CHAPTER XIV.
A PIRATE HOLD.
On arriving at Rhodes, Wilkinson and Edgar rowed ashore as soon as theanchor was dropped, and called upon the Turkish governor. They werereceived with much honour, and the governor was delighted to hear thenews, which they were the first to bring, that the French had abandonedthe siege of Acre and were retreating in all haste to Egypt. He gaveorders 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 hewould put all the resources of the island at his disposal. Edgar, asinterpreter, assured the governor that they had no occasion to availthemselves largely of the offer, but that, in consequence of the amountof ammunition expended in the siege they were short of both powder,ball, and musketry ammunition, and would be very much obliged for aslarge a supply as he could spare them. He gave orders at once for theissue 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 piracythat is now being carried on among the islands. Numerous complaints havereached Sir Sidney Smith from Turkish, British, and Greek merchants;ships are constantly missing, and there is no doubt that they have beencaptured and scuttled, and their crews massacred."
"Your ship is a small one for such a purpose," the governor said, forfrom 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 armedfor her size, and she is a fast sailer. Sir Sidney Smith had no largervessel at his disposal, as he needs the two men-of-war and the smallfrigate for watching the Egyptian coast, and, indeed, had he been ableto send a larger craft, it would not have been so well suited for thepurpose, for the pirates would hardly have ventured to attack her. Weshall, after we have put out to sea, disguise the brig and rig her as amerchantman in order to tempt them out. We shall not do it until we arewell away, for the pirates may have friends here who might send theminformation. We shall head for the south, and shall give out that we areto rejoin our commander off Alexandria, as we have only come round hereto give you news of the retreat of the French. We shall be glad if youwill 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 ourdesigns."
"I can find you two such men," the governor said. "They both used to becaptains of craft that traded among the islands, but now own severalvessels; some of these have disappeared, and they are continually comingup here and pestering us with their complaints, though I have told themagain and again that I can do nothing in the matter; I know that theywould very gladly go with you in order to aid in the punishment of thepirates."
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 pirateshad their rendezvous, as many vessels whose course had lain near themhad disappeared. He asked them to go into the town and gather whatfurther information they could from men whose craft had been chased buthad succeeded in getting away, and told them to be at the landing-placeafter dark so that their passage to the ship would be unnoticed, forthey agreed with him that undoubtedly many of the pirates had agents atRhodes and other important ports, and that intelligence was carried bysmall, quick-sailing craft, to the pirates, of vessels likely to bevaluable prizes. An abundant supply of ammunition was taken off to thebrig in the course of the afternoon, and the supply of fresh provisionsreplenished.
The two young officers dined with the governor, who had a large party intheir honour, including many of the military authorities. The nextmorning they started at six, and held their course south until they weresure that the brig could no longer be seen even from the highest pointon the island, and at four bells in the afternoon changed their course,and, sailing between Scarpanto and Carso, headed north and passed beforenightfall between Slazida and Placa. The crew had been busy painting abroad yellow line round the brig, in slackening the rigging, and givingthe vessel the appearance of a slovenly merchant brig. They had learnedfrom the Turks that although undoubtedly acts of piracy took place inthe Western Archipelago, these were comparatively isolated actscommitted upon small vessels becalmed near one or other of the islands,the attacks being made in boats, but that it was among the numerousislands lying off the coast of Asia Minor between Nicaria and Samos onthe north, and Serrest and Piscopia on the south, that piracy was mostfrequent.
As a rule, they said, vessels coming down from the Dardanelles kept wellwest of Mitylene and Chios, rounded Naxos and Syra and bore south toSantorin before shaping their course east, if bound for Syria, so as toavoid the dangerous neighbourhood. To begin with, they advised that thecourse should be laid so as to pass a short distance east ofAstropalaia. This, they said, had long been one of the headquarters ofpiracy. It had, before the war began, been several times attacked byTurkish or European ships of war, the craft found there burnt, and thecoast villages destroyed; but since then it was believed that it hadagain become the headquarters of pirates from some of the otherislands, as its position was a favourable one for attack, lying in thedirect lines of traffic between both Constantinople and Greece and theeastern trades with Rhodes, Cyprus, Syria, or Egypt.
The night was fine, with a gentle breeze. A sharp look-out was kept fortwo groups of tiny islands that were scarce more than rocks, that had tobe passed before nearing Astropalaia. The breeze died away at daybreak,and left the vessel becalmed at a distance of some six miles from theisland.
