The Life, Adventures & Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton

another, to stretch our line as faras we could, we gave them a salute with our shot, which, besides what wewounded that we knew not of, knocked sixteen of them down upon the spot,and three more were so lamed, that they fell about twenty or thirtyyards from them.

  As soon as we had fired, they set up the horridest yell, or howling,partly raised by those that were wounded, and partly by those thatpitied and condoled the bodies they saw lie dead, that I never heardanything like it before or since.

  We stood stock still after we had fired, to load our guns again, andfinding they did not stir from the place we fired among them again; wekilled about nine of them at the second fire; but as they did not standso thick as before, all our men did not fire, seven of us being orderedto reserve our charge, and to advance as soon as the other had fired,while the rest loaded again; of which I shall speak again presently.

  As soon as we had fired the second volley, we shouted as loud as wecould, and the seven men advanced upon them, and, coming about twentyyards nearer, fired again, and those that were behind having loadedagain with all expedition, followed; but when they saw us advance, theyran screaming away as if they were bewitched.

  When we came up to the field of battle, we saw a great number of bodieslying upon the ground, many more than we could suppose were killed orwounded; nay, more than we had bullets in our pieces when we fired; andwe could not tell what to make of it; but at length we found how itwas, viz., that they were frighted out of all manner of sense; nay, I dobelieve several of those that were really dead, were frighted to death,and had no wound about them.

  Of those that were thus frighted, as I have said, several of them, asthey recovered themselves, came and worshipped us (taking us for gods ordevils, I know not which, nor did it much matter to us): some kneeling,some throwing themselves flat on the ground, made a thousand anticgestures, but all with tokens of the most profound submission. Itpresently came into my head, that we might now, by the law of arms, takeas many prisoners as we would, and make them travel with us, and carryour baggage. As soon as I proposed it, our men were all of my mind; andaccordingly we secured about sixty lusty young fellows, and let themknow they must go with us; which they seemed very willing to do. Butthe next question we had among ourselves, was, how we should do to trustthem, for we found the people not like those of Madagascar, but fierce,revengeful, and treacherous; for which reason we were sure that weshould have no service from them but that of mere slaves; no subjectionthat would continue any longer than the fear of us was upon them, norany labour but by violence.

  Before I go any farther, I must hint to the reader, that from this timeforward I began to enter a little more seriously into the circumstanceI was in, and concerned myself more in the conduct of our affairs; forthough my comrades were all older men, yet I began to find them void ofcounsel, or, as I now call it, presence of mind, when they came to theexecution of a thing. The first occasion I took to observe this, was intheir late engagement with the natives, when, though they had taken agood resolution to attack them and fire upon them, yet, when they hadfired the first time, and found that the negroes did not run as theyexpected, their hearts began to fail, and I am persuaded, if their barkhad been near hand, they would every man have run away.

  Upon this occasion I began to take upon me a little to hearten themup, and to call upon them to load again, and give them another volley,telling them that I would engage, if they would be ruled by me, I'd makethe negroes run fast enough. I found this heartened them, and therefore,when they fired a second time, I desired them to reserve some of theirshot for an attempt by itself, as I mentioned above.

  Having fired a second time, I was indeed forced to command, as I maycall it. "Now, seigniors," said I, "let us give them a cheer." So Iopened my throat, and shouted three times, as our English sailors do onlike occasions. "And now follow me," said I to the seven that had notfired, "and I'll warrant you we will make work with them," and so itproved indeed; for, as soon as they saw us coming, away they ran, asabove.

  From this day forward they would call me nothing but Seignior Capitanio;but I told them I would not be called seignior. "Well, then," said thegunner, who spoke good English, "you shall be called Captain Bob;" andso they gave me my title ever after.

