To this savage country our baby was bound. He had by way
of body-guard his mother, a gentle Quaker lady; his father, Jonathan
Dickenson, a wealthy planter, on his way to increase his wealth in
Penn's new settlement; three negro men, four negro women, and an Indian
named Venus, all slaves of the said Dickenson; the captain, his boy,
seven seamen, and two passengers. Besides this defence, the baby's ship
was escorted by thirteen sail of merchantmen under convoy of an armed
frigate. For these were the days when, to the righteous man, terror
walked abroad, in the light and the darkness. The green, quiet coasts
were but the lurking-places of savages, and the green, restless seas
more treacherous with pirates. Kidd had not yet buried his treasure, but
was prowling up and down the eastern seas, gathering it from every
luckless vessel that fell in his way. The captain, Kirle, debarred from
fighting by cowardice, and the Quaker Dickenson, forbidden by principle,
appear to have set out upon their perilous journey, resolved to defend
themselves by suspicion, pure and simple. They looked for treachery
behind every bush and billow; the only chance of safety lay, they
maintained, in holding every white man to be an assassin and every red
man a cannibal until they were proved otherwise.
The boy was hired by Captain Kirle to wait upon him.
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