Though this was all but a fiction of his own, yet it had its
desired effect; Atkins fell upon his knees to beg the captain to
intercede with the governor for his life; and all the rest begged
of him, for God's sake, that they might not be sent to England.
It now occurred to me that the time of our deliverance was come,
and that it would be a most easy thing to bring these fellows in to
be hearty in getting possession of the ship; so I retired in the
dark from them, that they might not see what kind of a governor
they had, and called the captain to me; when I called, at a good
distance, one of the men was ordered to speak again, and say to the
captain, "Captain, the commander calls for you;" and presently the
captain replied, "Tell his excellency I am just coming." This more
perfectly amazed them, and they all believed that the commander was
just by, with his fifty men. Upon the captain coming to me, I told
him my project for seizing the ship, which he liked wonderfully
well, and resolved to put it in execution the next morning. But,
in order to execute it with more art, and to be secure of success,
I told him we must divide the prisoners, and that he should go and
take Atkins, and two more of the worst of them, and send them
pinioned to the cave where the others lay.
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