He had nothing in the world but the clothes on his back, and he saw no way in which he could make money enough to keep himself alive until he had paid for himself.

He tried various ways of support, but there was no opening for a young business man in that section of the country, and at last he came to the conclusion that there was only one way by which he could accomplish his object, and he therefore determined to enter into "the wicked order of pirates or robbers at sea." It must have been a strange thing for a man accustomed to pens and ink, to yard-sticks and scales, to feel obliged to enroll himself into a company of bloody, big-bearded pirates, but a man must eat, and buccaneering was the only profession open to our ex-clerk.

For some reason or other, certainly not on account of his bravery and daring, Esquemeling was very well received by the pirates of Tortuga.

Perhaps they liked him because he was a mild-mannered man and so different from themselves.

Nobody was afraid of him, every one felt superior to him, and we are all very apt to like people to whom we feel superior.
As for Esquemeling himself, he soon came to entertain the highest opinion of his pirate companions.