Note: Images of the original pages are available through Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. See http://purl.ox.ac.uk/uuid/324b5598fbd44321abe105868fb7f75a THE BUCCANEER CHIEF A Romance of the Spanish Main by GUSTAVE AIMARD Author of Smuggler Chief, Strong Hand, etc. London Ward and Lock, 158, Fleet Street MDCCCLXIV CONTENTS. I. THE HOSTELRY OF THE COURT OF FRANCE II. A FAMILY SCENE III. THE ARREST IV. THE ISLE OF SAINTE MARGUERITE V. A BACKWARD GLANCE VI. LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT VII. DESPAIR VIII. THE PRISONER IX. MAJOR DE L'OURSIÈRE X. THE SEAGULL LUGGER XI. FRANCE, FAREWELL! XII. THE BEGINNING OF THE ADVENTURE XIII. THE COUNCIL OF THE FILIBUSTERS XIV. THE SECOND PROPOSAL XV. THE SPY XVI. THE SLAVE SALE XVII. THE ENLISTMENT XVIII. NEVIS XIX. THE EXPEDITION XX. THE HATTO XXI. THE MAJOR-DOMO'S STORY XXII. ACROSS COUNTRY XXIII. COMPLICATIONS XXIV. PORT MARGOT XXV. FRAY ARSENIO XXVI. THE CONSEQUENCES OF A MEETING XXVII. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE COLONY XXVIII. THE FLIGHT FROM THE HATTO XXIX. EVENTS ACCUMULATE XXX. THE EXTERMINATOR THE BUCCANEER CHIEF. CHAPTER I. THE HOSTELRY OF THE COURT OF FRANCE. Although the Seine, from Chanceaux, its fountainhead, to Havre, where it falls into the sea, is not more than four hundred miles in length, still, in spite of this comparatively limited course, this river is one of the most important in the world; for, from the days of Cæsar up to the present, it has seen all the great social questions which have agitated modern times decided on its banks. Tourists, artists, and travellers, who go a long distance in search of scenery, could not find anything more picturesque or more capriciously diversified than the winding banks of this river, which is skirted by commercial towns and pretty villages, coquettishly arranged on the sides of verdant valleys, or half disappearing in the midst of dense clumps of trees. It is in one of these villages, situated but a few leagues from Paris, that our story began, on March 26th, 1641. This village, whose origin dates back to the earliest period of the French Monarchy, was at that time pretty nearly what it is now; differing in this respect from all the hamlets that surround it, it has remained stationary; on seeing it you might fancy that centuries have not passed as far as it is concerned. When the neighbouring hamlets became villages, and were finally transformed into large towns, it continually decreased, so that its population at the present day scarce attains the amount of four hundred inhabitants.