The buccaneers found Porto Bello a very hard nut to crack; they landed and marched upon the town, which was defended by several forts or castles. Even when one of these had been taken by assault, and after it had been blown up with all its garrison7, who had been taken prisoners, still the town was not intimidated8, and the Governor vowed he would never surrender, but would die fighting to the last. The pirates raged like demons9; they shot down every man they could see at the cannon10 or upon the walls, and they made desperate efforts to capture the principal fort, but they did not succeed, and after a long time Morgan began to despair. The garrison was strong and well commanded, and whenever the pirates attempted to scale the wall they were shot down, while fire-pots full of powder, with stones and other missiles, were hurled11 upon them.
At last the wily Morgan had an idea. He set his men to work to make some ladders high enough to reach to the top of the walls, and wide enough to allow three or four men to go up abreast12. If he could get these properly set up, his crew of desperate tiger-cats could make a combined rush and get over the walls. But to carry the ladders and place them would be almost impossible, for the men who [Pg 147] bore them would surely be shot down before they could finish the work. But it was not Morgan's plan that his men should carry these ladders. He had captured some convents in the suburbs of the town, with a number of nuns13 and monks14, known as "religious people," and he now ordered these poor creatures, the women as well as the men, to take up the ladders and place them against the walls, believing that the Spanish Governor would not allow his soldiers to fire at these innocent persons whom the pirates had forced to do their will.
But the Governor was determined15 to defend the town no matter who had to suffer, and so the soldiers fired at the nuns and monks just as though they were buccaneers or any other enemies. The "religious people" cried out in terror, and screamed to their friends not to fire upon them; but the soldiers obeyed the commands of the Governor, while the pirates were swearing terribly behind them and threatening them with their pistols, and so the poor nuns and monks had to press forward, many of them dropping dead or wounded. They continued their work until the ladders were placed, and then over the walls went the pirates, with yells and howls of triumph, and not long after that the town was taken. The Governor died, fighting in the principal fort, and the citizens and soldiers all united in the most vigorous defence; but it was of no use.[Pg 148] Each pirate seemed to have not only nine lives, but nine arms, each one wielding16 a cutlass or aiming a pistol.
When the fighting was over, the second act in the horrible drama took place as usual. The pirates ate, drank, rioted, and committed all manner of outrages17 and cruelties upon the inhabitants, closing the performance with the customary threat that if the already distressed18 and impoverished19 inhabitants did not pay an enormous ransom20, their town would be burned.
Before the ransom was paid, the Governor of Panama heard what was going on at Porto Bello, and sent a force to the assistance of the town, but this time the buccaneers did not hastily retreat, Morgan knew of a narrow defile21 through which the Spanish forces must pass, and there he posted a number of his men, who defended the pass so well that the Spaniards were obliged to retreat. This Governor must have been a student of military science; he was utterly22 astounded23 when he heard that this pirate leader, with less than four hundred men, had captured the redoubtable24 town of Porto Bello, defended by a strong garrison and inhabited by citizens who were brave and accustomed to fighting, and, being anxious to increase his knowledge of improved methods of warfare25, he sent a messenger to Morgan "desiring him to send him some [Pg 149] small pattern of those arms wherewith he had taken with such violence so great a city." The pirate leader received the messenger with much courtesy, and sent to the Governor a pistol and a few balls, "desiring him to accept that slender pattern of the arms wherewith he had taken Porto Bello, and keep them for a twelvemonth; after which time he promised to come to Panama and fetch them away."
This courteous26 correspondence was continued by the Governor returning the pistol and balls with thanks, and also sending Morgan a handsome gold ring with the message that he need not trouble himself to come to Panama; for, if he did, he would meet with very different fortune from that which had come to him at Porto Bello.
Morgan put the ring on his finger and postponed27 his reply, and, as soon as the ransom was paid, he put his booty on board his ships and departed. When the spoils of Porto Bello came to be counted, it was found that they were of great value, and each man received a lordly share.
When Captain Morgan was ready to set out on another expedition, he found plenty of pirates ready to join him, and he commanded all the ships and men whom he enlisted28 to rendezvous29 at a place called the Isle30 of Cows. A fine, large, English ship had recently come to Jamaica from New England, and this vessel31 also joined Morgan's forces on [Pg 150] the island, where the pirate leader took this ship as his own, being much the best and largest vessel of the fleet.
