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[Illustration: Sir Henry Morgan--Buccaneer.]




_Sir Henry Morgan, BUCCANEER_

_A Romance of the Spanish Main_

_BY_

_CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY_

_Author of "For Love of Country," "For the Freedom of the Sea," "The
Southerners," "Hohenzollern," "The Quiberon Touch," "Woven with the
Ship," "In the Wasp's Nest," Etc._

[Illustration]

_Illustrations by J.N. MARCHAND and WILL CRAWFORD_

G.W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY
THE PEARSON PUBLISHING COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY
G.W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1903, IN
GREAT BRITAIN

[_All rights reserved_]

_Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer_      _Issued October, 1903_


_TO MY ONLY BROTHER_

COLONEL JASPER EWING BRADY

_LATE U.S. ARMY_


    "Woe to the realms which he coasted! for there
    Was shedding of blood and rending of hair,
    Rape of maiden and slaughter of priest,
    Gathering of ravens and wolves to the feast;
    When he hoisted his standard black,
    Before him was battle, behind him wrack,
    And he burned the churches, that heathen Dane,
    To light his band to their barks again."

    SCOTT: "Harold the Dauntless."




_PREFACE_


In literature there have been romantic pirates, gentlemanly pirates,
kind-hearted pirates, even humorous pirates--in fact, all sorts and
conditions of pirates. In life there was only one kind. In this book
that kind appears. Several presentations--in the guise of novels--of
pirates, the like of which never existed on land or sea, have recently
appeared. A perusal of these interesting romances awoke in me a desire
to write a story of a real pirate, a pirate of the genuine species.

Much research for historical essays, amid ancient records and moldy
chronicles, put me in possession of a vast amount of information
concerning the doings of the greatest of all pirates; a man unique among
his nefarious brethren, in that he played the piratical game so
successfully that he received the honor of knighthood from King Charles
II. A belted knight of England, who was also a brutal, rapacious,
lustful, murderous villain and robber--and undoubtedly a pirate,
although he disguised his piracy under the name of buccaneering--is
certainly a striking and unusual figure.

Therefore, when I imagined my pirate story I pitched upon Sir Henry
Morgan as _the_ character of the romance. It will spare the critic to
admit that the tale hereinafter related is a work of the imagination,
and is not an historical romance. According to the latest accounts, Sir
Henry Morgan, by a singular oversight of Fate, who must have been
nodding at the time, died in his bed--not peacefully I trust--and was
buried in consecrated ground. But I do him no injustice, I hasten to
assure the reader, in the acts that I have attributed to him, for they
are more than paralleled by the well authenticated deeds of this human
monster. I did not even invent the blowing up of the English frigate in
the action with the Spanish ships.

If I have assumed for the nonce the attributes of that unaccountably
somnolent Fate, and brought him to a terrible end, I am sure abundant
justification will be found in the recital of his mythical misdeeds,
which, I repeat, were not a circumstance to his real transgressions.
Indeed, one has to go back to the most cruel and degenerate of the Roman
emperors to parallel the wickednesses of Morgan and his men. It is not
possible to put upon printed pages explicit statements of what they did.
The curious reader may find some account of these "Gentlemen of the
Black Flag," so far as it can be translated into present-day books
intended for popular reading, in my volume of "COLONIAL FIGHTS AND
FIGHTERS."

The writing of this novel has been by no means an easy task. How to
convey clearly the doings of the buccaneer so there could be no
misapprehension on the part of the reader, and yet to write with due
delicacy and restraint a book for the general public, has been a problem
with which I have wrestled long and arduously. The whole book has been
completely revised some six times. Each time I have deleted something,
which, while it has refined, I trust has not impaired the strength of
the tale. If the critic still find things to censure, let him pass over
charitably in view of what might have been!

As to the other characters, I have done violence to the name and fame of
no man, for all of those who played any prominent part among the
buccaneers in the story were themselves men scarcely less criminal than
Morgan. Be it known that I have simply appropriated names, not careers.
They all had adventures of their own and were not associated with Morgan
in life. Teach--I have a weakness for that bad young man--is known to
history as "Blackbeard"--a much worse man than the roaring singer of
these pages. The delectable Hornigold, the One-Eyed, with the "wild
justice" of his revenge, was another real pirate. So was the faithful
Black Dog, the maroon. So were Raveneau de Lussan, Rock Braziliano,
L'Ollonois, Velsers, Sawkins, and the rest.

In addition to my desire to write a real story of a real pirate I was
actuated by another intent. There are numberless tales of the brave days
of the Spanish Main, from "Westward Ho!" down. In every one of them,
without exception, the hero is a noble, gallant, high-souled,
high-spirited, valiant descendant of the Anglo-Saxon race, while the
villain--and such villains they are!--is always a proud and haughty
Spaniard, who comes to grief dreadfully in the final trial which
determines the issue. My sympathies, from a long course of reading of
such romances, have gone out to the under Don. I determined to write a
story with a Spanish gentleman for the hero, and a Spanish gentlewoman
for the heroine, and let the position of villain be filled by one of our
own race. Such things were, and here they are. I have dwelt with
pleasure on the love affairs of the gallant Alvarado and the beautiful
Mercedes.

