CHAPTER XX
HOW MORGAN KEPT HIS PROMISE
When Morgan sent his pistol and his bullets to the viceroy of Panama with word that he would call for them in person within the twelvemonth, it is doubtful if he dreamed of doing so. But there is many a true word spoken in jest, and Harry Morgan was ever fond of jesting—in earnest. While pressing matters delayed him elsewhere and the twelve months passed without his appearance at Panama (for which, no doubt, the viceroy gave fervid thanks to his saints), yet all too soon for the Dons he kept his half-joking promise to the letter.
Having established his reputation as a buccaneer leader by the successful if not very remunerative attack on Puerto Principe, Morgan proceeded to equip a fleet and recruit men for a still greater coup, which was nothing less than a descent upon Maracaibo. Never in the history of this unfortunate town, which had been repeatedly ravished by pirates, were such cruelties and inhumanities practised as by Morgan and his ruffians. Even Lolonais, [[350]]who had been there, could not invent atrocities so fiendish as those devised and put into execution by the British buccaneer, and when at last he sailed away he left the place fairly heaped with burned, racked, broken, and dying men and women.
But so successful had he been, so cleverly had he outwitted the Spanish fleet sent to block his exit from the Lake of Maracaibo, and so complete had been his victory over the Spanish ships of war that his prestige was enormously increased, and he at once began to plan greater deeds.
Compared with the plan Morgan now had in mind, his former exploits had been mere bagatelles, for his intention was to gather together the most tremendous pirate fleet ever assembled and with it attack Vera Cruz, Cartagena, or Panama. All three were marvelously rich towns, and all three were heavily fortified. While Panama promised by far the greatest loot, yet the difficulties to be overcome in taking it seemed well-nigh insurmountable.
Although, as Esquemelling mentions, Morgan’s name and fame were enough to bring him more men and ships than he could employ, still, to make sure of gathering a large enough force, Morgan sent letters to “all the ancient and expert pirates inhabiting Tortuga,” to the half-wild hunters [[351]]and planters of Haiti, and to the rascals on Trade Wind Cay. In ships, canoes, and boats the buccaneers came, responding to his summons from far and near, even traversing the forests of Hispaniola on foot, until on October 24, 1670, the army of cutthroats was assembled.
To provision his expedition, Morgan despatched four ships to Rio de la Hacha, where the crews sacked the town, tortured the inhabitants, and secured four thousand bushels of maize. In the meantime, his men had been busy hunting, and thus thoroughly provisioned, with bucanned meat and corn, the fleet set sail from La Vaca Island, and at Cape Tiburon, Haiti, met those who were coming from Jamaica.
The fleet now numbered thirty-seven ships, the largest of which was Morgan’s, mounting twenty-two large and six small guns, while the smallest vessel carried four. Never in the annals of piracy had such a fleet been seen, and with two thousand fighting fiends, in addition to the sailors, Morgan felt confident that he could take any city of the Spanish Main.
When the other captains were summoned to a council and lots were drawn to decide their objective, the choice fell upon Panama. So dangerous did the pirates consider this adventure that the [[352]]usual accident insurance to be paid for loss of limbs, eyes, et cetera, was greatly increased, fifteen hundred pieces of eight being adjudged right for the loss of both legs, eighteen hundred for the loss of both hands, six hundred for either leg, the same for a hand, and one hundred pieces of eight for an eye. In addition, heavy rewards were offered for special acts of bravery, and the usual bonuses of the officers were increased.