"We could not be better placed," one of the Turks said. "You see thegroup of islands at the mouth of that bay; they are called the PirateRocks, and in the old days every one of those rocks was the strongholdof a pirate ship. Thirty years ago four Turkish frigates caught eighteenpiratical craft lying at anchor behind their shelter, and destroyedevery 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 betterthan to sail right in there," Wilkinson said, "but in this light breezethose fellows would run away from us with their big sails and theirsweeps."
"If there are any of them in there now," one of the Turks remarked asWilkinson closely surveyed the islets through his glass, "most likelythey have made you out before this. I only hope there will not be toomany 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 offany number of the scoundrels. Ask him how many guns these fellowsgenerally 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 therest lie down in the bottom. They will have some fruit, perhaps, piledup in the stern, and as they row up to a small craft at anchor orbecalmed, there are no suspicions of their real character until they getclose alongside. Then they leap up, and carry the vessel before the crewhave 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 littlebay and take out the cargo in boats at their leisure, cut the throats ofthe prisoners, alter the appearance of the ship so that she cannot berecognized, 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 andthere 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 oneseight or ten, but these are generally much smaller than yours, thoughsometimes 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 drawattention by their sound to what is going on, and they either attack atnight and carry their prey by boarding, or, if it be in the day, thecrew are sent below, the guns hidden, and they have so peaceful anaspect that it is only when they change their course suddenly, whenwithin a
few hundred yards, that any alarm is excited, and they arealongside before a trader can load his guns, and, as they are crowdedwith men, carry her before any serious resistance can be offered."
WITH A TREMENDOUS CHEER, FLUNG THEMSELVES UPON THEPIRATES
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At Rhodes they had taken on board a dozen bucket-loads of earth. Thenight before, some of these had been emptied into a large tub, which wasthen filled up with water and stirred briskly, after which thesailors had gone aloft and wetted the sails with muddy water, renderingtheir appearance dingy in the extreme. Here and there white patches hadbeen left, which gave the sails the appearance of being old and recentlymended, and with the yards set at different angles and slackenedrigging, the _Tigress_ would not have been recognized as the smart craftthat had, twenty-four hours before, sailed from Rhodes. The sailors wereall in high glee. After the hard work they had had at Acre they lookedupon this as a holiday, and entered with the greatest zest into the workof disguising the ship.
"Now, lads, you must sit down," Wilkinson said, "and only five or sixheads must be shown above the bulwarks. They doubtless have some goodglasses taken from the ships they have captured, and if they saw that wehad an unusually strong crew they might smell a rat."
It was now a dead calm, the sails hung idly down, and the brig layalmost motionless on a waveless sea.
"I am pretty sure that I can make out the upper spars of two or threecraft behind that long, low islet, Wilkinson," Edgar said after, for thetwentieth time, gazing long and earnestly through his telescope.
"I fancied so two or three times, Edgar, but I am by no means sure thatit is not fancy. I felt more sure of it at first than I do now, forthere is a slight mist rising from the water. If they don't come out tous by the afternoon we will go in and have a look at them. We have gothalf a dozen sweeps on board, and with those and the boats we could workher in in a couple of hours."
"I hope we sha'n't have to do that," Edgar replied. "They would guesswhat we were at once, and would be scattering in all directions. Wemight pick up one or two, the rest would get off and carry news of us toall the islands round."
"Perhaps you are right," Wilkinson agreed. "It would certainly beunfortunate to begin by giving them a scare."
"Besides," Edgar went on, "if the calm holds till night, they may comeout and try to take us by surprise."
The day passed very slowly. The heat was great, and the men picked outspots on the deck where the sails threw a shade, and dosed off to sleep.They had, long before, made every preparation; the cutlasses had beenground, 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 fetchup the powder cartridges from the magazine to be ready for action. Themarines had cleaned and loaded all the muskets, and placed them in theracks. At two o'clock, after dinner had been eaten, Wilkinson said tothe 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 itbefore it becomes dark; perhaps not until two or three o'clock in themorning, and as we shall have to be watchful, there is no occasion forboth watches to stay on deck now. The port watch shall go off from twobells till eight; as they take the first watch they will be all thebrighter for a snooze beforehand."
"I wish the beggars would come out and have done with it," he went on toEdgar, as the boatswain turned away and blew his whistle. "I think I mayas well go down, as it is your watch on deck. Have me roused when theychange 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 onboard was that it should continue, for should a breeze spring up theywould be forced to sail away, and the pirates might not pursue them. Assoon as it got dark, Wilkinson told the boatswain that it would be aswell that a song should be started occasionally, but that not more thanfive or six men were to join in chorus. If, as they came out, they hearda dead silence they might think it unnatural, and it was quite possiblethat a boat would come on ahead of them to try and make out what theyreally were. In the intervals between the songs silence reigned, and allon 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'tthink that they are sweeps. No, it is a boat rowed by either two or fourmen--four, I think."
