Part 4 (1/2)
This I a.s.sur'd him, (as indeed it was just) and told him, I hop'd, if ever he came safe to _England_, he would do Captain _Avery_, and all of us, Justice in that particular Case.
As to our being well fortify'd on the Island, and our Numbers, I a.s.sur'd them all they were far from thinking too much of us; that we had a very good Fleet, and a very good Harbour for them; that we were not afraid of any Force from _Europe_, either by Land or Water; that it was, indeed, in vain to pretend to attack us by Force; that the only Way for the Government of _England_ to bring us back to our Duty, would be to send a Proclamation from _England_ with the Queen's Pardon for our General and all his People, if they came in by a certain Time: And, added I, we know you want Money in _England_, I dare say, said I, our General, Captain _Avery_, and his particular Gang, who have the main Riches, would not grudge to advance five or six Millions of Ducats to the Government, to give them Leave to return in Peace to _England_, and sit down quietly with the rest.
This Discourse, I suppose, was the Ground of the Rumour you have had in _England_, That _Avery_ had offer'd to come in and submit, and would give six Millions for his Pardon: For as these Men were soon after this dismiss'd, and went back to _England_, there is no Doubt but they gave a particular Account of the Conference they had with me, who they call'd one of Captain _Avery_'s Captains.
We kept these five Men six or seven Days, and we pretended to show them the Country from some of the Hills, calling it all our own, and pointing every Way how many Miles we extended ourselves; we made them believe also that all the rest of the Country was at our Disposal, that the whole _Island_ was at our Beck; we told them we had Treasure enough to enrich the whole Kingdom of _England_; that our General had several Millions in Diamonds, and we had many Tuns of Silver and Gold; that we had fifty large Barns full of all Sorts of Goods, as well _European_ as _Indian_; and that it would be truly the best Way for _England_ to do as they said, namely, to invite us all Home by a Proclamation with a Pardon: And if they would do this, said I, they can ask no reasonable Sum, but our General might advance it; besides, getting Home such a Body of stout able Seamen as we were, such a Number of s.h.i.+ps, and such a Quant.i.ty of rich Goods.
We had several long Discourses with them upon these Heads, and our frequent offering this Part to them with a Kind of feeling Warmth, (for it was what we all desir'd) has caus'd, I doubt not, the Rumour of such great Offers made by us, and of a Letter sent by me to the Queen, to beg her Majesty's Pardon for myself and my Company, and offering ten Millions of Money Advance to the Queen for the publick Service: All which is a meer Fiction of the Brain of those which have publish'd it; neither were we in any Condition to make such an Offer; neither did I, or any of my Crew or Company, ever write a Letter or Pet.i.tion to the Queen, or to any one in the Government, or make any Application in the Case other than as above, which was only Matter of Conversation or private Discourse.
Nor were we so strong in Men or s.h.i.+ps, or any Thing like it. You have heard of the Number of s.h.i.+ps which we had now with us, which amounted to two s.h.i.+ps and a Sloop, and no more, except the Prize in which we took the Mogul's Daughter; (which s.h.i.+p we call'd, _The Great Mogul_) but she was fit for nothing, for she would neither sail or steer worth a Farthing, and indeed was fit for no Use but a Hulk, or a Guard-s.h.i.+p.
As to Numbers of Men, they bely'd us strangely, and particularly, they seem'd only to mistake Thousands for Hundreds: For whereas they told us, that you in _England_ had a Report of our being six thousand Men, I must acknowledge that I think we were never, when we were at the most, above six hundred; and at the Time when I quitted the Country, I left about one hundered and eight Men there, and no more, and I am a.s.sur'd, all the Number that now remains there, is not above twenty two Men, no, not in the whole Island.
Well, we thought, however, that it was no Business of ours at that Time to undeceive them in their high Opinion of our great Strength, so we took Care to magnify ourselves, and the Strength of our General, (meaning myself) that they might carry the Story to _England_, depending upon it, _That a Tale loses nothing in the carrying._ When they told us of our Fort, and the Batteries at the Mouth of the River where our s.h.i.+ps lie, we insinuated, that it was a Place where we did not fear all the Fleets in the World attacking us; and when they told us of the Number of Men, we strove to make them believe that they were much many more.
At length, the poor Men began to be tir'd of us, and indeed we began to be tir'd of them; for we began to be afraid very much that they would prye a little Way into our Affairs, and that a little too narrowly that Way; so as they began to sollicit their Deliverance, we began to listen to their Importunities: In a Word, we agreed to dismiss them; and accordingly we gave them Leave to go away to the Watering-place, as if they had made their Escape from us; which they did, carrying away their Heads full of all those unlikely projected Things which you have heard above.
In all this, however, I had not the good Luck to advance one Step towards my own Escape; and here is one Thing remarkable, _viz._ That the great Ma.s.s of Wealth I had gotten together, was so far from forwarding my Deliverance, that it really was the only Thing that hinder'd it most effectually; and I was so sensible of it, that I resolv'd once to be gone, and leave all my Wealth behind me, except some Jewels, as several of our Men had done already: For many of them were so impatient of staying here, that they found Means to get away, some and some, with no more Money than they could carry about them; particularly, thirteen of our Men made themselves a Kind of Shaloup with a Mast and Sail, and went for the Red Sea, having two Patareroes for her Defence, and every Man a thousand Pieces of Eight, and no more, except that one _Macmow_ an _Irishman_, who was their Captain, had five Rubies and a Diamond, which he got among the Plunder of the Mogul's s.h.i.+p.
These Men, as I heard, gat safe to _Mocca_ in the _Arabian_ Gulph, where they fetch the Coffee, and their Captain manag'd for them all so well, that of Pirates he made them Merchants, laid out all the Stock in Coffee, and got a Vessel to carry it up the Red Sea to _Sues_, where they sold it to the Factors for the _European_ Merchants, and came all safe to _Alexandria_, where they parted the Money again; and then every one separated as they thought fit, and went their own Way.
