"Be in no fear about that, Sir," said I. "If God had sent an angel to relieve you, he would have come better cloathed and armed. Pray lay aside your fears. I am an Englishman and disposed to assist you. You see I have one servant only. We have arms and ammunition. Tell us freely, can we serve you? What is your case?"
"Our case, sir" said he, "is too long to tell you while our murderers are so near us. But, in short, I, Hammond Burke, was commander of that ship and my men have mutinied against me. They have been hardly prevailed on not to murder me. At last, they have set me on shore in this desolate place, with these two men with me, one my mate, Turner, the other a passenger, Sir Wade Jemryn. We expected to perish, believing the place to be uninhabited, and know not yet what to think of it."
"Where are these brutes, your enemies?" said I. "Do you know where they are gone?"
"There they lie, sir," said he, pointing to a thicket of trees. "My heart trembles for fear they have seen us and heard you speak. If they have, they will murder us all."
"Have they any fire-arms?" said I.
"They had only two pieces, one of which they left in the boat."
"Well then," said I, "leave the rest to me. I see they are all asleep, it is an easy thing to kill them all, but shall we rather take them prisoners?"
Burke told me there were two desperate villains among them it was scarce safe to show any mercy to. But if they were secured, he believed all the rest would return to their duty. I asked him which they were? He told me he could not at that distance distinguish them, but he would obey my orders in any thing I would direct.
"Well," said I, "let us retreat out of their view or hearing, lest they awake, and we will resolve further." So they went back with me till the woods covered us from them.
"Look you, sir," said I, "if I venture upon your deliverance, my conditions are but two. First, while you stay in this island with me, you will not pretend to any authority here. If I put arms in your hands, you will, upon all occasions, give them up to me, and do no prejudice to me or mine upon this island, and be governed by my orders. Secondly, if the ship is or may be recovered, you will carry me and my man to England, passage free."
Burke gave me all the assurances the invention or faith of man could devise that he would comply with these most reasonable demands. Besides, he would owe his life to me and acknowledge it upon all occasions as long as he lived. "Well then," said I, "here are three muskets for you, with powder and ball. Tell me next what you think is proper to be done."
He offered to be wholly guided by me. I told him I thought it was hard venturing any thing, but the best method I could think of was to fire upon them at once as they lay, and if any were not killed at the first volley, and offer'd to submit, we might save them. He said he was loth to kill them if he could help it, but those two had been the authors of all the mutiny, and if they escaped we should be undone still. They would go on board and bring the whole ship's company and destroy us all. "Well then," said I, "necessity legitimates my advice, for it is the only way to save our lives." However, seeing him still cautious of shedding blood, I told him they should go themselves, and manage as they found convenient.
In the middle of this discourse we heard some of them awake and soon after we saw two of them on their feet. Asked I, "Are either of them the heads of the mutiny?"
"No," said Burke.
"Well then," said I, "you may let them escape. Providence seems to have awakened them on purpose to save themselves. Now if the rest escape you, it is your fault." Animated with this, the captain took the musket I had given him in his hand and a pistol in his belt, and his two comrades with him, with each a piece in his hand. The two men who were with him going first, made some noise, at which one of the seamen who was awake turned about, and seeing them coming, cried out to the rest. But it was too late then, for the moment he cried out they fired. They had so well aimed their shot at the men, one of them was killed on the spot and the other very much wounded. Not being dead, he started up on his feet, and called for help to the other. Captain Burke, stepping to him, told him, "It is too late to call for help. You should call upon God to forgive your villainy." With that word he knocked the man down with the stock of his musket, so he never spoke more.