who,
you may be sure, left none of them alive to tell the tale. Well, this is
a find."
A thorough search was now made of the island, but it was found that the
whole of the pirates had made their escape in boats. These had rowed
away from the seaward face of the island, so that they were unseen by
those on board the brig. Before taking any step to carry away the goods,
the other islets were all visited and found to be deserted. Five or six
more magazines of spoil were discovered. These were emptied of their
most valuable contents, and the houses all burned to the ground. This
operation took two days, and it required six more to transfer the
contents of the cellars and great store cavern to the brig. Boats had
come off on the first day of their arrival from various villages in the
bay, conveying one or more of the principal inhabitants, who assured
Wilkinson that they had no connection whatever with the pirates, and
that they were extremely glad that their nest had been destroyed.
Wilkinson had little doubt that, although they might not have been
concerned in the deeds committed by these men, they must have been in
constant communication with them, and have supplied them with fruit and
fresh meat and vegetables. However, he told them that he should report
their assurances to the Turkish authorities, who would, when they had a
ship of war available, doubtless send down and inquire into the whole
circumstances, an intimation which caused them considerable alarm, as
they had no doubt that, if no worse befell them, they would be made to
pay heavy fines.
"The only way that you have to show your earnestness in the matter,"
Wilkinson said, "is to organize yourselves. You have no doubt plenty of
boats, and the first time that a pirate comes in here row out from all
your villages, attack and burn it, and don't leave a man alive to tell
the tale. In that way the pirates will very soon learn that they'd
better choose some other spot for their rendezvous, and the authorities
will be well content with your conduct."
The amount of spoil taken was so great that the _Tigress_, when she set
sail again, was nearly a foot deeper in the water than when she entered
the bay. The prisoners had been the subject of much discussion. It was
agreed that they were probably no worse than their comrades who had
escaped, and they did not like the thought of handing them over to be
executed. They were, therefore, on the third day after the arrival of
the brig, brought up on deck. Three dozen lashes were administered to
each, then they were given one of the boats in which they had attacked
the ship, and told to go.