Page:Enterprise and Adventure.djvu/89

Rh granted a signal was hoisted him, and he came aboard, bringing another boat's crew of men with him. They then asked leave to go below and see the arrangements there, which was granted with ready hospitality by the unsuspecting captain. Meanwhile another signal was hoisted for a third officer, who with the boat's crew finally made up fifty foreigners on the deck of the "St. Helena." This latter step had not been perceived by the captain, who was engaged in escorting his guests below; but on his ascending to the deck the unfortunate man was suddenly seized from behind, while his arms were pinioned. Looking round he then perceived that the whole of his crew were already fast bound to the rigging, and he discovered too late that his ship was in the hands of pirates.

Concealment being now at an end the pirates hastened below and commenced a search for plunder, in which they were very successful, as the "St. Helena" had specie aboard. Unhappily, in the course of their search, they came upon a cask of spirits, and knocking the top off they drank till they were half-intoxicated, when they rushed upon deck in a state of fury, and commenced proceedings by cutting off the captain's head and throwing him into the sea. One by one the crew shared the same fate, except the two men in question, who escaped unnoticed in the beginning of the scuffle, and hid themselves below among some casks. Here they heard the struggling and screaming, and the splash of the bodies thrown overboard, till there were no more victims left. Then in a kind of frenzy the pirates yelled, fired shots through the rigging, cut away the masts, and attempted to scuttle the ship; but being