I cruisd here about two Months, finding nothing worth while; so I stood away to a Port on the North Point of the Isle of Sumatra , where I made no Stay; for here I gat News that two large Ships, belonging to the Great Mogul, were expected to cross the Bay from Hugely in the Ganges to the Country of the King of Pegu , being to carry the Grandaughter of the Great Mogul to Pegu , who was to be marryd to the King of that Country, with all her Retinue, Jewels, and Wealth.
This was a Booty worth watching for, tho it had been some Months longer; so I refolvd that we would go and Cruise off of Point Negaris , on the East Side of the Bay,
near Diamond Isle ; and here we plyd off and on for three Weeks, and began to despair of Success; but the Knowledge of the Booty we expected spurrd us on, and we waited with great Patience, for we knew the Prize would be immensely rich.
At length we spyd three Ships coming right up to us with the Wind; we could easily see they were not Europeans by their Sails, and began to prepare ourselves for a Prize, not for a Fight; but were a little disappointed, when we found the first Ship full of Guns, and full of Soldiers, and in Condition, had she been managd by English Sailors, to have fought two such Ships as ours were; however, we resolvd to attack her if she had been full of Devils as she was full of Men.
Accordingly, when we came near them, we fird a Gun with Shot as a Challenge; they fird again immediately three or four Guns; but fird them so confusedly that we could easily see they did not understand their Business; when we considerd how to lay them on Board, and so to come thwart them, if we could; but falling, for want of Wind, open to them, we gave them a fair Broadside; we could easily see, by the Confusion that was on Board, that they were frighted out of their Wits; they fird here a Gun and there a Gun, and some on that Side that was from us, as well as those that were next to us. The next Thing we did was to lay them on Board, which we did presently, and then gave them a Volley of our Small-shot, which, as they stood so thick, killd a great many of them, and made all the rest run down under their Hatches, crying out like Creatures bewitchd: In a Word, we presently took the Ship, and having securd her Men, we chacd the other two: One was chiefly filld with Women, and the other with Lumber. Upon the Whole, as the Grandaughter of the Great Mogul was our Prize in the first Ship, so, in the second was her Women, or, in a Word, her Houshold, her Eunuchs, all the Necessaries of her Wardrobe, of her Stables, and of her Kitchin; and in the last, great Quantities of Houshold-stuff, and Things less costly, tho not less useful.
But the first was the main Prize. When my Men had enterd and masterd the Ship, one of our Lieutenants calld for me, and accordingly I jumpd on Board; he told me, he thought no Body but I ought to go into the great Cabin, or, at least, no Body should go there before me; for that the Lady herself and all her Attendance was there, and he feard the Men were so heated they would murder them all, or do worse.
I immediately went to the great Cabin-door, taking the Lieutenant that calld me, along with me, and causd the Cabin-door to be opend: But such a Sight of Glory and Misery was never seen by Buccaneer before; the Queen (for such she was to have been) was all in Gold and Silver, but frighted; and crying, and at the Sight of me she appeard trembling, and just as if she was going to die. She sate on the Side of a kind of a Bed like a Couch with no Canopy over it, or any Covering, only made to lie down upon; she was, in a Manner, coverd with Diamonds, and I, like a true Pirate, soon let her see that I had more Mind to the Jewels than to the Lady.
However, before I touchd her, I orderd the Lieutenant to place a Guard at the Cabin-door; and fastening the Door, shut us both in, which he did: The Lady was young, and, I suppose, in their Country Esteem, very handsome, but she was not very much so in my Thoughts: At first, her Fright, and the Danger she thought she was in of being killd, taught her to do every Thing that she thought might interpose between her and Danger; and that was to take off her Jewels as fast as she could, and give them to me; and I, without any great Compliment, took them as fast as she gave them me, and put them into my Pocket, taking no great Notice of them, or of her, which frighted her worse than all the rest, and she said something which I could not understand; however, two of the other Ladies came, all crying, and kneeld down to me with their Hands lifted up: What they meant I knew not at first, but by their Gestures and Pointings I found at last it was to beg the young Queens Life, and that I would not kill her.
I have heard that it has been reported in England that I ravishd this Lady, and then used her most barbarously; but they wrong me, for I never offerd any Thing of that Kind to her, I assure you; nay, I was so far from being inclind to it, that I did not like her; and there was one of her Ladies who I found much more agreeable to me, and who I was afterwards something free with, but not even with her either by Force, or by Way of Ravishing.