n they had captured a town or a village, the Englishmen would go to
the churches, tear down the paintings, chop the ornaments from the
altars with their cutlasses, and steal the silver crucifixes, the
candlesticks, and even the communion services. Such conduct gave great
pain to de Lussan. To rob and destroy the property of churches was in
his eyes a great sin, and he never suffered anything of the kind if he
could prevent it. When he found in any place which he captured a wealthy
religious community or a richly furnished church, he scrupulously
refrained from taking anything or of doing damage to property, and
contented himself with demanding heavy indemnity, which the priests
were obliged to pay as a return for the pious exemption which he granted
them.

But it was very difficult to control the Englishmen. They would rob and
destroy a church as willingly as if it were the home of a peaceful
family, and although their conscientious commander did everything he
could to prevent their excesses, he did not always succeed. If he had
known what was likely to happen, his party would have consisted entirely
of Frenchmen.

Another thing which disappointed and annoyed the gentlemanly de Lussan
was the estimation in which the buccaneers were held by the ladies of
the country through which he was passing. He soon found that the women
in the Spanish settlements had the most horrible ideas regarding the
members of the famous "Brotherhood of the Coast." To be sure, all the
Spanish settlers, and a great part of the natives of the country, were
filled with horror and dismay whenever they heard that a company of
buccaneers was within a hundred miles of their homes, and it is not
surprising that this was the case, for the stories of the atrocities and
cruelties of these desperadoes had spread over the western world.

But the women of the settlements looked upon the buccaneers with greater
fear and abhorrence than the men could possibly feel, for the belief
was almost universal among them that buccaneers were terrible monsters
of cannibal habits who delighted in devouring human beings, especially
if they happened to be young and tender. This ignorance of the true
character of the invaders of the country was greatly deplored by de
Lussan. He had a most profound pity for those simple-minded persons who
had allowed themselves to be so deceived in regard to the real character
of himself and his men, and whenever he had an opportunity, he
e