I desired him to choose the like number of myne, I
being one of the number, telling him I
Would desire no more, & that in 2
dayes I would give him a good account of his fort & of his shipp, & that I
would not have him to have the shame of being present to see what I should
doe. Hee chose & named such of my men as hee pleas'd, & I would not choose
any others. I sufferr'd him to come with me to the water side, & I made the
ninth man that went upon this Expedition, with an Englishman of Mr.
Bridgar's to bee a wittness of the busenesse.
Being arriv'd within half a league of the fort, I left the Englishman with
one frenchman, ordering they should not stirr without farther order; at the
same time I sent 2 of my men directly to the fort to the Southward of the
Island, & I planted myself with my other 5 men at the North point of the
same Island to observe what they did that I sent to the fort. They were
stop't by 3 Englishmen armed, that asked if they had any letters from their
master. My people answer'd, according to my Instructions, that hee was
coming along with mee; that being weary, wee stay'd behind; that they came
a litle before for some brandy which they offerr'd to carry. The Englishmen
would needs doe the office, & my 2 men stay'd in the fort. Hee that was
hostage had orders to seize on the Court of Gard Dore, one of them newly
come to seize the Dore of the House, & the 3 was to goe in & out, that in
case the dessigne was discover'd hee might stopp the passage of the Dore
with Blocks of wood, to hinder it from being shutt & to give me freedom to
enter unto their assistance; but there needed not so much adoe, for I
enter'd into the fort before thos that were appointed to defend it were
aware. The Lieutenant was startled at seeing me, & asked "wher his master
was; it was high time to appear & act." I answered the Lieutenant "it
matter'd not where his master was, but to tell me what men hee had & to
call them out;" & my men being enter'd the fort & all together, I told thos
that were present the cause of my coming, that I intended to bee Master of
the place, & that 'twas too late to dispute. I commanded them to bring me
the Keys of the Fort & all their Arms, & to tell mee if they had any Powder
in their chests, & how much, referring myself unto what they should say.
They made no resistance, but brought me their Arms, & as for Powder, they
said they had none. I took possession of the Fort in the name of the King
of ffrance, & from thence was conducted by the Lieutenant to take
possession of the shipp also in the same name, which I did without any
resistance; & whilst I was doing all this, young Guillem's men seemed to
rejoyce at it rather then to bee troubled, complaining of him for their Ill
usage, & that hee had kill'd his Supercargo.
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