It is pleasing to discover any instance of generosity or honor among such an abandoned race, who bid defiance to all the laws of honor, and, indeed, are regardless of all laws human and divine.  Captain England was so steady to Captain Mackra, that he informed him, it would be with no small difficulty and address that he would be able to preserve him and his men from the fury of the crew, who were greatly enraged at the resistance which had been made.  He likewise acquainted him, that his influence and authority among them was giving place to that of Captain Taylor, chiefly because the dispositions of the latter were more savage and brutal.  They therefore consulted between them what was the best method to secure the favor of Taylor, and keep him in good humor.  Mackra made the punch to flow in great abundance, and employed every artifice to soothe the mind of that ferocious villain.

A single incident was also very favorable to the unfortunate captain.  It happened that a pirate, with a prodigious pair of whiskers, a wooden leg, and stuck round with pistols, came blustering and swearing upon the quarter deck, inquiring “where was Captain Mackra.”  He naturally supposed that this barbarous-looking fellow would be his executioner; but, as he approached, he took the captain by the hand, swearing “that he was an honest fellow, and that he had formerly sailed with him, and would stand by him; and let him see the man that would touch him.”  This terminated the dispute, and Captain Taylor’s disposition was so ameliorated with punch, that he consented that the old pirate ship, and so many bales of cloth, should be given to Mackra, and then sank into the arms of intoxication.  England now pressed Mackra to hasten away, lest the ruffian, upon his becoming sober, should not only retract his word, but give liberty to the crew to cut him and his men to pieces.

But the gentle temper of Captain England, and his generosity towards the unfortunate Mackra, proved the organ of much calamity to himself.  The crew, in general, deeming the kind of usage which Mackra had received, inconsistent with piratical policy, they circulated a report, that he was coming against them with the Company’s force.  The result of these invidious reports was to deprive England of his command, and to excite these cruel villains to put him on shore, with three others, upon the island of Mauritius.  If England and his small company had not been destitute of every necessary, they might have made a comfortable subsistence here, as the island abounds with deer, hogs, and other animals.  Dissatisfied, however, with their solitary situation, Captain England and his three men exerted their industry and ingenuity, and formed a small boat, with which they sailed to Madagascar, where they subsisted upon the generosity of some more fortunate piratical companions.

[Illustration:  Captain Mackra, and the Pirate with a wooden leg.]