  Nothing is more certain of the Portuguese than this, take themnationally or personally, if they are animated and heartened up byanybody to go before, and encourage them by example, they will behavewell enough; but if they have nothing but their own measures to follow,they sink immediately: these men had certainly fled from a parcel ofnaked savages, though even by flying they could not have saved theirlives, if I had not shouted and hallooed, and rather made sport with thething than a fight, to keep up their courage.

  Nor was there less need of it upon several occasions hereafter; and I doconfess I have often wondered how a number of men, who, when they cameto the extremity, were so ill supported by their own spirits, hadat first courage to propose and to undertake the most desperate andimpracticable attempt that ever men went about in the world.

  There were indeed two or three indefatigable men among them, by whosecourage and industry all the rest were upheld; and indeed those two orthree were the managers of them from the beginning; that was the gunner,and that cutler whom I call the artist; and the third, who was prettywell, though not like either of them, was one of the carpenters. Theseindeed were the life and soul of all the rest, and it was to theircourage that all the rest owed the resolution they showed upon anyoccasion. But when those saw me take a little upon me, as above, theyembraced me, and treated me with particular affection ever after.

  This gunner was an excellent mathematician, a good scholar, and acomplete sailor; and it was in conversing intimately with him that Ilearned afterwards the grounds of what knowledge I have since had in allthe sciences useful for navigation, and particularly in the geographicalpart of knowledge.

  Even in our conversation, finding me eager to understand and learn, helaid the foundation of a general knowledge of things in my mind, gaveme just ideas of the form of the earth and of the sea, the situation ofcountries, the course of rivers, the doctrine of the spheres, the motionof the stars; and, in a word, taught me a kind of system of astronomy,which I afterwards improved.

  In an especial manner, he filled my head with aspiring thoughts, andwith an earnest desire after learning everything that could be taughtme; convincing me, that nothing could qualify me for great undertakings,but a degree of learning superior to what was usual in the race ofseamen; he told me, that to be ignorant was to be certain of amean station in the world, but that knowledge was the first step topreferment. He was always flattering me with my capacity to learn; andthough that fed my pride, yet, on the other hand, as I had a secretambition, which just at that time fed itself in my mind, it prompted inme an insatiable thirst after learning in general, and I resolved, ifever I came back to Europe, and had anything left to purchase it, Iwould make myself master of all the parts of learning needful tothe making of me a complete sailor; but I was not so just to myselfafterwards as to do it when I had an opportunity.

  But to return to our business; the gunner, when he saw the service Ihad done in the fight, and heard my proposal for keeping a number ofprisoners for our march, and for carrying our baggage, turns to mebefore them all. "Captain Bob," says he, "I think you must be ourleader, for all the success of this enterprise is owing to you." "No,no," said I, "do not compliment me; you shall be our Seignior Capitanio,you shall be general; I am too young for it." So, in short, we allagreed he should be our leader; but he would not accept of it alone, butwould have me joined with him; and all the rest agreeing, I was obligedto comply.

  The first piece of service they put me upon in this new command wasas difficult as any they could think of, and that was to manage theprisoners; which, however, I cheerfully undertook, as you shall hearpresently. But the immediate consultation was yet of more consequence;and that was, first, which way we should go; and secondly, how tofurnish ourselves for the voyage with provisions.


  There was among the prisoners one tall, well-shaped, handsome fellow,to whom the rest seemed to pay great respect, and who, as we understoodafterwards, was the son of one of their kings; his father was, it seems,killed at our first volley, and he wounded with a shot in his arm, andwith another just on one of his hips or haunches. The shot in his haunchbeing in a fleshy part, bled much, and he was half dead with the loss ofblood. As to the shot in his arm, it had broke his wrist, and he was byboth these wounds quite disabled, so that we were once going to turn himaway, and let him die; and, if we had, he would have died indeed in afew days more: but, as I found the man had some respect showed him, itpresently occurred to my thoughts that we might bring him to be usefulto us, and perhaps make him a kind of commander over them. So I causedour surgeon to take him in hand, and gave the poor wretch good words,that is to say, I spoke to him as well as I could by signs,