"A-hoy! a-hoy!" cried he, at the door, striking the ground with the butt
end of his carbine! "down with the hammocks, down with the hammocks! We
will sleep some other day. The Squirrel has made signals for a landing
this evening, and we must see what she has in her, muslin or tobacco.
Come, come, turn out, my sea-boys."
In a twinkling every body was ready. They opened an arm-chest, and every
man took out a carbine or blunderbuss, a brace of pistols, and a cutlass
or boarding pike, and we set out, after having drunk so many glasses of
brandy and arrack that the bottles were empty. At this time there were
not more than twenty of us, but we were joined or met, at one place or
another, by so many individuals, that on reaching the sea side we were
forty-seven in number, exclusive of two females and some countrymen from
the adjacent villages, who brought hired horses, which they concealed in
a hollow behind some rocks.
It was night, and the wind was shifting, whilst the sea dashed with so
much force, that I did not understand how any vessels could approach
without being cast on shore. What confirmed this idea was, that by the
starlight I saw a small boat rowing backwards and forwards, as if it
feared to land. They told me afterwards that this was only a manoeuvre
to ascertain if all was ready for the unloading, and no danger to be
apprehended.
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