Part 34 (1/2)
They did so, and desperately resolved that they would venture upon the one another to the work, three of them that were a little before the rest called out aloud, and told them they had found Thomas Jeffrys; they all ran up to the place; and so it was indeed, for there they found the poor fellow, hanged up naked by one arm, and his throat cut There was an Indian house just by the tree, where they found sixteen or seventeen of the principal Indians who had been concerned in the fray with us before, and two or three of them wounded with our shot; and ourone to another in that house, but knew not their nued them, as before, that they swore to one another they would be revenged, and that not an Indian who came into their hands should have quarter; and to work they went ie and fury they were inthat would soon take fire; but after a little search they found that would be to no purpose, for s or rushes, of which the country is full: so they presentlya little powder in the palms of their hands; and in a quarter of an hour they set the town on fire in four or five places, and particularly that house where the Indians were not gone to bed As soon as the fire began to blaze, the poor frighted creatures began to rush out to save their lives, but met with their fate in the attempt, and especially at the door, where they drove the one or tith his pole-axe; the house being large, and renado, and threw it ahted the them, that they cried out in a hideous manner
In short, most of the Indians ere in the open part of the house, were killed or hurt with the grenado, except two or three more, who pressed to the door, which the boatswain and two more kept with the bayonets in the muzzles of their pieces, and dispatched all who came that way But there was another apart, or whatsoever he was, and several others, were; and they kept in till the house, which was by this tiht flaether
All this while they fired not a gun, because they would not waken the people faster than they could h, and our felloere glad to keep a little together in bodies; for the fire grew so raging, all the houses being ht combustible stuff, that they could hardly bear the street between them, and their business was to follow the fire for the surer execution As fast as the fire either forced the people out of those houses which were burning, or frighted them out of others, our people were ready at their doors to knock the to one another to re I must confess I was very uneasy, and especially when I saw the flaht, seemed to be just by me
My nephew the captain, as roused by hiswhat the uns too, for by this tihts oppressed his o, what should becoh he could ill spare any ht be in, he takes another boat, and with thirteen men and himself comes on shore to o in the boat with no more than two h he was glad that ell, yet he was in the sa, for the noise continued and the flame increased I confess it was next to an impossibility for anywhat had happened, or their concern for the safety of the o and help his ued with him, as I did before with the e, the interest of the owners and o, and the two men, and only see if we could, at a distance, learn as like to be the event, and come back and tell him
It was all one to talk to o, he said, and he only wished he had left but tenhis men lost for want of help; he had rather, he said, lose the shi+p, the voyage, and his life, and all: and so aent he
Nor was I any more able to stay behind now than I was to persuade theo before; so, in short, the captain ordered two men to row back the pinnace, and fetch twelve -boat at an anchor; and that when they came back six men should keep the two boats, and six more come after us, so that he left only sixteen men in the shi+p; for the whole shi+p's company consisted of sixty-five ht thisnow on the round we trod on, and being guided by the fire we kept no path, but went directly to the place of the fla to us before, the cries of the poor people were now quite of another nature, and filled us with horror Iof a city, or at the taking of a town by storheda in Ireland, and killingthe city of Magdebourg, and cutting the throats of 22,000 of both sexes; but I never had an idea of the thing itself before, nor is it possible to describe it, or the horror which was upon our th ca the streets of it for the fire The first object we met as the ruins of a hut or house, or rather the ashes of it, for the house was consuht of the fire, lay four ht, one or twothe fire In short, these were such instances of a rage altogether barbarous, and of a fury soht it iuilty of it; or if they were the authors of it, we thought that every one of theht to be put to the worst of deaths: but this was not all;the fire increased forward, and the cry went on just as the fire went on, so that ere in the utmost confusion We advanced a little way farther, and beheld to our astonish in aas if they had indeed had wings, and after them sixteen or seventeen men, natives, in the salish butchers (for I can call them no better) in the rear, hen they could not overtake the theht: when the rest saw us, believing us to be their enemies; and that ould murder them as well as those that pursued them, they set up a most dreadful shriek, especially the women, and two of theht