In a minute or two they were satisfied that it was but a boat. The orderwas given for another song, after which three or four men were to talkand the rest to sit down below the bulwarks and to keep silence. The twoTurks took their places near the officers. From the speed at which theboat was approaching it was certain that she was not deeply laden, andthere was no fear, therefore, of a surprise being attempted. She passedwithin twenty yards of the tafrail, and they could make out that she wasan ordinary fisherman's boat. There was a pile of nets in the stern, andfour 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 lyingbecalmed all day."
"Bound for Constantinople, I suppose?" came from the boat.
"No, for Smyrna. We are bringing a cargo from Ancona, and shall load upat Smyrna with fruit."
With a Turkish good-night the men rowed on, and the singer forward atonce began another song. For a quarter of an hour they could hear thesound 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 theirfriends with the news. There is no doubt we are in luck if we get abrush with them the first night after our arrival on our cruisingground."
About three o'clock in the morning a confused sound could be heard. Intwo or three minutes every man was at his post.
"There are only two, or at most three of them," Edgar said, in a tone ofdisappointment, "and I doubt whether they are not big rowing-boats. Thestrokes are too quick for either sweeps or for boats towing. What abeastly nuisance! I suppose when these fellows took back the report,that though we were a good-sized brig we did not seem to have manyhands, they thought that it was not worth while to tow out a big craftwhen row-boats would do. They think that with twelve or fifteen hands ineach boat, and the advantage of surprise, they would be able tooverpower us at once."
"The surprise will be the other way," Wilkinson said angrily. "We shallsend 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 anend of our chance of capturing any of their larger craft."
"Of course I see that; that is the annoying part of the business. Whatdo you propose, then?"
"I should say that the best plan would be, not to hail them until theyget close on board, then for a man forward to give a sudden shout, as ifhe had been asleep on his watch and had only just heard them. Then theywill come tumbling on board, thinking that the ship is already theirs.We might divide our men, and keep them half forward and half aft. Themoment 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 topush them off, so as to cut off their retreat. The boats will be veryuseful to us, for we can tow the brig in with them. The people in therewill think that she has been captured, and we shall get right in themiddle 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 anddivided into two parties. Edgar and the boatswain commanded thatgathered forward, Wilkinson and the gunner that aft. Nine men were toldoff for the capture of the boats, for, as Edgar pointed out, when thepirates found that they were caught in a trap, a good many of them mightleap overboard and try to get into the boats, and it might need fullythree men to keep them off.
"Now, lads, you understand," Wilkinson said, as the parties were aboutto take up their
places, "you must crouch down and keep yourselvesperfectly quiet until the word is given; it is important to get them allon board. When they see no one on deck they will think that the one ortwo men who might be on the watch have run below. You can use yourpistols freely when the fighting once begins. When the fellows find thatthey are trapped, they are likely enough to fight hard, and I don't wantto lose any men. Keep your cutlasses in readiness, but trust principallyto 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 thebow shouted suddenly:
"There are boats coming!--quick, on deck!--pirates! pirates!"
Then four or five men down in the forecastle also shouted, ran up ondeck, and then, with cries of alarm, ran below again, and then, butquietly this time, joined their comrades, who were crouching as closelytogether as possible forward of the bitts. There was a roar of voicesfrom the boats. They could hear the oars plied desperately; then closelyfollowing 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. Therewas a pause of astonishment as the guns were seen; then their leadershouted that these could be but dummies, intended to run out andfrighten people in the daytime.
"Down below, men!" one shouted; "finish with them first; it will be timeto talk afterwards."
One of the Turks, who spoke a little French, crouching by the side ofWilkinson, translated his words. Some of the pirates rushed towards theforecastle, others aft to the cabins, where they would find theofficers. Then some figures crawled out from below the tarpaulins thatwere loosely thrown over the guns, looked over the rail, and then sprangdown into the boats, which were entirely deserted. As they did so therewas a shout from Wilkinson; it was answered by Edgar, and thenfive-and-twenty seamen sprang up from each end of the vessel, and with atremendous cheer flung themselves upon the pirates. Taken completely bysurprise, and somewhat outnumbered, many of these were cut down or runthrough by the pikes before anything like serious resistance could beoffered; then, headed by their leaders, they fought with the desperationof cornered animals.