We heard of this by mere Accident afterwards, and I confess I envy'd their Success; and tho' it was a great while after this that I took a like Run, yet you may be sure I form'd a Resolution from that Time to do the like; and most of the Time that I stay'd after this, was employ'd in picking out a suitable Gang that I might depend upon, as well to trust with the Secret of my going away, as to take with me; and on whom I might depend, and they on me, for keeping one another's Council when we should come into _Europe_.
It was in Pursuit of this Resolution that I went this little Voyage to the South of the Island, and the Gang I took with me prov'd very trusty, but we found no Opportunity then for our Escape: Two of the Men that we took Prisoners would fain have gone with us, but we resolv'd to trust none of them with the real and true Discovery of our Circ.u.mstances; and as we had made them believe mighty Things of ourselves, and of the Posture of our Settlement, that we had 5000 Men, 12 Men of War, and the like, we were resolv'd they should carry the Delusion away with them, and that no Body should undeceive them; because, tho' we had not such an immense Wealth as was reported, and so as to be able to offer ten Millions for our Pardon, yet we had a very great Treasure; and, being nothing near so strong as they had imagin'd, we might have been made a Prey, with all our Riches, to any Set of Adventurers who might undertake to attempt us, by Consent of the Government of _England_, and make the Expedition, _No Purchase no Pay._
For this Reason we civily declin'd them, told them we had Wealth enough, and therefore did not now Cruise Abroad as we used to do, unless we should hear of another Wedding of a King's Daughter; or unless some rich Fleet, or some Heathen Kingdom was to be attempted; and that therefore a new Comer, or any Body of new Comers, could do themselves no good by coming over to us: If any Gang of Pirates or Buccaneers would go upon their Adventures, and when they had made themselves rich, would come and settle with us, we would take them into our Protection, and give them Land to build Towns and Habitations for themselves, and so in Time we might become a great Nation, and inhabit the whole Island: I told them, the _Romans_ themselves were, at first, no better than such a Gang of Rovers as we were; and who knew but our General, Captain _Avery_, might lay the Foundation of as great an Empire as they.
These big Words amaz'd the Fellows, and answer'd my End to a t.i.ttle; for they told such Rhodomantading Stories of us, when they came back to their s.h.i.+ps, and from them it spread so universally all over the _East-Indies_, (for they were Outward-bound) that none of the _English_ or _Dutch_ s.h.i.+ps would come near _Madagascar_ again, if they could help it, for a great while, for Fear of us; and we, who were soon after this dwindled away to less than 100 Men, were very glad to have them think us too strong to meddle with, or so strong that no Body durst come near us.
After these Men were gone, we rov'd about to the East Side of the Island, and in a Word, knew not what to do, or what Course to take, for we durst not put out to Sea in such a Bauble of a Boat as we had under us; but tir'd at last, we came back to the South Point of the Island again; in our rounding the Island we saw a great _English_-built s.h.i.+p at Sea, but at too far Distance to speak with her; and if it had not, we knew not what to have said to her, for we were not strong enough to attack her: We judg'd by her Course, she stood away from the Isle of St. _Maurice_ or _Mauritius_, for the _Cape of Good Hope_, and must, as we suppos'd, come from the _Malabar_ Coast, bound Home for _England_; so we let her go.
We are now return'd back to our Settlement on the North Part of the Island; and I have singl'd out about 12 or 13 bold brave Fellows, with whom I am resolv'd to venture to the Gulph of _Persia_; twenty more of our Men have agreed to carry us thither as Pa.s.sengers in the Sloop, and try their own Fortunes afterwards, for they allow we are enough to go together. We resolve, when we come to _Ba.s.saro_, to separate into three Companies, as if we did not know one another; to dress ourselves as Merchants, for now we look like h.e.l.l-hounds and Vagabonds; but when we are well dress'd, we expect to look as other Men do. If I come thither, I purpose, with two more, to give my Companions the Slip, and travel as _Armenians_ thro'
_Persia_ to the _Caspian_ Sea, so to _Constantinople_; and I doubt not we shall, one Way or other, find our Way, with our Merchandize and Money, to come into _France_, if not quite Home to my own Country. a.s.sure yourself, when I arrive in any Part of Christendom, I will give you a farther Account of my Adventures.
_Your Friend and Servant,_
AVERY.
_The End of the First Letter._
A Second LETTER
_SIR,_
I WROTE my last Letter to you from _Madagascar_, where I had continu'd so long till my People began to drop from me, some and some, and, indeed, I had, at last, but few left; so that I began to apprehend they would give an Account in _Europe_, how weak I was, and how easy it was to attack me; nay, and to make their Peace, might some of them, at least, offer their Service to be Pilots to my Port, and might guide the Fleets or s.h.i.+ps that should attempt me.
With these Apprehensions, I not only was uneasy myself, but made all my Men uneasy too; for, as I was resolv'd to attempt my own Escape, I did not care how many of my Men went before me: But this you must take with you by the Bye, that I never let them imagine that I intended to stir from the Spot myself; I mean, after my Return from the Ramble that I had taken round the Island, of which I have given you an Account; but, that I resolv'd to take up my Rest in _Madagascar_ as long as I liv'd; indeed, before, I said otherwise, as I wrote you before, and made them all promise to fetch me away, but now I gave it out that I was resolv'd to live and die here; and therefore, a little before I resolv'd upon going, I set to Work to build me a new House, and to plant me a pretty Garden at a Distance from our Fort; only I had a select Company, to whom I communicated every Thing, and who resolv'd that, at last, we would go altogether, but that we would do it our own Way.