Besides the ships belonging to Morgan, there was in the harbor where they were now congregated32, a fine vessel belonging to some French buccaneers, and Morgan desired very much that this vessel should join his fleet, but the French cherished hard feelings against the English, and would not join them.
Although Morgan was a brave man, his meanness was quite equal to his courage, and he determined to be revenged upon these Frenchmen who had refused to give him their aid, and therefore played a malicious33 trick upon them. Sometime before, this French vessel, being out of provisions when upon the high seas, had met an English ship, and had taken from her such supplies as it had needed. The captain did not pay for these, being out of money as well as food, not an uncommon34 thing among buccaneers, but they gave the English notes of exchange payable35 in Jamaica; but as these notes were never honored, the people of the English ship had never been paid for their provisions.
This affair properly arranged in Morgan's mind, he sent a very polite note to the captain of the French ship and some of his officers, inviting36 them to dine with him on his own vessel. The French [Pg 151] accepted the invitation, but when Morgan received them on board his ship he did not conduct them down to dinner; instead of that, he began to upbraid37 them for the manner in which they had treated an English crew, and then he ordered them to be taken down below and imprisoned38 in the hold. Having accomplished39 this, and feeling greatly elated by this piece of sly vengeance40, he went into his fine cabin, and he and his officers sat down to the grand feast he had prepared.
There were fine times on board this great English ship; the pirates were about to set forth41 on an important expedition, and they celebrated42 the occasion by eating and drinking, firing guns, and all manner of riotous43 hilarity44. In the midst of the wild festivities—and nobody knew how it happened—a spark of fire got into the powder magazine, and the ship blew up, sending the lifeless bodies of three hundred English sailors, and the French prisoners, high into the air. The only persons on board who escaped were Morgan and his officers who were in the cabin close to the stern of the vessel, at some distance from the magazine.
This terrible accident threw the pirate fleet into great confusion for a time; but Morgan soon recovered himself, and, casting about to see what was the best thing to be done, it came into his head that he would act the part of the wolf in the fable45 of the [Pg 152] wolf and the lamb. As there was no way of finding out how the magazine happened to explode, he took the ground that the French prisoners whom he had shut up in the hold, had thrown a lighted match into the magazine, wishing thus to revenge themselves even though they should, at the same time, lose their own lives. The people of the French ship bitterly opposed any such view of the case, but their protestations were of no use; they might declare as much as they pleased that it was impossible for them to make the waters muddy, being lower down in the stream than the wolfish pirate who was accusing them, but it availed nothing. Morgan sprang upon them and their ship, and sent them to Jamaica, where, upon his false charge, they were shut up in prison, and so remained for a long time.
Such atrocious wickedness as the treatment of the nuns and monks, described in this chapter, would never have been countenanced46 in any warfare between civilized47 nations. But Morgan's pirates were not making war; they were robbers and murderers on a grand scale. They had no right to call themselves civilized; they were worse than barbarians48.
Morgan began to upbraid them, and ordered them taken below.--p. 151.
"Morgan began to upbraid them, and ordered them taken below."—p. 151.
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1
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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2
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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3
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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4
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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5
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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6
vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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7
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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8
intimidated
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| v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的 | |
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9
demons
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| n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念 | |
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10
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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11
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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12
abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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13
nuns
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| n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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14
monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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15
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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16
wielding
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的现在分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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17
outrages
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| 引起…的义愤，激怒( outrage的第三人称单数 ) | |
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18
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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19
impoverished
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| adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化 | |
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20
ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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21
defile
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| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
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22
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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23
astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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24
redoubtable
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| adj.可敬的；可怕的 | |
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25
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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26
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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27
postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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28
enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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29
rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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30
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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31
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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32
congregated
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| （使）集合，聚集( congregate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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34
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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35
payable
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| adj.可付的，应付的，有利益的 | |
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36
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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37
upbraid
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| v.斥责，责骂，责备 | |
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38
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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40
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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41
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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42
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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43
riotous
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| adj.骚乱的；狂欢的 | |
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44
hilarity
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| n.欢乐；热闹 | |
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45
fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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46
countenanced
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| v.支持，赞同，批准( countenance的过去式 ) | |
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47
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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48
barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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