about three in the afternoon
The letter was much to the same purpose of what they had said to the mate , and which he declined to say for them , only that at the end of their letter they told the captain that , as they had no dishonest design , so they had taken nothing away with them which was not their own , except some arms and ammunition , such as were absolutely necessary to them , as well for their defence against the savages as to kill fowls or beasts for their food , that they might not perish ; and as there were considerable sums due to them for wages , they hoped he would allow the arms and ammunition upon their accounts . They told him that , as to the ship 's longboat , which they had taken to bring them on shore , they knew it was necessary to him , and they were very willing to restore it to him , and if he pleased to send for it , it should be very honestly delivered to his men , and not the least injury offered to any of those who came for it , nor the least persuasion or invitation made use of to any of them to stay with them ; and , at the bottom of the letter , they very humbly besought him that , for their defence , and for the safety of their lives , he would be pleased to send them a barrel of powder and some ammunition , and give them leave to keep the mast and sail of the boat , that if it was possible for them to make themselves a boat of any kind , they might shift off to sea , to save themselves in such part of the world as their fate should direct them to . Upon this the captain , who had won much upon the rest of his men by what he had said to them , and was very easy as to the general peace -LRB- for it was very true that the most mutinous of the men were gone -RRB- , came out to the quarter-deck , and , calling the men together , let them know the substance of the letter , and told the men that , however they had not deserved such civility from him , yet he was not willing to expose them more than they were willing to expose themselves ; he was inclined to send them some ammunition , and as they had desired but one barrel of powder , he would send them two barrels , and shot , or lead and moulds to make shot , in proportion ; and , to let them see that he was civiller to them than they deserved , he ordered a cask of arrack and a great bag of bread to be sent them for subsistence till they should be able to furnish themselves . The rest of the men applauded the captain 's generosity , and every one of them sent us something or other , and about three in the afternoon the pinnace came on shore , and brought us all these things , which we were very glad of , and returned the long-boat accordingly ; and as to the men that came with the pinnace , as the captain had singled out such men as he knew would not come over to us , so they had positive orders not to bring any one of us on board again , upon pain of death ; and indeed both were so true to our points , that we neither asked them to stay , nor they us to go . We were now a good troop , being in all twenty-seven men , very well armed , and provided with everything but victuals ; we had two carpenters among us , a gunner , and , which was worth all the rest , a surgeon or doctor ; that is to say , he was an assistant to a surgeon at Goa , and was entertained as a supernumerary with us . The carpenters had brought all their tools , the doctor all his instruments and medicines , and indeed we had a great deal of baggage , that is to say , on the whole , for some of us had little more than the clothes on our backs , of whom I was one ; but I had one thing which none of them had , viz. , I had the twenty-two moidores of gold which I had stole at the Brazils , and two pieces of eight . The two pieces of eight I showed , and one moidore , and none of them ever suspected that I had any more money in the world , having been known to be only a poor boy taken up in charity , as you have heard , and used like a slave , and in the worst manner of a slave , by my cruel master the pilot .