| OCR Text |
Show 186 TilE LILY .A::-;'0 TilE TOTEM. misfurtunc,-dccply sensible now to nllltis sl~:tmc ns he reflected upon the roviug comtllission w!Jich had been c:xlorted from !Jim by the umtinccrs,-turncd l1is footsteps from the banks of the river, and m:'ldc his wny slowly towards the fortress ;-confident no longer in hit; strcngth-su~picious of the faith of all around him -and half tempted to sink his shame forever, with hisdi~honorcd pcr~on, in the waters of the river wliich bad witnessed his disgrace. l3ut he gathered courage to li\'C when he thou~llt of the rcvf!ngc which fortune might yet proffer to his cmbrncc. '\' c must now follow the progress of our maritime adventurers. They lmd, as we ha\'C seen, succeeded in fitting out two barks; one on w!Jich was confided to Bertrand Confcrmnt, one of Laudonnicrc's sergeants; the other to a. soldier named D'Ora.nge. La Croix was named the ensign to the former; TrenclJ:Hlt1 the pilot of Lnudonnicrc, was compelled, nga in!'.t his will, to assumo this station on board the vessel of D'Orangc. The originnl plan of the r·ovcrs was to pursue a. common route, nod mutu::tlly to support each other: but tl1e plans of those who l1ave given themselves up to cxce.o.s, are always mnrked by capriccR, and the two pa1 tics quarrelled before th('y had left the mouth of the river. They had arranged to descend together upon one of the Spanish islands of the Antilles, and on Christmas night, while the inlmbitant. i were assembled nt the midu i~ht mass, at their church, to set upon :lnd murder the inmates and sack the building and the town. Their dissentions affected this purpose; and when t!Jcy emerged from the river l\Iay, they parted company ;-one of the vessels kc"piug nlong the coast, in order the more easily to double the cape and make for Cuba.;-thc other boldly standing out. to SC!l. and making for the Lucayos. Both vessels proceeded \oith criminal celerity to the performance of those nets of piracy 187 wl1ich lmd seUuccd them from their dutirs. The b:trk which took her way along the coast, was that of D'Orange. !'\car a place called Archaha, l1e took a brigantine laden with cauat:i, t!1e Indian breadstuff, and a smn.ll quantity of wine. T wo men were slain, two taken in a sharp encounter with the peorlc of Arclmha.. Transferring themselves and stores to the brigantine which they had captured, on account of its superiority, the pirat(S made sail for the cape of Santa 1\lnria; and from thence, after repairing a. lca.k in their vessel, to Baracou, a village of the island of Jamaica. Here they found an empty caravel which they preferred to their brigantine ; and after a frolic among the people of Da.racou, which lasted five days, tl1cy made a second t ransfer of their persons and material to tho caravel. Dividing their force between their own and tl1is vessel, whi(',h was of fifty or sixty tons burtben, they made for the Cape of Tiburon, where they met with n patacA, to which clmse was immediately given. A sl1arp encounter followed. The patacA was well manned and pro\' ided, for her size. She l1ad p!l.rticular reasons for gil'ing battle and for fighting bravely. licr cargo was very precious. It consiAtcd of a. large supply of gold and sil\"Or plate and bullion, merchandise, wines, provisions, and much besides to tempt the rovers, and quite as much to move the crew to a ,-igorous defence. Dut, over all, it had a-board the Governor of Jamaica himself, with two of his sons. Tl1i_s nobleman was equa lly fearless and skilful. lie di rected the resistance of his people, and gave them efficient example. BuL tho force of our rovers was quite too grcu.t to be successfully resi.stcd by one so small as thaL of tho Govcmor, and he directed his people to yield tho combat, as soon as he saw its hopelessness. Greatly, indeed, 'vero our free companions delighted with their |
