[Illustration: PIRATES' RENDEZVOUS.] They had plenty of hiding-places among the islands and along the coast of the mainland, and their numbers increased so rapidly that they formed colonies, tilled the soil, and in many cases established something like local government, though it was not always very orderly. In some of their colonies the more peaceably inclined buccaneers lived on shore, raised crops, hunted for wild cattle or other game, and not infrequently they brought their families from the Old World or found wives among the natives. The rest of the community roved the seas in search of plunder, returning occasionally to the colony to refit their vessels, and deliver their proper share to the settlers on land, from whom provisions were obtained. Sometimes prisoners were brought to the colonies and kept as slaves, but this was not the general practice, as it was not altogether safe; an escaping slave might reveal the rendezvous of the buccaneers, and, in spite of the greatest vigilance, escape was possible. Consequently, it was the custom to release prisoners on payment of a heavy ransom, or to sell them to be carried into slavery, where they could do no harm to their captors. If they could not be disposed of in either of these ways, or made useful in some manner, they were generally put to death. Sometimes a chief released his prisoners unconditionally, and without obtaining anything for them, but such action was not favorably received by his followers, as they considered it a loss of property and an indication of weakness totally inappropriate to his proper character. Human life was held at little value in those days, not only by freebooters, but by kings and princes in all parts of the world. After all, there was little difference between the buccaneers, or pirates, and the people against whom their exploits were directed. Cortez, Balboa, Pizarro, and other leaders in the Spanish conquest of the New World were simply the heads of legitimate marauding expeditions, directed against the inhabitants of the countries they invaded. The buccaneers endeavored to rob these legalized marauders; they stole what had been already stolen, and their thievery was directed against thieves. They adopted the same practices of torture and cruelties that had been used to extort gold from the rulers and people of the conquered countries; the buccaneers felt that the condemnation of their practices was unjust, and their sensibilities were wounded when they saw that the conquerors of the New World were sustained and honored by their king, whose treasury was enriched by their plunderings. [Illustration: BUCCANEERS EMBARKING ON AN EXPEDITION.]