d nor thrown overboard, not sent on shore
and made to work as slaves,--three very common methods of treating
prisoners in those days. But they were all set free, and put on land,
where they might go where they pleased.

This unfortunate result of the bold enterprise undertaken by Pierre
Francois was deeply deplored, not only at Tortuga, but in England and in
France. If this bold buccaneer had captured the pearl fleet, it would
have been a victory that would have made a hero of him on each side of
the Atlantic, but had he even been able to get away with the one vessel
he had seized, he would have been a rich man, and might have retired to
a life of ease and affluence; the vessel he had captured proved to be
one of the richest laden of the whole fleet, and not only in the heart
of Pierre and his men, but among his sympathizers in Europe and America,
there was great disappointment at the loss of that mainmast, which,
until it cracked, was carrying him forward to fame and fortune.

Chapter VI

The Surprising Adventures of Bartholemy Portuguez

As we have seen that the buccaneers were mainly English, French, and
Dutch sailors, who were united to make a common piratical warfare upon
the Spaniards in the West Indies, it may seem a little strange to find a
man from Portugal who seemed to be on the wrong side of this peculiar
fight which was going on in the new world between the sailors of
Northern and Southern Europe. But although Portugal is such a close
neighbor of Spain, the two countries have often been at war with each
other, and their interests are by no means the same. The only advantage
that Portugal could expect from the newly discovered treasures of the
West were those which her seafaring men, acting with the seafaring men
of other nations, should wrest from Spanish vessels homeward bound.

Consequently, there were Portuguese among the pirates of those days.
Among these was a man named Bartholemy Portuguez, a famous
_flibustier_.

It may be here remarked that the name of buccaneer was chiefly affected
by the English adventurers on our coast, while the French members of the
profession often preferred the name of "flibustier." This word, which
has since been corrupted into our familiar "filibuster," is said to have
been originally a corruption, being nothing more than the French method
of pronouncing the word "freebooters," which title had long been used
for independent robbers.

Thus, although Bartholem