"He would often appear foolish and
brutish when in drink," and has been known to roast Spaniards alive
on wooden spits "for not showing him hog yards where he might steal
swine." One can hardly suppose that Kingsley would have regretted
THIS buccaneer, even if he had been the last, which unluckily he was
not. His habit of sitting in the street beside a barrel of beer,
and shooting all passers-by who would not drink with him, provoked
remark, and was an act detestable to all friends of temperance
principles.
Francois L'Olonnois, from southern France, had been kidnapped, and
sold as a slave in the Caribbee Islands. Recovering his freedom, he
plundered the Spanish, says my buccaneer author, "till his
unfortunate death." With two canoes he captured a ship which had
been sent after him, carrying ten guns and a hangman for his express
benefit. This hangman, much to the fellow's chagrin, L'Olonnois put
to death like the rest of his prisoners. His great achievements
were in the Gulf of Venezuela or Bay of Maracaibo. The gulf is a
strong place; the mouth, no wider than a gun-shot, is guarded by two
islands. Far up the inlet is Maracaibo, a town of three thousand
people, fortified and surrounded by woods. Yet farther up is the
town of Gibraltar. To attack these was a desperate enterprise; but
L'Olonnois stole past the forts, and frightened the townsfolk into
the woods.
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