On reaching the Red Sea, he waited for three weeks at Bab’s Key, a small island at its entrance, a convenient station for observing all ships going into or out of that sea. It was alleged at his trial by Palmer, one of the two men who became King’s evidence, that he said on one occasion to his men, whilst waiting here, “Come, boys, I will make money enough out of that fleet.” Little credence is to be attached to Palmer’s evidence, as will be seen hereafter. But assuming that Kidd made use of these words, they are susceptible of a perfectly innocent interpretation. Kidd was on the lookout not only for pirates but also for French ships. It was not improbable that some of the vessels in the Mecca fleet would be ships belonging to Frenchmen, or sailing under French colours to the French factories in India, in which case he would have had a perfect right to seize them under his letters of marque. It was also by no means improbable that he might catch some of the Madagascar pirates in pursuit of, or possibly in possession of, the fleet or some part of it, in which case it would clearly have been his bounden duty under his commission to seize the pirates and the ships which they had captured. In either of these events he would, to use the words attributed to him by Palmer, have made money enough out of the fleet. There is some conflict of evidence as to what actually happened on the fourteenth of August, when the fleet came by. One thing is certain, that either before or after Kidd came among them, they flew English and Dutch colours, and that a fire was opened on Kidd from one or both of their convoys. It also appears that “sundry shots were fired from Kidd’s ship,” possibly with the object of bringing the ships to, in order that explanations might be forthcoming from both sides. On this point an attempt made on the part of the prosecution by both their witnesses to mislead the jury was frustrated by Kidd. Palmer had led them to believe that Kidd was the aggressor. “I ask this one thing,” said Kidd. “Did the Mecca fleet fire first at me or I at them?” PALMER. “No; they fired first.” KIDD. “And just now, the other” (that is, Bradenham) “said I fired first. Is he not perjured?” Mr. Justice TURTON. “Mr. Bradenham, did he fire first or no?” BRADENHAM. “He fired at them. I only said, you fired at them. I did not say first or last.” No harm was done by the shots on either side; and the fleet went by without any interchange of explanations. It was no fault of Kidd’s that its convoys mistook him for a pirate, of which there were undoubtedly plenty in those parts. But the failure of his plan to make money out of it cannot have added to his prestige with his crew.