f value that they could carry. If
their fortunes had been deposited in banks, it would doubtless have been
more convenient for the pirates.

Before the citizens returned Morgan made a discovery: a negro was
captured who carried letters from the Governor of Santiago, a
neighboring city, to some of the citizens of Port-au-Prince, telling
them not to be in too great a hurry to pay the ransom demanded by the
pirates, because he was coming with a strong force to their assistance.
When Morgan read these letters, he changed his mind, and thought it
would be a wise thing not to stay in that region any longer than could
be helped. So he decided not to wait for the unfortunate citizens to
collect the heavy ransom he demanded, but told them that if they would
furnish him with five hundred head of cattle, and also supply salt and
help prepare the meat for shipment, he would make no further demands
upon them. This, of course, the citizens were glad enough to do, and
when the buccaneers had carried to the ships everything they had stolen,
and when the beef had been put on board, they sailed away.

Morgan directed the course of the fleet to a small island on which he
wished to land in order that they might take an account of stock and
divide the profits. This the pirates always did as soon as possible
after they had concluded one of their nefarious enterprises. But his men
were not at all satisfied with what happened on the island. Morgan
estimated the total value of the booty to be about fifty thousand
dollars, and when this comparatively small sum was divided, many of the
men complained that it would not give them enough to pay their debts in
Jamaica. They were utterly astonished that after having sacked an
entirely fresh town they should have so little, and there is no doubt
that many of them believed that their leader was a man who carried on
the business of piracy for the purpose of enriching himself, while he
gave his followers barely enough to keep them quiet.

There was, however, another cause of discontent among a large body of
the men; it appears that the men were very fond of marrow-bones, and
while they were yet at Port-au-Prince and the prisoners were salting the
meat which was to go on the ships, the buccaneers went about among them
and took the marrow-bones which they cooked and ate while they were
fresh. One of the men, a Frenchman, had selected a very fine bone, and
had put it by his side while he was preparing some