All of them carried pistols as well as yataghans. Some few of them ranto the side, and with yells of fury leaped overboard to recapture theboats. Pistols cracked on both sides, cutlass and yataghan clashedtogether; but the British shouts rose high over the yells of thepirates. In three minutes the fighting was virtually over, the greaterportion 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 criedfor mercy.
"That will do, men--that will do!" Wilkinson shouted; "scoundrels asthey 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 notattempt to climb in when they saw three sailors in each, standing withcutlass and pistol ready to oppose them, and they swam back towards thebrig. A rope was thrown to them, and they were permitted to climb up oneby one, being bound and laid by their comrades as they gained the deck.None of the sailors had been killed, though several had received uglygashes.
"Now, boatswain, put the starboard watch into the boats; lower the twoship's boats also--we will get as many oars to work as possible tilldaylight."
Each of the captured boats rowed six oars, and thirty men were soon atwork towing the vessel towards the bay. The port watch then set to workto clear the deck. The dead were all thrown overboard; the others wereunbound, made to strip off their jackets, then bound again and carrieddown to the hold, the hatchway being closed on them. They found thatmost of the survivors were Greeks, the Turks having to a man fallenfighting.
"These mixed crews are worst of all," one of the Turks said. "TheTurkish pirates are bad enough, and so are the Greeks--there is littleto choose between them; but it is only the worst desperadoes who willconsort together. You did wrong to spare a man."
"We could not kill them when they threw down their arms," Wilkinsonsaid. "We will hand them over to your authorities, either at Smyrna orat Rhodes. They will make short work of them, I fancy."
As soon as the first gleam of dawn appeared in the sky the boats werecalled alongside. Those of the _Tigress_ were hoisted up, and the men inthe others were given the jackets of the prisoners, some having turbansand some the Greek headgear. These garments had also been stripped fromthe dead before the bodies were thrown overboard, and were laid in aheap in readiness for those on deck to put on when they approached thebay. When it became daylight they were not more than a mile and a halffrom the islands. The men in the boats had been warned not to row tooregularly; and those on board had already put on their disguises. Asthey passed between two of the islets exclamations of satisfaction burstfrom Wilkinson and Edgar, for six vessels were anchored behind thelargest of these. The brig's head was turned towards them, and as theyapproached shouts of welcome and exultation could be heard from theircrews.
The craft were of various sizes, two of them were not above thirty tonsburden, and each carried two light guns, the others were from fifty to ahundred and fifty tons, and carried from six to twelve guns. The_Tigress_ was within about four hundred yards of the line when the helmwas 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 didso there was a shout of surprise from the crew of the nearest vessel,for there was no mistaking the sailors' white trousers for the baggyinteguments of the Turks. At the same moment the port-holes opened, theguns were run out, and before the last man had gained the deck, the tenguns poured in their broadsides.
By Wilkinson's orders three on each side were trained on the craftnearest to them, the remaining two on each broadside being aimed at thevessels next to these. The guns had all been double-shotted, and at thesame 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 thepirate ships, and were re-echoed by numbers of men belonging to theircrews, clustered on the shore, to see the prize brought in. Some ran totheir guns and began to load them, others jumped into their boats orsprang overboard and swam towards the shore. As fast as the guns onboard the _Tigress_ could be loaded the fire was kept up, the forwardones sweeping the deck of the craft nearest to them with grape, whilethe others sent round-shot into those farther away.
It was but for a short time that the pirates thought of fighting; theirlight 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 largestof 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 herbroadside bore on the shore, then the anchor was dropped, and the gunson the port side opened with grape upon the pirates on shore, and atfive or six houses that were perched high on the rock. Leaving theboatswain in charge, Wilkinson and Edgar both took their places in theboats and rowed from ship to ship. All were found empty, and as theyagreed that only two of the largest were worth taking away, the otherthree were burned.
When they were fairly on fire the boats returned to the brig. Not apirate was to be seen on the island, though they were sure that althoughnumbers of them had been killed, there must still be fully two hundredof them there, but they must either have hidden among rocks or madetheir way down to the seaward face. As several boatloads might haverowed away to other islets, it was decided to take a landing party offive-and-thirty men on shore, for as their operations would be coveredby the guns of the brig, there was little probability of the piratesattempting to attack them. As soon as they landed, the sailors, led bythe two midshipmen, climbed rapidly up the hill, and without a shotbeing fired approached the houses on the top. From these a heavymusketry fire suddenly broke out. The men would have rushed forward atonce, but Wilkinson called out to th
em to throw themselves down behindshelter, and as they did so a shell flew overhead, struck the largest ofthe houses and exploded.
