It was impossible for a very
large ship, manned by an extremely small crew, to sail away from those
fully equipped vessels, and as to attempting to defend themselves
against the overwhelming power of the antagonists, that was too absurd
to be thought of even by such a reckless fellow as Bartholemy. So, when
the ship was hailed by the Spanish vessels he lay to and waited until a
boat's crew boarded him. With the eye of a nautical man the Spanish
captain of one of the ships perceived that something was the matter with
this vessel, for its sails and rigging were terribly cut up in the long
fight through which it had passed, and of course he wanted to know what
had happened. When he found that the great ship was in the possession of
a very small body of pirates, Bartholemy and his men were immediately
made prisoners, taken on board the Spanish ship, stripped of everything
they possessed, even their clothes, and shut up in the hold. A crew from
the Spanish ships was sent to man the vessel which had been captured,
and then the little fleet set sail for San Francisco in Campeachy.
An hour had worked a very great change in the fortunes of Bartholemy and
his men; in the fine cabin of their grand prize they had feasted and
sung, and had gloried over their wonderful success, and now, in the
vessel of their captor, they were shut up in the dark, to be enslaved or
perhaps executed.
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