Journal of Voyages: Containing an Account of the Author's being Twice Captured by the English and Once by Gibbs the Pirate...Dunham, Jacob
History
Journal of Voyages: Containing an Account of the Author's being Twice Captured by the English and Once by Gibbs the Pirate...
Dunham, Jacob
Voyages and travels
I now employed myself cheerfully in reading and other amusements for a
few days, when suddenly an Indian called at my door and told me that
Scotland wanted me to come down to the landing place, that he was lying
in his canoe badly wounded. I repaired to the place, where I found his
sail spread over his canoe, and he lying on the bottom. I perceived that
the blood had covered the whole bottom of the canoe, apparently one inch
or more deep. On examination of his body I found he had received a large
charge of shot in his right breast, which had cut out about one pound of
flesh; and another in his thigh, which had severed the bones, and cut
the flesh to pieces in the most shocking manner. I asked him how this
misfortune happened to him. He answered me by saying, "Captain, Jim and
Moody do me too bad. This morning Jim and me go a hunting together, we
come home about eleven o'clock, I feel tired and lay down on my crawl
and go to sleep; first I know, I hear a gun go pow, I look at the door
and see Jim stand there, I say, 'Jim, see what these Indians do me;' Jim
say, Moody give it to him, Moody fire his gun and break my thigh, and
then both run away and left me. By and by one Indian come, and I give my
gun to paddle me here to see you. Now I want you to get Sally and the
other woman to mend me up again."
I called on my hospitable Sally, who hastily declared she would not try
to mend Scotland up, or have him left in the village, and I must send
him back to his house in the bush: if she should mend him up again he
would kill Moody and Jim, and that she would have no farther trouble
with these negroes. There being no white person to advise with, I called
Prince, the neutral negro, and told him he must take Scotland back to
his house, help him on his crawl or bed, set a calabash of water within
reach, and leave him. Prince hesitated some about obeying my orders, but
by persuasion and some reward, he embarked in the canoe and paddled him
back to his house, helped him into it, placed him on his crawl, and at
his request built a fire, set water within his reach, loaded his gun,
and placed ammunition near him, for he was determined to defend himself
as long as he had breath.
After they had departed, I sat down on the beach and reflected on the
forlorn situation of this unfortunate desperado. He well knew he must
die from his wounds, or be murdered by Moody and Jim, or destroyed by
tigers, his hut having no doors to protect him from wild beasts. When
Prince returned I asked him if he had any conversation with Scotland on
the passage. He replied, "Yes, I told Scotland that Moody and Jim would
kill him this night. He replied, then they will say, there is a _man_
dead."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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