Shot followed shot rapidly, the fire of the pirates ceased, thenWilkinson gave the word, and the sailors leapt up and with a cheerrushed forward. Save for a few women the houses were entirely deserted,but some fifty men were seen running down the seaward face. A couple ofvolleys were poured into these, and then, placing a dozen of the men onguard, the midshipmen entered the houses. The shells had worked greatdamage. Over a score of men lay dead within them, and as many otherswounded. The women had been in the cellars, and they were glad to findthat none of them had been hurt. These cellars were very extensive, eachhouse having one. Several of them were crammed with goods of all sorts,evidently the proceeds of prizes, and of such varied description thatthey judged that each house formed a storehouse to one vessel, asotherwise the more valuable goods would have been collected together,instead of sails, ship-gear, bales of valuable silks and embroideriesfrom Constantinople, Broussa, Smyrna, Chios, Alexandria, and Syria beingmixed promiscuously together.
Here too were a quantity of European manufactures, showing that it wasnot only native craft that had suffered from their depredations. Therewere numbers of barrels of Greek wine, puncheons of rum, cases ofbottled wines of different kinds evidently taken from English ships,great quantities of Smyrna figs, and of currants, Egyptian dates, andsacks of flour.
"This will bring us in a nice lot of prize-money, Blagrove," Wilkinsonsaid, after they had roughly examined the contents of the greatsubterranean storehouses. Presently a still larger find was made. Therewas, close to the houses, what appeared to be a well. One of the sailorslet down a bucket, and hauling it up found, to his surprise, that it wassalt water. The well was deep, but certainly not deep enough to reachdown to the sea level, and he carried the bucket to Wilkinson andpointed out where he had got the water from.
"There is something curious about this," the latter said. "Lower me downin the bucket, lads." As he descended he saw that the well was anancient one, and probably at one time had been carried very much lowerthan at present. In some places the masonry had fallen in. At one ofthese points there was an opening cut into the rock. He called to thoseabove 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 itwidened 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 thetrouble to cut out such a place as this," Wilkinson said.
"I have no doubt that it is ancient work," Edgar remarked. "I should saythat at some time, perhaps when the Genoese were masters here, a castlemay have stood above, and this was cut either as a storehouse or as aplace of confinement for prisoners, or one where the garrison might hidethemselves, with provisions enough to last for a long time, in case theplace was captured. The pirates may have discovered it in going down tosee if the well could be cleared out, and saw that it would make asplendid place of concealment."
"But how about the salt water, Edgar?"
"I should say that they cemented the bottom or rammed it with clay tomake it water-tight, and that as fresh water was scarce they brought upsea water, so that anyone who happened to look down would see that therewas water in it. If, as was probable, it would be the Turks who capturedthe place, they would, when they found that it was salt, not troubletheir heads further about the matter. Possibly even these pirates mayknow nothing of the existence of this store, which may have lain heresince 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 isa find."
A thorough search was now made of the island, but it was found that thewhole of the pirates had made their escape in boats. These had rowedaway from the seaward face of the island, so that they were unseen bythose 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 sixmore magazines of spoil were discovered. These were emptied of theirmost valuable contents, and the houses all burned to the ground. Thisoperation took two days, and it required six more to transfer thecontents of the cellars and great store cavern to the brig. Boats hadcome off on the first day of their arrival from various villages in thebay, conveying one or more of the principal inhabitants, who assuredWilkinson that they had no connection whatever with the pirates, andthat they were extremely glad that their nest had been destroyed.
Wilkinson had little doubt that, although they might not have beenconcerned in the deeds committed by these men, they must have been inconstant communication with them, and have supplied them with fruit andfresh meat and vegetables. However, he told them that he should reporttheir assurances to the Turkish authorities, who would, when they had aship of war available, doubtless send down and inquire into the wholecircumstances, an intimation which caused them considerable alarm, asthey had no doubt that, if no worse befell them, they would be made topay 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 ofboats, and the first time that a pirate comes in here row out from allyour villages, attack and burn it, and don't leave a man alive to tellthe tale. In that way the pirates will very soon learn that they'dbetter choose some other spot for their rendezvous, and the authoritieswill be well content with your conduct."
The amount of spoil taken was so great that the _Tigress_, when she setsail again, was nearly a foot deeper in the water than when she enteredthe bay. The prisoners had been the subject of much discussion. It wasagreed that they were probably no worse than their comrades who hadescaped, and they did not like the thought of handing them over to beexecuted. They were, therefore, on the third day after the arrival ofthe brig, brought up on deck. Three dozen lashes were administered toeach, then they were given one of the boats in which they had attackedthe ship, and told to go.