CHAPTER XXV.

Richard Kidd's Birth and Education.-Follows his own Inclinations.-False Heroes lead him astray.-Commences a Career of Crimes. Rapid Progress.—Joins a Regiment in India. Turned out.-Undertakes a Transaction in which I am much interested. The Destruction of the Ship.-He nearly loses his Life.—Picked up by a Slaver.--Turns Pirate.-Is captured, but escapes.-Gets back to India. His Reward lost.-Joins the Emu.-His Adventures in her.-Attacked by the Malays. -His Crew mutiny and maroon him.-His End, the sure Consequence of Crime.

"I was born and bred in the State of New York. My father I never knew. My mother was kind and good; but she yielded to the dictates of her heart rather than to those of her judgment. She over-indulged me; she neglected to root out the bad seeds Satan is always striving to sow in the heart of man; and they grew up and flourished till they brought me to what I now am. I was of a roving unsettled disposition, I required excitement. I believe that I might, with care, have been led into the right way, but that care was wanting. I was fond of excitement: when I could not obtain it in reality, I sought it in fiction, and therefore eagerly devoured all books which could satisfy my craving; but never did I look into one which could confer any real benefit on me.

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The adventures of robbers and pirates delighted me

most; and the history of a man, whose name I by chance bore, had a fatal influence on my destiny. I thought him a hero, and fancied it would be a grand thing to become like him.

"It did not occur to me, that the stories about him were mostly false; that the book was a fiction, dressed up to please the vicious palate of the uneducated public, and that the man himself was a miserable wretch, little better than a brute, who dared not think of the past or contemplate the future. What he was I am too well able to tell from knowing what I myself now am. I was called educated; but my knowledge was ignorance. I soon grew weary of the trammels of home, and fancying that I should have greater license afloat, with a vague notion that I would imitate some of the heroes of my imagination, I, without even wishing my mother farewell, ran away to sea. I had no difficulty in finding a ship : and if Satan himself had wished to choose one for me, he would not have fixed on a craft where I could more certainly have learned to follow his ways. The master set an example of wickedness, in which the crew willingly followed; and thus I grew up among scenes of the grossest vice. It was not long before I engaged in transactions considered criminal by the laws. My first was assisting in casting away a ship which had been heavily insured. My companions and I succeeded so well, without detection, that the rascally merchants, who had employed us, engaged us on several occasions for a similar object. At last our practices were suspected ; and I was warned not to return to my native place. I accordingly took a berth on board a ship bound for India. Arrived there, I deserted, and joined an opium clipper. I soon got tired of that life, for there

was some little danger at times, the excitement was but trifling, and the discipline was stricter than I liked. I got back, at length, to India, where there was much fighting going forward with the native princes, and European recruits being wanted, I enlisted, pretending I was an Englishman.

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"I gained some credit for bravery, though being discovered on a pillaging expedition, I narrowly escaped a severe punishment. I went by the name of the sailor' in the regiment to which I belonged; and having, while in liquor, described some of my adventures, my character was pretty well-known, not only to my comrades, but to some of my officers, as it appeared. It was not long before my conduct brought me into trouble. I escaped narrowly with my life, and was turned out of my regiment without a farthing in my pocket. I was wandering about the streets of Calcutta, considering what I should next do, when one evening, as it was growing dark, I observed a person watching me. He followed me to a secluded place, and when no one was in sight, he came up, and, addressing me by name, told me if I wanted a job which would put money in my pocket, to come to a certain house in two hours' time, binding me by an oath not to mention the circumstance to any one. I went at the time agreed on, and was shewn, by a servant, into a room, where, soon afterwards, I was joined by a young officer, whom I knew to be a gambler and a man of ruined fortunes. I therefore guessed that he wanted me to perform some desperate piece of work or other for him. Well, what is it you want of me?' I asked, in rather a sulky mood, for somehow or other I did not like the gentleman; and bad as I was, I felt rather degraded in being employed by him: but yet my

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fortunes were too low to allow me to be nice in what I undertook. He looked rather astonished at my manner; but, recovering himself, he said-'I want you to manage a very delicate affair for me, Kidd; and if you do so, I intend to pay you well.' 'What do you call well?' I asked, calmly. Why, I propose giving you two hundred pounds down, and fifty pounds a year for your life, if you remain faithful,' he answered. ‘You must swear to me that you will not betray me; and that no threats or bribes shall move you.' I took the oath he prescribed. He then said, 'You must know that there are two children, now in the East, who are about to be sent home to their friends in England. Both their parents are dead, and they stand between my father and a large property. If they come of age it will be theirs, and while they live he cannot enjoy it. Now, understand, I do not want you to murder the children; we must have nothing of that sort on our consciences; but you must manage to get hold of them, and bear them away where they shall be no more heard of. I leave you to form the plan, and to carry it out, only let me know the result. Will you undertake the work?' I told him that I would. 'Well, then,' he continued, 'The children are now in the Mauritius; their names are Marmaduke and Ellen Seaton. You will have time to reach them before they sail; and you must contrive to get a berth on board the ship they go by. It is whispered that you have contrived to cast away a ship or so, when you were well paid for it. Perhaps the same turn may serve you now.'

The plan was soon arranged. The directions for finding out the children were given me, and, putting fifty pounds into my hands for my expenses, he told me

to start off at once, and to come back to him when the matter was settled. I reached the Mauritius without difficulty, and found that the children, under charge of an Indian nurse, were to proceed by the Penguin, a small free-trader, touching there on her homeward voyage. In aid of my plan, the second mate had died, so I applied for and obtained the berth; besides which I fell in with two seamen who had been with me before, when a ship I sailed in was lost by my means. I opened my project to them, and they promised to assist me. The nurse was devotedly attached to the children; and by nursing them, and being attentive to her, I soon won her confidence. I found, however, much more difficulty than I expected in my attempt to wreck the vessel. The captain was a good navigator, and very attentive to his duty, as was the first-mate; so that when, during my watch on deck, at night, I got the ship steered a wrong course, in the hopes of edging her in on the African coast, I was very soon detected. I laid the blame on the helmsman, one of my accomplices, who stoutly asserted that he had been steering a proper course. I again tried to effect my object; but the captain had, it appeared, a compass above his head, in his own cabin, and being awake, discovered the attempt.

"I made every plausible excuse I could think of, but I felt that I was suspected, and dared not venture to play the same trick again. I had, however, another resource, which, dangerous as it was, I determined to risk. You may well start with horror. It was nothing less than to set the ship on fire. I then intended with my comrades to carry off the nurse and children to the coast of Africa, and to dispose of them to some of the