r his purposes, and
had also taken the castle of Chagres on the mainland near by, and on his
return from the conquest and pillage of the unfortunate city he and his
forces gathered together at Chagres in order to divide the spoils.

Now came great trouble and dissatisfaction; many of the buccaneers
loudly declared that Morgan was taking everything that was really
valuable for his own, especially the precious stones and jewels, and
that they were getting a very small share of the booty of Panama. There
seemed to be good reason for these complaints, for the sum of about two
hundred dollars apiece was all that Morgan's men received after their
terrible hardships and dangers and the pillage of a very rich town. The
murmurings and complaints against Morgan's peculiar methods became
louder and more frequent, and at last the wily Welshman began to be
afraid that serious trouble would come to him if he did not take care of
himself. This, however, he was very capable of doing. Silently and
quietly one night, without giving notice to any of the buccaneers at
Chagres, except a few who were in his secret, Morgan, in his large ship,
sailed away for Jamaica, followed by only a few other vessels,
containing some of his favored companions.

When the great body of the buccaneers, the principal portion of which
were Frenchmen, found that their leader had deserted them, there was a
grand commotion, and if they had been able, the furious men who had had
this trick played upon them, would have followed Morgan to treat him as
they had so often treated the Spaniards. But they could not
follow--Morgan had taken great care that this should not happen. Their
ships were out of order; they had been left very short of provisions and
ammunition, and found that not only were they unable to avenge
themselves on their traitor leader, but that it would be very hard for
them to get away at all.

Poor Esquemeling, the literary pirate, was one of those who was left
behind, and in his doleful state he made the following reflection, which
we quote from his book: "Captain Morgan left us all in such a miserable
condition as might serve for a lively representation of what rewards
attend wickedness at the latter end of life. Whence we ought to have
learned how to regulate and amend our actions for the future."

After Morgan had safely reached Jamaica with all his booty, the idea
renewed itself in his mind of returning to St. Catherine, fortifying the
place a