Prince Rupert, the Buccaneer

by Charles John Cutcliffe Wright Hyne

"To me," said Rupert, "Tortuga is my rendezvous with my own fleet."

"We bow to your esteemed convenience, Señor. But what chance shall we have there? We shall be lambs in a wolf-fold. They will rob us certainly; if we escape out of the place with our lives, we shall be fortunate. Surely, Señor, as we have borne much of the burden of the fighting, we are entitled to some say in future schemes."

"As duly elected Captain, all decision in these matters appears to rest with me. But I do not wish to make my command unpalatable, and if what is arranged, and what indeed suits the French and English of this crew very pleasantly, goes against your sentiments, I am willing to come to a composition with you. Once in Tortuga, I personally and Master Laughan here rejoin my fleet; Master Simpson and the buccaneers go ashore, according to their convivial custom, for a merry time amongst the wine-shops and the ladies of Tortuga, and possibly for a turn at the dice box with Monsieur D'Ogeron up at the castle; and the carrack will remain for sale. I believe prices for ships rule easy in Tortuga, as there is somewhat of a glut of them on the market, and the titles to them are obscure. Here, then, is your chance: you are men of capital; hand back into the store the plunder that has been shared out to you, and the carrack is yours after she had carried us for our voyage."

At this proposition, the Spaniards appeared to get very angry, and indeed were for making some foolish demonstration if they had not been incontinently driven away forward. But the buccaneers, who have a more nice appreciation for wit, laughed heartily, and swore that Rupert was a prince of good fellows. But at the same time they did not take the Spaniards too much on trust, and in fact wore their weapons and their wakefulness with great diligence.

Had there been liquor on board it is a sure thing that the buccaneers would have drunk themselves silly, and the Spaniards, who are too feeble-stomached for an orgie, would not have failed to use their soberness to bring about a massacre. But, as has been said, the carrack was a dry ship; she was carried off with neither wine nor rum in her store; and to this alone may her safety be credited. Indeed so especially keen were these thirsty buccaneers to arrive at Tortuga and commence their debauch, that they employed extra watchfulness to make sure no impediment came in their way, and by this means alone discovered the hateful plot which the Spaniards were hatching against them.

There was amongst the Spaniards it seems an apothecary, who had earned a certain ill-omened fame. The city which he polluted by his residence contained husbands who wished to be rid of their wives, and wives who had tired of their husbands. The apothecary supplied the means; indeed it was the wretch's boast that he had plied this horrid trade of poisoner for ten whole years with immunity, and then got found out only by jealousy of a business rival. Indeed so large was his circle of patrons, and so strong his power, that even at his trial he was used leniently and spared the torture, lest he might tell too much, and in the end was condemned only to the galleys, when he should most justly have been slowly burned.

So when a plot was formed against the buccaneers, here on the carrack was a task in his old trade ready to the apothecary's hand, and that was no less than to kill outright by poison all who were not Spaniards. It seems there was a parcel of herbs and roots and snake's teeth amongst the cargo suited for his purpose, and he got hold of these, and set about making his tinctures and decoctions. Even then he might have succeeded, if he had done his work quick and sudden after the plot was made; but it seems that there can be artists amongst poisoners as there are in other trades, and here was one that took a most dainty pride in his horrid craft. A crude, rasping poison would not suit him. He must needs purify and distil a dozen times over till he had made a death drug of the most exquisite fineness; and his hundred and forty compatriots who were all in the secret, sat round and watched and gloated over their coming triumph and vengeance.

What made the deed one of such plain simplicity was the manner in which the two parties had separated themselves. From the very first day on board, the English and French buccaneers had taken the cabins that are set apart for officers and passengers under the half-deck and poop; and the Spaniards did not presume to harbour anywhere except in the forward castle, or the upper holds. There is a sea sumptuary law or etiquette about these dispositions that is very strict. Moreover, gradually as the feeling between the two bodies became more strained, there was less and less intercourse between them. Indeed, by Rupert's direction, the buccaneers posted constantly a couple of armed sentries on the break of the poop with a loaded culverin by each, trained so as to sweep the waist and the lower deck, and with lighted matches in tubs standing by their side. The sentries were changed with every watch, and the Spaniards knew quite well that they would fire on small occasion. And moreover, after nightfall, battle-lanterns were hung in the rigging, so that there should be no rushing the after deck under cover of darkness.

The matter that gave the apothecary his opening was a sea custom of the buccaneers. Ashore these men are the most dextrous of cooks, often killing a cow especially so that her udder may provide them with a delicate joint, and serving it with pimento and other sauces to lend it piquant flavour. In a word, on dry land they are gourmands and glory in the fact. But at sea they are quite different; they can live there on victual of the roughest; and it is their conceit moreover to rate the office of cook as the lowest on shipboard. Either they make their prisoners do the work, or they carry a slave to dress their victual, or they are even content to swallow it raw sooner than grease their tarry fingers with either roasting-spit or boiler. On this captured carrack, then, as may be supposed, they pressed a couple of Spaniards into the caboose (as the cookhouse is named at sea), and although these showed a stiff lip at first, and required some beating before they would serve, presently (after their devilish plot was concocted) they made the boils and the stews and the other sea dishes with docility, and, it must be confessed also, with appetising skill.

To the Yorkshireman Simpson must be credited the first hint that all was not as it should be. He and the Prince and the secretary were sitting on the taffrail one night between two of the great poop lanterns, and Rupert found occasion to comment that the voyage was drawing towards its conclusion very peacefully.