But, after all, the story is preeminently the story of Morgan. I have
striven to make it a character sketch of that remarkable personality. I
wished to portray his ferocity and cruelty, his brutality and
wantonness, his treachery and rapacity; to exhibit, without lightening,
the dark shadows of his character, and to depict his inevitable and
utter breakdown finally; yet at the same time to bring out his dauntless
courage, his military ability, his fertility and resourcefulness, his
mastery of his men, his capacity as a seaman, which are qualities worthy
of admiration. Yet I have not intended to make him an admirable figure.
To do that would be to falsify history and disregard the artistic
canyons. So I have tried to show him as he was; great and brave, small
and mean, skilful and able, greedy and cruel; and lastly, in his crimes
and punishment, a coward.

And if a mere romance may have a lesson, here in this tale is one of a
just retribution, exhibited in the awful, if adequate, vengeance finally
wreaked upon Morgan by those whom he had so fearfully and dreadfully
wronged.

    CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY.

    BROOKLYN, N.Y., _December, 1902_.

    NOTE.--The date of the sack of Panama has been advanced to comply
    with the demands of this romance.




_TABLE OF CONTENTS_


BOOK I.

    HOW SIR HENRY MORGAN IN HIS OLD AGE RESOLVED TO GO A-BUCCANEERING
    AGAIN.

    CHAPTER                                                         PAGE

    I.--Wherein Sir Henry Morgan made good use of the
    ten minutes allowed him                                          25

    II.--How Master Benjamin Hornigold, the One-Eyed,
    agreed to go with his old Captain                                45

    III.--In which Sir Henry Morgan finds himself at the head
    of a crew once more                                              65

    IV.--Which tells how the _Mary Rose_, frigate, changed
    masters and flags                                                81


BOOK II.

    THE CRUISE OF THE BUCCANEERS AND WHAT BEFEL THEM ON THE SEAS.

    CHAPTER                                                         PAGE

    V.--How the _Mary Rose_ overhauled three Spanish treasure
    ships                                                            97

    VI.--In which is related the strange expedient of the
    Captain and how they took the great galleon                     115

    VII.--Wherein Bartholomew Sawkins mutinied against
    his Captain and what befel him on that account                 128

    VIII.--How they strove to club-haul the galleon and failed
    to save her on the coast of Caracas                             145


BOOK III.

    WHICH TREATS OF THE TANGLED LOVE AFFAIRS OF THE PEARL OF CARACAS.

    CHAPTER                                                         PAGE

    IX.--Discloses the hopeless passion between Donna Mercedes
    de Lara and Captain Dominique Alvarado,
    the Commandante of La Guayra                                    161

    X.--How Donna Mercedes tempted her lover and how he
    strove valiantly to resist her appeals                          174

    XI.--Wherein Captain Alvarado pledges his word to the
    Viceroy of Venezuela, the Count Alvaro de Lara,
    and to Don Felipe de Tobar, his friend                          190

    XII.--Shows how Donna Mercedes chose death rather than
    give up Captain Alvarado, and what befel them on
    the road over the mountains                                     200

    XIII.--In which Captain Alvarado is forsworn and with
    Donna Mercedes in his arms breaks his plighted
    word                                                            218


BOOK IV.

    IN WHICH IS RELATED AN ACCOUNT OF THE TAKING OF LA GUAYRA BY THE
    BUCCANEERS AND THE DREADFUL PERILS OF DONNA MERCEDES DE LARA AND
    CAPTAIN ALVARADO IN THAT CITY.

    CHAPTER                                                         PAGE

    XIV.--Wherein the crew of the galleon intercepts the two
    lovers by the way                                               231

    XV.--Tells how Mercedes de Lara returned the unsought
    caress of Sir Henry Morgan and the means by
    which the buccaneers surmounted the walls                       248

    XVI.--In which Benjamin Hornigold recognizes a cross and
    Captain Alvarado finds and loses a mother on the
    strand                                                          265

    XVII.--Which describes an audience with Sir Henry Morgan
    and the treachery by which Captain Alvarado
    benefited                                                       283


BOOK V.

    HOW THE SPANIARDS RE-TOOK LA GUAYRA AND HOW CAPTAIN ALVARADO FOUND A
    NAME AND SOMETHING DEARER STILL IN THE CITY.

    CHAPTER                                                         PAGE

    XVIII.--Discloses the way in which Mercedes de Lara fought
    with woman's cunning against Captain Henry
    Morgan                                                          301

    XIX.--How Captain Alvarado crossed the mountains, found
    the Viceroy, and placed his life in his master's
    hands                                                           326

    XX.--Wherein Master Teach, the pirate, dies better than
    he lived                                                        347

    XXI.--The recital of how Captain Alvarado and Don Felipe
    de Tobar came to the rescue in the nick of time                 354

    XXII.--In which Sir Henry Morgan sees a cross, cherishes
    a hope, and makes a claim                                       370

    XXIII.--How the good priest, Fra Antonio de Las Casas, told
    the truth, to the great relief of Captain Alvarado
    and Donna Mercedes, and the discomfiture of
    Master Benjamin Hornigold and Sir Henry
    Morgan                                                          385

    XXIV.--In which Sir Henry Morgan appeals unavailingly
    alike to the pity of woman, the forgiveness of
    priest, the friendship of comrade, and the hatred
    of men                                                          402


BOOK VI.

    IN WHICH THE CAREER OF SIR HENRY MORGAN IS ENDED ON ISLA DE LA
    TORTUGA, TO THE GREAT DELECTATION OF MASTER BENJAMIN HORNIGOLD, HIS
    SOMETIME FRIEND.

    CHAPTER                                                         PAGE

    XXV.--And last. Wherein is seen how the judgment of
    God came upon the buccaneers in the end                         421




_ILLUSTRATIONS_


BY J.N. MARCHAND

   