The Monarchs of the Main; Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers. Volume 1 (of 3)Thornbury, Walter
History
The Monarchs of the Main; Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers. Volume 1 (of 3)
Thornbury, Walter
Buccaneers; Pirates; Spanish Main
hoisted at random every stitch of sail and ran for his life, pursued by
the armadilla, wrathful, white-winged, and swift. Like many a fleet
runner, Pierre stumbled in his very eagerness for speed. He overloaded
his vessel with sail. The wind grew higher, and howled like an avenging
spirit, and his mainmast fell with the crash of a thunder-split oak. But
Pierre held firm; he threw his prisoners into the hold, nailed down the
hatches, and, trusting to night to escape, stood boldly at bay. He
despaired of meeting force by force, having only twenty-two sound men,
the rest being, before long, either killed or wounded. All in vain; the
great bird of prey bore down upon him like a hawk upon a throstle,
gaining, gaining every moment. Pierre defended himself courageously, and
at last surrendered on condition. The Spanish captain agreed that the
Buccaneers should not be employed in carrying, building-stones for three
or four years like mere negroes, but should be set safe on dry land. As
yet, the deep animosity of the two races had not sprung up. The prize
they so nearly bore off contained above 100,000 pieces of eight in
pearls, besides provisions and goods. At first the captain would have
put them all to the sword, but his crew persuaded him to keep his word.
The Frenchmen were then thrust down with curses into the same dark hold
from whence the imprisoned Spaniards were now released; so "the
whirligig of time brings about its revenge." When the crestfallen
Buccaneers were brought before the governor of Carthagena, an outcry
arose among the populace that the robbers should all be hung, to atone
for an alfarez whom they had killed, and who, they said, was worth the
whole French nation put together. The governor, however, though he did
not put them to death, ungenerously broke the terms of his agreement,
and compelled his prisoners to work at the fortifications of St.
Francisco, in his own island. After about three years of this painful
slavery, amid the jeers and contumely of the very negroes, they were
sent to Spain, and from thence escaping one by one to France, made their
way back to the Spanish main, more eager than ever to revenge their
wrongs at the hands of a nation whose riches furnished a ready means of
expiation, and whose cowardice rendered them incapable of frequent
retaliation.
The third hero on our stage, equally bold and no less memorable, was
Barthelemy Portugues, a native of Portugal, as his name implied.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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