Prince Rupert, the Buccaneer

by Charles John Cutcliffe Wright Hyne

"Now, brethren," cried Wick, "after me at a smart run, and we'll pay a polite call on the Governor's palace. And mind, no straggling. No stopping for bits of plunder on the way. Do as I order, and I'll find you the wherewithal to get drunk for a month on end. And if any dog amongst you disobeys me," he roared, "I'll cut his liver out. Come along, my lord quartermaster," and with that they led the way at a round pace.

But presently it was clear that the troops in the place were being roused and accoutred, and though we cut our way through the first few bodies that opposed us with ease and derision, presently others began to throw up barricades and to man the houses on either side, and the musketry of these galled us shrewdly. There were not so many of us that we could afford to lose men liberally, and Prince Rupert, had he held the command, would, the secretary feels certain, have solved the difficulty by sheer fine generalship. But Wick was Captain, and Wick led the way with a bold confidence. He had no trace of an idea in which quarter the Governor's palace lay, but he thrust out his sword before him and followed it with a brazen courage.

Still at last even Wick could not but see that his small tail of men was being eaten away piece-meal at this disastrous game, and when the Prince made a suggestion, he was glad enough to follow it.

There was little enough of honour to be found in this rude street fighting and (it seemed) less of plunder. "I've a curiosity to see their pretty church plate," said Rupert, "before the priests can take it away into hiding. What say you, Captain, if we stroll that way now? The sights in this quarter are too commonplace to be interesting."

"It's all one to me, your grace," said Wicks, with his best bow, "and at any rate we shan't miss the way to that. What fools these churchmen are to build towers that can be seen so clear above all the rest of the houses."

Gallantly they charged in this new direction, and like furies the buccaneers fought on in their wake. There was no quarter either asked or expected, and if a man was wounded he must struggle on as best he could, or be content to be left by his friends and get despatch from the ravaged householders who followed at the heels of the fight.

It was at this point, where indeed they were most heavily pressed, and like to have been swamped by sheer weight of enemy, that Master Laughan out of sheer ill-temper at the slights these rude fellows had put upon her during their previous intercourse, endeavoured to outdo them all in desperation and valour, and indeed won several frank compliments from them which soothed her wounded feelings very pleasantly. For indeed a maid, though she be timid by nature, and need much heart-bracing before she be nerved for a fight, can do with pretty things being said about her sword play as well as other people. And so the fight continued with amazing fury till at last what were left of the buccaneers hewed their way into the great church, and so won breathing space not before it was needed.

The Prince and his secretary and a dozen men stood guard upon the door, and Wick and the rest set to work to glean their harvest. At first they found little enough, and in the exasperation of the moment a good many of the place's embellishments were badly spoiled. But presently they came upon a priest in hiding, and although the poor man at first disclaimed all knowledge of the treasure, he soon sang a different tale when the buccaneers set about sharpening his memory in their rough-and-ready fashion, though indeed he did scream very dreadfully before they induced him to tell.

But in the meanwhile Prince Rupert and his party had been doing their share towards the common weal. A great crowd of troops and citizens had been gathered in the square outside the church, and in two sudden sorties they contrived to capture some two-score of these and drag them back as prisoners inside the defences. There was a fine discrimination of persons in the manoeuvre. Each buccaneer seized upon the Spaniard whose clothes struck him as the most rich, in the hopes that he was dressed only as befitted his rank, and in this rude theory there was little error. The silly Spaniards are very strict upon their sumptuary laws.

It was in truth these involuntary hostages which gained the invaders a leave to depart. The treasury of the church had been ransacked to the bare boards, and the plunder made up into parcels convenient for carriage. But every minute the force outside had been growing in numbers and adding to their materials for offence. It seemed a thing impossible that the buccaneers should ever cut their way back to the river's bank and the ship.