our forces. I had taken upon myself the office of commander in chief as well as master of the ordnance: we mustered six muskets, but they were all rusty and out of order; two of them had no ramrods, three of them wanted flints, and the sixth had the pan broken. We had plenty of grape shot, and it was proposed to shower it well into the boats as they neared us, but the quantity of gunpowder, which was now got out with difficulty from under some of the mate's clothes and a profusion of bedding in one of the after births, was lamentably deficient.
When we had arranged our materiel in the best way we could, the captain and I retired into the cabin to hold a council of war: he, then, put to me a question of a very posing nature; for, observing, as he did with some calmness, that he knew nothing of the crew, "how do you know," said he, "that they will fight?" He gave me strong reason to suspect that they would not, and continued "they shall not
