more. At Baltimore they sent in the purser "to deale with the Kernes for hogges to victuall withal." They had a tender with them, a small Spanish caravel, a lately taken prize, when they appeared off the town, so that the Baltimore authorities, seeing the ships in company, could have had no doubt of what they were. Jennings realized that the authorities might not care to sell their hogs to people of his way of life. In the long-boat which bore the purser, he sent "a token of familiaritie" to the governor of the town; the said token being "19 or 20 chests of sugers" and 4 chests of fine scarlet coral. For this bountiful bribe they received permission to wood, water and reprovision; and also, it seems, to sell some of their spoils to the citizens. While he lay at Baltimore, Jennings "fell in liking with an Irish woman" whom he carried with him to sea, in spite of the growlings of his men, who swore that the compass would never traverse right, nor a fair wind blow with a female living aft. It was all through her, they said, that they met the King's cruiser as they left Baltimore Road; and it was all through her that they had to cut and run for it, instead of making her a prize.
Page:A Mainsail Haul - Masefield - 1913.djvu/107
This page has been validated.
CAPTAIN JOHN JENNINGS
95
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikisource/en/thumb/7/78/A_Mainsail_Haul_-_Masefield_-_1913.djvu/page107-1024px-A_Mainsail_Haul_-_Masefield_-_1913.djvu.jpg)