At last, after having gone rapidly through all the small apartments, which were used as lodgings for our Fathers when they came to visit me, I entered my study. I found all my books and papers on the ground, scattered, mingled together, and half torn to pieces. I took what I could; but, as they pressed me to finish, I was obliged to return to the fort.
In a few hours afterwards, those arrived who had been to plunder the dwellings; and, after being a little refreshed, they continued their route to the ship, carrying with them what they had pillaged, which, by their own acknowledgment and to their great regret, was inconsiderable.
The next day, all the morning was passed in making up packages, in destroying the furniture which remained in the different houses, and in tearing off the locks and hinges of the doors, particularly those which were made of brass. At last, about mid-day, they set fire to the houses of the inhabitants, which were shortly reduced to ashes, having been only roofed with straw, according to the custom of the country. As I saw that mine would certainly share the same fate, I was very pressing to be conducted thither, that I might recover more of my books and papers than I had hitherto been able to secure. The second lieutenant, who was then in command, made a parade before me of discharging a pistol, which he carried in his belt, and then he immediately loaded it, taking great pains that I should see it. I have since learned why he took so much trouble in this matter. Immediately afterwards, he said to me that, if I wished to go to my house, he would conduct me.
Having reached my house, I went again to look for certain papers; and, as there remained with me only a single sailor, who spoke French, all the others being a little scattered, he said to me, “My Father, all our people are at a distance; save yourself, if you wish.” I was well aware that he wished me to attempt it, and I therefore replied coldly to him “that men of my profession do not know what it is to break their word.” I added “that, if I had wished to take to flight, I could long ago have done so, as there had been many favorable opportunities while they were amusing themselves with pillaging or drinking.”
At length, after having thoroughly searched everywhere without finding any thing more, I informed them that I had finished, and that we could go when it pleased them. Then the lieutenant approached me, with a grave and threatening air, and told me, through the interpreter, “that I must show the place where I had concealed my money, or I would find myself in trouble.” I answered, with that confidence which truth gives, “that I had not concealed any money; that, if I had thought to put any thing in a place of safety, I should have begun with those things that are used at the altar.” “Deny the fact as you will,” the interpreter then replied to me by order of the officer, “we are certain, and cannot doubt it, that you have a large amount of money, for the soldiers who are our prisoners on board have told us so; and yet we have found but very little in your wardrobe. You must, therefore, have concealed it; and, if you do not immediately give it up, take care of yourself. You know that my pistol is not badly loaded.” I fell on my knees, saying “that they were masters of my life, since I was in their hands and at their will; that if, however, they wished to go to that extreme, I begged them to allow me a moment for prayer; that, for the rest, I had no other money than what they had already taken.” At last, after having left me for some time in that position, and looking at each other, they told me to rise and follow them. They took me under the gallery of the house, which was built over a little grove of cocoa-trees, which I had planted like an orchard, and, having made me sit down, the lieutenant also took a chair, and then putting on an air of gayety, he said, “that I had no occasion for fear, as they did not intend to do me any injury; but that it was impossible I had not concealed any thing, since there was sufficient time, as I had seen them from before my door when they came to take the fort.” I replied to him, what I had already said so often, “that we had been so much terrified by the noise they made during the night, with their shouts and cries, and the incessant firing they kept up, that at first we thought of nothing but escaping death by a speedy flight; the more so as we imagined that they had scattered themselves at the same time through all the houses.”
“But, after all,” he replied, “the French prisoners are well acquainted with your means. Why should they have told us that you had plenty of money, if it were not true?”
“Do you not see,” said I, “that they wished to conciliate you, and make their court to you at my expense?”
“No, no,” he continued; “it is because you do not wish to give up your money. I nevertheless assure you, and I give you my word of honor, that you shall have your liberty, and that we will release you here without burning your houses, if you will, after all, show your treasure.”
“It is entirely useless,” I answered him, wearied with all these conversations, “that you follow me up with these earnest appeals. Again, once for all, I have nothing else to say to you but what I have so often repeated.”
He then spoke to the sailor who acted as interpreter, and who had kept his eyes on me during all this interview, to see whither I directed my looks. He then went out to visit my cocoa-grove. I then recalled a little interview I had with the captain, a few days before. I said to him “that, if the sentinels had done their duty, and given us notice of the arrival of the enemy, we would have concealed our most valuable effects.”