When the Spaniards got word of this new colony, with Englishmen pouring in from London and Bristol, the Audiencia of Santo Domingo, the large Spanish city on Hispaniola's southern side, decided to make an example. So in January of 1635 they put together an assault force of some two hundred fifty infantry, sailed into Tortuga's harbor, and staged a surprise attack. As they boasted afterward, they straightaway put to the sword all those they first captured, then hanged any others who straggled in later. By the time they'd finished, they'd burned the settlement to the ground and killed over six hundred men, women and children. They also hanged a few of the Cow-Killers—a mistake that soon changed history.
When Jacques le Basque, the bearded leader of Hispanio- la's hunters, found out what had happened to his men, he vowed he was going to bankrupt and destroy Spain's New World empire in revenge. From what was heard these days, he seemed well on his way to succeeding.
Hugh Winston had been there, a founding member of that band of men now known as the most vicious marauders the world had ever seen. That was the piece of his life he’d never gotten around to telling anyone. . . .
"I did some hunting when I was apprenticed to an English settlement here in the Caribbean. Years ago."
"Well, I must say you shoot remarkably well for a tobacco planter, Captain." She knew he was avoiding her question. Why?
"I thought I'd just explained. I also hunted some in those days." He took another drink, then sought to shift the topic. "Perhaps now I can be permitted to ask you a question, Miss Bedford. I'd be interested to know what you think of the turn things are taking here? That is, in your official capacity as First Lady of this grand settlement."
"What exactly do you mean?" God damn his supercilious tone.
"The changes ahead. Here on Barbados." He waved his hand. "Will everybody grow rich, the way they're claiming?"
"Some of the landowners are apt to make a great deal of money, if sugar prices hold." Why, she wondered, did he want to know? Was he planning to try and settle down? Or get into the slave trade himself? In truth, that seemed more in keeping with what he did for a living now.
"Some? And why only some?" He examined her, puzzling. "Every planter must already own a piece of this suddenly valuable land."