He commended them on their gallant fight, and then scared them into sobriety. He knew what kind of men he had to deal with, and knew that, if they once fell to the lure of wine, they would be at the mercy of any small band of Spaniards who might return. Morgan lied to his men.
“All the wine in the city has been poisoned!” he cried. “Drink but one cup, and you will die!”
Sadly disappointed—for they loved nothing so much as debauchery, except it were a fight—the buccaneers promised to keep off the drink. Though some of them in their hearts told themselves that he lied, they were too scared to try to prove it. So Morgan became leader of a sober army of buccaneers!
Then there began the looting of the city. The inhabitants had taken the precaution of removing a great deal of their valuables; but there was still sufficient left to provide much spoil for the buccaneers, who ransacked every building in Panama. When all had been taken, Morgan commanded many of the largest houses to be fired. The people who still remained in the city had been tortured indescribably to make them reveal the secret hiding-places of their wealth, and a veritable reign of terror lasted while the buccaneers remained in Panama.
It was not until February 24, 1671, that Morgan and the remains of his army evacuated the city; and when they did so they had 175 beasts of burden laden with gold, silver, and other precious things. They took 600 wretched prisoners with them to sell into slavery.
Truly, they had wrought well from their point of view. Morgan made every man allow himself to be searched to show that he had nothing concealed about him when they arrived at Chagre. Then, having sent to the island of St. Catherine to ask the prisoners he had left there to ransom the castle, and receiving the reply that the buccaneers could do just what they pleased with it, Morgan got down to the distribution of the spoils. In this matter there was some dispute; the buccaneers accused Morgan of having stolen part of the treasure. They were utterly discontented with the share of 200 pieces of eight each, knowing full well that the haul had been large enough to provide more. Morgan listened to their complaints, kept a still tongue in his head, kept, too, the treasure, and one night, going aboard his ship secretly, slipped out to sea, followed only by three or four vessels whose men were in the plot, and made for Jamaica.
There the buccaneering days of Captain Morgan ended. He changed his spots, became a law-abiding citizen, received pardon for his misdeeds, and ended up by receiving a knighthood! Before that great day, however, he had been Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica. Finally he was made Governor, with power to put down piracy. And of all the governors of Jamaica Sir Henry Morgan was the most severe on buccaneers and pirates!
UNDER THE JOLLY ROGER
Thrilling Stories of Pirates
PIRATES!