BUCCANEERS. 



dentally received a circumstantial account of the enor- 

 mities practised by the Spaniards in the conquest of 

 the New World ; and conceived against them an 

 aversion, which taking possession of his whole mind, 

 arose at length into a species of frenzy. When at- 

 tending college, he happened to perform in a play, 

 the part of a Frenchman quarreling with a Spaniard} 

 his imagination took fire, aod he fell with such fury 

 upon his companion, whom he mistook for a real 

 Spaniard, that he would certainly have put him to 

 death, had not the bystanders interposed, and con- 

 vinced him of his delusion. He could think of no- 

 thing, in short, but the deeds of horror which the 

 Spaniards had committed against the unoffending na- 

 tives of their American provinces ; and was inflamed 

 with an irresistible ardour to avenge their innocent 

 blood. With this resolution he sailed from his na- 

 tive country, in order to join the Buccaneers, whom 

 he had heard represented as the most inveterate ene- 

 mies to the Spanish name. On his voyage to Ame- 

 rica, the ship in which he sailed fell in with a Spanish 

 galleon, which was immediately boarded by the 

 Frenchmen. Montbar, exulting in this opportunity 

 of vengeance, rushed upon the enemy with the fury 

 of a tyger, and hurrying twice from one end of the ship 

 to the other, levelled all who dared to oppose him. 

 He left to his companions the pleasure of dividing 

 the rich booty which they had taken, contenting 

 himself with the savage enjoyment of contemplating 

 the dead bodies of the Spaniards, the first victims of 

 the revenge which he had sworn against their nation. 

 When his ship reached St Domingo, a party of 

 Buccaneers came on board to barter fresh provisions 

 for brandy. As an apology for the trifling value of 

 the articles which they offered, they complained that 

 the Spaniards had overrun the country, laid waste 

 their settlements, and carried off whatever they could 

 find of value. " Why," cried the indignant Mont- 

 bar, " do you suffer such outrages to pass unreven- 

 ged ?" " Think not," replied they, " that we are so 

 tame and dastardly. The Spaniards, who dare not 

 attack us openly, took advantage of our absence 

 while employed in the chace. We are now going to 

 join some of our companions, who have been more in- 

 jured than ourselves, and we shall take ample ven- 

 geance for all our wrongs." " Let me," said Mont- 

 bar, *' be your leader ; the only pre-eminence I de- 

 mand is to be the foremost in attack." The fury 

 that flashed from his eyes, while he spoke these 

 words, at once recommended him to the Buccaneers, 

 as the most proper person to conduct them to re- 

 venge, and his offer was cheerfully accepted. That 

 very day they overtook the enemy, whom Montbar 

 attacked with an impetuosity that astonished the 

 bravest of his comrades ; and the Spaniards, though 

 far superior in numbers, were routed with prodigious 

 slaughter. The triumph of Montbar was greatly 

 heightened by the revolt of some Indians, whom the 

 Spaniards had engaged in their service. While these 

 men were galling the Buccaneers with their arrows, 

 " What !" cried one of the Buccaneers, pointing to 

 Moutbar, " do you not perceive that God has sent 

 you a champion to deliver you from the tyranny of 

 the Spaniards, and will you yet fight in the cause of 

 your tyrants ?" The Indians paused for a moment, 

 and seeing the heroism of Montbar, immediately 

 - joined his party, and turned their arrows against the 

 Spaniards. The other achievements of Montbar 



were equally-' brilliant and successful. He received 

 the name of Exterminator; to which dreadful dis- 

 tinction he was well entitled by the numbers of Spa- 

 niards who were sacrificed, both by sea and land, to 

 his restless and insatiable hatred. 



The Spaniards, being now obliged to confine them- L'Oloaoii. 

 selves within their settlements, the Buccaneers resolved 

 to leave them no security even there. They began, there- 

 fore, to harass them by a new mode of warfare, uniting 

 in formidable bands, and making incursions into the 

 territories of their enemies. At the head of the first of 

 these associations, or regiments of Buccaneers, wa* 

 Francis L'Olonois, so called from the sands of Olone, 

 where he was born. From the abject state of a 

 bondman, this man had raised himself, by his courage 

 and conduct, to the command of two canoes, with 

 22 men. He was cruising with them, off the coast 

 of Cuba,when an Armadilia mounting ten pieces of 

 cannon, with a crew of eighty vigorous young fel- 

 lov, a, was sent against him by the governor of the 

 Havannah. At the sight of this vessel, the pirates 

 rowed to a creek, where they concealed their canoes 

 smcr.g the trees. The frigate, without perceiving 

 them, came to moor in the same creek, and the ad- 

 venturers, havirj~ an opportunity of surveying it at 

 leisure, resolved to attack it without delay. They 

 rowed gently along the shore, under cover of the 

 trcts, and stationing themselves on both sides of the 

 enemy's ship, began at break of day to fire upon it 

 from their concealment. The Spaniards failed not 

 to return the fire, without being able, however to do 

 any injury to their unseen foe. This unequal com- 

 bat continued till noon ; when the Spaniards, having 

 lost the greater number of their men, suspended their 

 firing, and prepared to retreat. L'Olonois imme- 

 diately pursued them with his canoes, and, after a 

 faint resistance, the Spaniards surrendered. Their 

 barbarous conqueror was proceeding to put all the 

 wounded to death, when a negro slave, dreading the 

 same fate, threw himself at his feet, and offered to 

 make an important discovery if he would spare his 

 life. Having obtained his promise to that effect, he 

 declared that the governor of the Havannah had sent 

 him on board the ship to serve as executioner to the 

 Buccaneers, whom, in the confidence of their being 

 taken, he had ordered to be hanged. Fired with 

 rage at this discovery, L'Olonois ordered all the Spa- 

 niards to be brought before him, and struck off their 

 heads, one after another, with his sabre. One alone 

 was left alive to be sent to the governor of the Ha- 

 vannah, with a letter from L'Olonois, in which he 

 informed him of the fate of his frigate and its crew, 

 threatening the same treatment to all the Spaniards 

 who should fall into his hands, among whom he 

 did not despair of yet numbering the governor him- 

 self. L'Olonois was now master of an excellent ves- 

 sel, but his crew was small, and his hopes of treasure 

 had been disappointed. With a view of procuring 

 both men and plunder, he sailed to the port of Mara- 

 caibo, where he took, by surprise, a sloop laden with, 

 plate and other articles of value. With these prizes 

 he returned to Tortuga, where he was received by 

 the inhabitants with unbounded joy, and crowds of 

 adventurers flocked around him, offering to follow 

 his fortunes whereveir he should lead. Among other 

 admirers of his valour and success, was Michael de 

 Basco, who had signalized himself by many daring- 

 exploits, and particularly of late, by taking, even 

 4 



