At the mouth of the Red Sea--red is the color of flame--we fell in with two ships that were on the same account as we, and the morning after meeting them met three more ships of bad intent, some being Englishmen from America--Captains May (no relative of mine) Farrel and Wake--until you might have supposed a parliament of pirates was meeting. We were all there for the Mocha fleet; but after riding together a night or two and exchanging visits we separated, each captain having his own notion of the place where the fleet we sought would pass. But wide is the sea and many are its paths, and the Mocha fleet slipped by us all in the night of Saturday. Next morning the men held a general consult as to whether we should follow them or not, and after a great dispute as usual, a vote was taken which fell for pursuit, and so the Sabbath was desecrated by a wicked chase. At sundown we came upon a lagging ship of the fleet and took her without a fight, and with her something of gold and silver, but no great sum. We put a prize crew aboard but soon called them off again and left the ship to go her voyage. There was enough profit in this plunder to cheer our people, and they became hungry for more. A few days thereafter we spied another sail and, getting up our anchor, stood to her. Before we came up to her a haze fell over the sea, which presently turned to a thick fog, thereby favoring Mr. Every’s enterprise by allowing him to get close and make a sort of surprise. When nigh enough we sent a shot across her bows; but she, fearing that we were a lawless ship, refused to heave back but hauled to the wind and made off. With the breeze on our starboard quarter, despite the fog we kept her in sight; and, being the better sailer, we drew down upon her, so near that we made her out to be the _Gunsway_, East Indiaman. Mr. Every now yawed his ship occasionally as he worked for the range; but they opened first at us, giving us a load from their stern-chasers, which split our larboard foreyard arm and might, had it been a little cleaner break, put us out of the pursuit. Mr. Every replied with our bow-chasers, which we learned afterward did them little hurt. Our captain, wishing to get the range for his broadside more quickly and the _Gunsway_ beginning to show a chance of escape, we put our helm down hard, and, coming athwart the bow, fell foul of the _Gunsway_, so that our larboard cathead was abreast her starboard gangway. Here we fought muzzle to muzzle--they with brass cannon, we with our iron ones--as pretty a fight as ever I saw since the days of the old _Hector_ and the battle of Bergen. If we had had to fight it out in this fashion the event might have been uncertain, but Mr. Every--who as I have said was a fine seaman--cunningly disengaged his ship and managed to back her clear of the _Gunsway_ and then, bearing up under her stern, let go a broadside.