“Now, dear Lord, dinna ye think it a shame for ye to send this vile pirate to rob our folk o’ Kirkaldy. Ye ken that they are puir enow already, and hae naething to spare. The way the wind blaws he’ll be here in a jiffy. And wha kens what he may do? He’s nae too good for onything. Mickle’s the mischief he has dune already. He’ll burn their hooses, tak their very claes, and strip them to the sark. And, waes me, wha kens but that the bluidy villain might tak their lives! The puir weemen are most frightened out of their wits, and the bairns screeching after them. I canna think of it! I canna think of it! “I have long been a faithful servant to ye, O Lord. But gin ye dinna turn the wind about and blaw the scoundrel out of our gate I’ll nae stir a foot; but will just sit here till the tide comes. Sae tak your will o’t.” Suddenly a violent gale arose, blowing out from the harbor. The people of Kirkaldy never doubted that it was in consequence of the powerful intercession of their pastor. “I prayed,” said the good old man often afterward, “but the Lord sent the wind.” The gale was so violent that it was impossible to make any headway against it. The ship which he had captured, freighted with coal, had her seams so opened by the tornado that she sank to the bottom. It was with the greatest difficulty that the crew was rescued. Though Jones was almost within gun-shot of Leith, after an ineffectual struggle with the gale he was obliged to bear away and run out of the Frith. In the morning, the storm abated and the weather fair, Captain Jones was anxious to return immediately to the attack. But the other captains were unwilling to run the risk. In conference they said: “The alarm of our approach has spread throughout the whole country. The inhabitants of Leith have had several hours to prepare to repel us. The city of Edinburgh will certainly have sent all its military force into Leith. British men-of-war are all along the coast. They will be immediately informed of our presence. Unless we disappear we shall be overwhelmed by numbers. We dare not remain here. If Captain Jones decides to do so, we must leave him.” It may seem very strange that Captain Jones, who was the commodore of the fleet, should not have had the power to _command_ in such a case. But he was crippled, and his energies almost paralyzed, by instructions, which, through the address of Landais, had been given to him by the French Minister of Marine the evening before he sailed.