He took them very thankfully; and no sooner had he the arms in his hands, but, as if they had put new vigour into him, he flew upon his murderers like a fury, and had cut two of them in pieces in an instant; for the truth is, as the whole was a surprise to them, so the poor creatures were so much frightened with the noise of our pieces that they fell down for mere amazement and fear, and had no more power to attempt their own escape than their flesh had to resist our shot; and that was the case of those five that Friday shot at in the boat; for as three of them fell with the hurt they received, so the other two fell with the fright.
Scagliatosi con furia sovr’essi, nè taglio a pezzi due in men che nol dico; perchè, per dar luogo alla verità tutta intera, que’ poveri sgraziati erano si orridamente atterriti dallo strepito delle nostre armi da fuoco, che cadeano per mero sbalordimento e paura; nè per cercare uno scampo avevano maggior virtù, che per resistere ai nostri moschetti. Tale si fu il caso di que’ cinque su cui Venerdì tirò entro al canotto; poichè se tre di quelli caddero pel colpo ricevuto, gli altri due caddero dalla paura.