The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 3Whymper, Frederick
History
The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 3
Whymper, Frederick
Adventure and adventurers; Arctic regions; Ocean; Voyages around the world
Next day, early in the morning, they landed all their men, and being
guided by the Frenchman beforenamed, they marched towards the town, not by
the ordinary way, but crossing through woods, which way the Spaniards did
not expect they would have come, for at the beginning of their journey
they pretended to march the next and open way to the town, hereby to
deceive the Spaniards; “but these remembering full well what Lolonois had
done but two years before, thought it not safe to expect a second brunt,
and hereupon all fled out of the town as fast as they could, carrying all
their goods and riches, as also all their powder, and having nailed all
the great guns; so as the pirates found not one person in the whole city
but one poor innocent man who was born a fool. This man they asked whither
the inhabitants had fled, and where they had hid their goods. To all which
questions and the like he constantly answered—‘I know nothing, I know
nothing!’ but they presently put him to the rack, and tortured him with
cords, which torments forced him to cry out—‘Do not torture me any more,
but come with me and I will show you my goods and my riches!’ They were
persuaded, it seems, he was some rich person disguised under those clothes
so poor and that innocent tongue; so they went along with him, and he
conducted them to a poor miserable cottage, wherein he had a few earthen
dishes and other things of no value, and three pieces of eight, concealed
with some other trumpery under ground. Then they asked him his name, and
he readily answered, ‘My name is Don Sebastian Sanchez, and I am brother
unto the Governor of Maracaibo.’ This foolish answer, it must be
conceived, these inhuman wretches took for truth; for no sooner had they
heard it but they put him again upon the rack, lifting him up on high with
cords, and tying large weights to his feet and neck. Besides which they
burnt him alive, applying palm-leaves burning to his face.” They sent out
parties, and captured some prisoners, several of whom were tortured or
killed. Among others there was a Portuguese, who was falsely reported by a
negro to be very rich. This man was commanded to produce his riches. His
answer was that he had no more than 100 pieces of eight in the world, and
these had been stolen from him two days before by his servant. The pirates
would not believe him, but dragged him to a rack without any regard to his
age of sixty years, and stretched him with cords, breaking both his arms
behind his shoulders. “This cruelty went not alone, for he not being able
or willing to make any other declaration, they put him to another sort of
torment more barbarous; they tied him with small cords by his two thumbs
and great toes to four stakes fixed in the ground at a convenient
distance, the whole weight of his body hanging by these cords. Not
satisfied yet with their cruel torture, they took a stone of above 200
pounds and laid it on his belly, as if they intended to press him to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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