My very soul shrunk within me, and my blood ran chill in lish sailors that pursued them come on, I had made our men kill the creatures know that ould not hurt the doith their hands lifted up, made piteous lamentations to us to save them, which we let theether in a huddle close behind us for protection I left ed theet at some of our people, and see what devil it was possessed them, and what they intended to do; and in a word to coht they would have a hundred thousandthose flying people, taking only two of ourthe and running through the fire, others their hands burnt; one of the women had fallen down in the fire, and was alain; two or three of the , and another was shot through the body, and died while I was there
I would fain have learnt what the occasion of all this was, but I could not understand one word they said, though by signs I perceived that some of them knew not as the occasion theeous attempt, that I could not stay there, but went back to my own men: I told them my resolution, and commanded them to follow me, when in the very moment ca over the heaps of bodies they had killed, all covered with blood and dust, as if they wanted more people to massacre, when our men hallooed to them as loud as they could halloo, and with much ado one of them made them hear, so that they knee were, and came up to us
As soon as the boatswain saw us he set up a halloo, like a shout of triuht,to hear lad you are cos! I will kill as many of them as poor Tom has hairs upon his head We have sworn to spare none of them; ill root out the very name of them from the earth”
And thus he ran on, out of breath too with action, and would not give us leave to speak a word
At last, raising !” said I, ”what are you doing? I won't have one creature touched e you upon your life to stop your hands, and stand still here, or you are a dead man this minute”
”Why, Sir,” says he, ”do you knohat you do, or what they have done?
If you want a reason for e have done, co upon a tree, with his throat cut
I confess I was urged then h; but I thought they had carried their rage too far, and thought of Jacob's words to his sons Sier, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel” But I had now a new task upon ht as I had done, I had as much to do to restrain them, as I should have had with the others; nay, my nephew hi, that he was only concerned for fear of the ht not one of thelutted theht to be used like ht of my men with the boatswain and his crew to co it quite out of my power to restrain theht, much less the horrible noise and cries of the poor wretches that fell into their hands
I got nobody to coo and two men, and with these I walked back to the boats It was a very great piece of folly in an now to be almost day, and the alarm had run over the country, there stood about forty men armed with lances and bows at the little place where the twelve or thirteen houses stood mentioned before, but by accident I missed the place, and caot to the sea-side it was broad day: immediately I took the pinnace and went aboard, and sent her back to assist the ht happen
I observed that about the time I came to the boat-side the fire was pretty well out, and the noise abated; but in about half an hour after I got on board I heard a volley of our reat s upon the forty men, who, as I said, stood at the few houses on the way; of whom they killed sixteen or seventeen, and set all those houses on fire, but did not ot to the shore again with the pinnace ourin some and some, not in two bodies, and in for here and there in such a ht have cut them all off
But the dread of them was upon the whole country The people were ahted that I believe a hundred of theht of but five of our men Nor in all this terrible action was there a man who made any considerable defence; they were so surprised between the terror of the fire, and the sudden attack of our men in the dark, that they knew not which way to turn themselves; for if they fled one way they were ain by another; so that they were every where knocked down Nor did any of our men receive the least hurt, except one who strained his foot, and another had one of his hands very ry with my nephew the captain, and indeed with all the men, inso out of his duty, as coe upon hie of his men in so bloody and cruel an enterprise: my nepheered me very respectfully, but told me that when he saw the body of the poor seaman whom they had murdered in such a cruel and barbarous overn his passion; he owned he should not have done so, as he was commander of the shi+p, but as he was a man, and nature moved him, he could not bear it As for the rest of the men, they were not subject to h, so they took no notice of my dislike
The next day we set sail, so we never heard any more of it Our men differed in the account of the nu, so to the best of their accounts, put all together, they killed or destroyed about a hundred and fifty people,in the town
As for the poor fellow, Thomas Jeffrys, as he was quite dead, for his throat was so cut that his head was half off, it would do hi him away; so they left him where they found hied by one hand