ck off his head,
and this performance he continued, beginning with number one, and going
on until he had counted ninety. The last one brought to him was the
negro slave. This man, who was not a soldier, was desperately frightened
and begged piteously for his life. L'Olonnois, finding that the man was
willing to tell everything he knew, questioned him about the sending of
this vessel from Havana, and when the poor fellow had finished by
telling that he had come there, not of his own accord, but simply for
the purpose of obeying his master, to hang all the pirates except their
leader, that great buccaneer laughed, and, finding he could get nothing
more from the negro, cut off his head likewise, and his body was tumbled
into the sea after those of his companions.

Now there was not a Spaniard left on board the great ship except one
man, who had been preserved from the fate of the others because
L'Olonnois had some correspondence to attend to, and he needed a
messenger to carry a letter. The pirate captain went into the cabin,
where he found writing-materials ready to his hand, and there he
composed a letter to the Governor of Havana, a part of which read as
follows: "I shall never henceforward give quarter unto any Spaniard
whatsoever. And I have great hopes that I shall execute on your own
person the very same punishment I have done to them you sent against me.
Thus I have retaliated the kindness you designed unto me and my
companions."

When this message was received by the dignified official who filled the
post of Governor of Cuba, he stormed and fairly foamed at the mouth. To
be utterly foiled and discomfited by this resurrected pirate, and to be
afterwards addressed in terms of such unheard-of insolence and abuse,
was more than he could bear, and, in the presence of many of his
officials and attendants, he swore a terrible oath that after that hour
he would never again give quarter to any buccaneer, no matter when or
where he was captured, or what he might be doing at the time. Every man
of the wretched band should die as soon as he could lay hands upon him.

But when the inhabitants of Havana and the surrounding villages heard of
this terrible resolution of their Governor they were very much
disturbed. They lived in constant danger of attack, especially those who
were engaged in fishing or maritime pursuits, and they feared that when
it became known that no buccaneer was to receive quarter, the Spanish
colonists w