or his men to make answer to these inquiries, for
their speech would have shown they did not belong to those parts.
Therefore he made one of his prisoner fishermen answer that they had not
seen a pirate vessel, and if there had been one there, it must have
sailed away when its captain heard the Spanish ship was coming. Then the
canoes were allowed to go their way, but their way was a very different
one from any which could have been expected by the captain of the ship.

They rowed off into the darkness instead of going toward the town, and
waited until nearly daybreak, then they boldly made for the man-of-war,
one canoe attacking her on one side and the other on the other. Before
the Spanish could comprehend what had happened there were more than
twenty pirates upon their decks, the dreaded L'Olonnois at their head.

In such a case as this cannon were of no use, and when the crew tried to
rush upon deck, they found that cutlasses and pistols did not avail very
much better. The pirates had the advantage; they had overpowered the
watch, and were defending the deck against all comers from below. It
requires a very brave sailor to stick his head out of a hatchway when he
sees three or four cutlasses ready to split it open. But there was some
stout fighting on board; the officers came out of their cabins, and some
of the men were able to force their way out into the struggle. The
pirates knew, however, that they were but few and that were their
enemies allowed to get on deck they would prove entirely too strong, and
they fought, each scoundrel of them, like three men, and the savage
fight ended by every Spanish sailor or officer who was not killed or
wounded being forced to stay below decks, where the hatches were
securely fastened down upon them.

L'Olonnois now stood a proud victor on the deck of his prize, and, being
a man of principle, he determined to live up to the distinguished
reputation which he had acquired in that part of the world. Baring his
muscular and hairy right arm, he clutched the handle of his sharp and
heavy cutlass and ordered the prisoners to be brought up from below, one
at a time, and conducted to the place where he stood. He wished to give
Spain a lesson which would make her understand that he was not to be
interfered with in the execution of his enterprises, and he determined
to allow himself the pleasure of personally teaching this lesson.

As soon as a prisoner was brought to L'Olonnois he stru