The forehatches were now lifted, and the prisoners invited to come up.  They rushed on deck, delighted and bewildered, for it was the first time that they had seen the sun since they left England, having been kept below, where many had died from confinement and bad air, while all were sorely weakened and brought low.  Among them were many officers, of whom several were known to Harry—­although they had some difficulty in recognizing in the man, bronzed brown by his exposure to the sun and clad in a tattered shirt and breeches—­their former comrade, Harry Furness.  A search was at once made for arms, and ranged in the passage to the captain’s cabin were found twenty muskets for the use of the crew, together with as many boarding pikes and sabers.  Ammunition was not wanting.  The arms were divided among Harry’s band of forty men, and the twenty strongest of those they had rescued.  The hoes were given to the remainder.

The captain, who had by this time recovered from the blow dealt him by Harry, was now questioned.  He was told that if he would consent with his crew to navigate the vessel to Holland, he should there be allowed to go free with the ship, which it seemed was his own property; but the cargo would be sold as a fair prize, to satisfy the needs of his captors.  If he refused, he would be sent with his crew on shore in the barge, and his ship and cargo would alike be lost to him.  The captain had no hesitation in accepting the first of these alternatives, as he would be, although no gainer by the voyage, yet no loser either.  He told Harry that for himself he had no sympathy with the rulers in London, and that he sorely pitied the prisoners he was bringing over.

The hatch was now a little lifted, and the prisoners below summoned to surrender.  This they refused to do.  Harry and his men then, with much labor, lowered a four-pounder carronade down the forehatch, and wheeled it to within a few feet of the bulkhead which divided that portion where the prisoners had been confined from the after part.  The gun was loaded to the muzzle with grape, and discharged, tearing a hole through the bulkhead and killing and wounding many within.  Then the officer in command offered to surrender.

Harry ordered them at once to hand up all their firelocks and other arms through the hatchway, which was again lifted for the purpose.  When those on deck had armed themselves with those weapons, the prisoners were ordered to come up, bringing their wounded with them.  As they reached the deck they were passed down into the barge, from which all the oars save four had been removed.  Six of the soldiers had been killed, and the remainder having entered the barge, where they were stowed as thickly as they could pack, the head rope was dropped, and they were allowed to row away.  Besides the eighty muskets of the guard, a store of firelocks, sufficient to arm all on board, was found; these having been intended for the use of the garrison.  A gentle breeze had by this time sprung up from the land, and the ship’s head was turned seaward.