Henry Morgan was indeed a practical pirate, who, had he but lived four hundred years later, could have made vastly more money out of a town of 30,000 people by the mild devices of franchises and bonds, than he did out of Panama with murder, the rack, robbery and rapine for his methods. After setting the example of loyally putting his all into the common store, he assumed the duty of dividing that store. This accomplished to his liking, and knowing that idleness breeds discontent, and that discontent is always hurtful to capital, he set his men to work pulling the Castle of San Lorenzo to pieces. While they were thus engaged, one dark night with favoring winds he hove anchor and with four ships, filled with his English favorites, and laden with the lion’s share of the booty, he sailed away from Chagres and from buccaneering forever. He left behind all the French, Dutch and mongrel pirates--those ancient and experienced ones. He left them some of the poorer ships--much as an efficient gang of street railway looters leave some rusty rails and decrepit cars to a town they have looted--but saw to it that none was left that could possibly catch up with his fleet. So the deserted buccaneers first fought awhile among themselves, then dispersed. Some in an amateurish way sacked the town of Keys in Cuba. Others went to Campeche and Honduras. Esquemeling with a small band went up to Bocadel Toro, now the Panama headquarters of the United Fruit Company, whence he made his way back to Europe. There he wrote his “History of the Buccaneers,” which became one of the world’s “best sellers,” and in which he gave his Captain Morgan “the worst of it”--a species of satisfaction which is often the only recourse of the literary man who gets tangled up with Big Business. [Illustration: THE BEETLING CLIFFS OF THE UPPER CHAGRES] As for Captain Morgan, he was made much of at Jamaica, where the crown’s share of the proceeds of his piracy was cheerfully accepted by the governor. But in England there was some embarrassment, for there was no war with Spain and the complete destruction of a Spanish city by a force bearing British flags was at least embarrassing. So by way of showing its repentance and good intent the government announced its purpose to suppress buccaneering and all piracy, and to that end created Henry Morgan a baronet and put the commission in his hands--much as we have been accustomed to put politicians on our civil service commissions, and protected manufacturers on our tariff boards. So as _Sir_ Henry Morgan this most wholesale robber and murderer Central America ever knew ended his days in high respectability. [Illustration: THE ROOTS REACH DOWN SEEKING FOR SOIL]