The Book of Pirates and Highwaymen (15 page)

Brodely discharged this commission with equal courage and success. That castle was situated in a lofty mountain, at the mouth of a river, and was inaccessible on almost every side. The first attempts were fruitless; and the free-booters, who advanced openly, without any other arms than fusees and sabres, at first lost many of their comrades: for the Spaniards not only made use of all their artillery and musketry against them, but were also seconded by the Indians that were with them in the fort, and whose arrows were far more fatal than bullets. The assailants saw their companions in arms fall by their side, without being able to avenge them. The danger of their present situation, and the nature of their arms, seemed to render the enterprise altogether impracticable. Their courage began to waver; their ranks were thrown into disorder, and they already thought of retiring, when the provocations of the Spaniards inspired them with new vigour. ‘You heretic dogs,’ cried they in a triumphant tone: ‘You cursed English, possessed by the devil! Ah! you will go to Panama! will you? No, no; that you shall not; you shall all bite the dust here; and all your comrades shall share the same fate.’

From these insulting speeches the pirates learnt that the design of their expedition was discovered; and that moment they determined to carry the fort, or die to a man on the spot. They immediately commenced the assault in defiance of the shower of arrows that was discharged against them; undismayed by the loss of their commander, both whose legs had been carried away by a cannon shot. One of the pirates, in whose shoulder an arrow was deeply fixed, tore it out himself, exclaiming:– ‘Patience, comrades, and it strikes me, all the Spaniards are lost!’ He tore some cotton out of his pocket, with which he covered his ram-rod, set the cotton on fire, and shot this burning material, in lieu of bullets, at the houses of the fort, which was covered with light wood, and the leaves of palm trees. His companions collected together the arrows which were strewed around them on the ground, and employed them in a similar manner. The effect of this novel mode of attack was most rapid: many of the houses caught fire; a powder wagon blew up. The besieged, being thus diverted from their means of defence, thought only of stopping the progress of the fire. Night came on: under cover of darkness, the freebooters attempted also to set on fire the palisades, which were made of a kind of wood that was easily kindled. In this attempt likewise they were crowned with success; the soil, which the palisades supported, fell down, and filled up the ditch. The Spaniards nevertheless continued to defend themselves with much courage, being animated by the example of their commander, who fought till the very moment he received a mortal blow. The garrison had throughout the use of their cannon, which kept up a most violent fire; but the enemy had already made too much progress to be disconcerted with it; they persevered in the attack, until they at length became masters of the fort.

A great number of Spaniards, finding themselves deprived of all resource, precipitated themselves from the top of the walls in to the river, that they might not fall alive into the hands of these freebooters; who made only twenty-four prisoners, and ten of these were wounded men, who had concealed themselves among the dead, in the hope of escaping their ferocious conquerors. These twenty-four men were all that remained of three hundred and forty, who had composed the garrison, which had shortly before been reinforced; for the president of Panama, having been apprized from Carthagena of the object of the pirates’ expedition, came to encamp, with three thousand six hundred men in the vicinity of that threatened city. This information was conveyed to the freebooters, after the capture of the fort. At the same time they learnt that, among this body of troops, there were four hundred horsemen, six hundred Indians, and two hundred mulattoes; the last of whom, being very expert in hunting bulls, were intended, in case of necessity, to send two thousand of these animals among the freebooters.

It is scarcely credible that Brodely continued to command, notwithstanding the severity of his wounds; but he would not, by retiring, compromise the advantages he had so dearly purchased; for out of four hundred men who had composed his little army, one hundred and eighty had been killed, and eighty wounded, and of these eighty, sixty were altogether out of the battle.

The bodies of the French and English were interred; but those of the Spaniards were thrown down from the top of the fort, and remained in a heap at the foot of the walls. Brodely found much ammunition, and abundance of provisions; with which he was the more satisfied, as he knew that the grand fleet was greatly in want of both those articles. He caused the fort to be rebuilt, as far as it was practicable, in order that he might defend himself there, in case the Spaniards should make a speedy attempt to retake it. In this situation he waited for Morgan, who in a short time appeared with his fleet.

As the pirates approached, they beheld the English flag flying on the fort, and abandoned themselves to the most tumultuous joy and excessive drinking, without dreaming of the dangers occurring at the mouth of the river Chagre, beneath whose waters there was sunken rock. The coasting pilots of those latitudes came to their assistance; but their intoxication and impatience would not permit them to attend to the latter. This negligence was attended with the most fatal consequences, and cost them four ships, one of which was the admiral’s vessel. The crews, however, together with their ladings, were saved. This loss greatly affected Morgan, who was wholly intent upon his vast designs; but who, nevertheless, made his entrance into St Laurence, where he left a garrison of five hundred men. He also detached from his body of troops one hundred and fifty men, for the purpose of seizing several Spanish vessels that were in the river.

The remainder of the forces Morgan directed to follow him… At length, on the eighteenth day of January, he commenced his march towards Panama, with a chosen body of freebooters, who were thirteen hundred strong.

The Japanese Widow

A woman was left a widow with three sons, and with no other subsistence than their labour. The young men not having been brought up to this kind of life, could scarcely earn the most common necessities of life, and bitterly lamented their inability to place their mother in a more comfortable situation.

It had lately been decreed that any person who should seize a robber, and convey him to a magistrate, should receive a considerable reward. The three brothers, who were a thousand times more affected by their mother’s poverty than their own, took a resolution as strange as heroic. They agreed that one of the three should pass as a robber, and the other two should denounce him as such: they drew lots to determine which was to be the victim of filial love, and it fell to the youngest, who was bound, and conducted to the magistrate as a criminal. He was questioned, confessed the robbery of which he was accused, was sent to prison, and the brothers received the reward; but before they returned home, they found means to enter the prison, wishing at least to bid an affectionate adieu to their unfortunate brother. There, believing themselves unobserved, they threw themselves into the arms of the prisoner, and by their tears, their sobs, and their most tender embraces, displayed the excess of their affection and grief. The magistrate, who by chance was in a place from whence he could perceive them, was extremely surprised to see a criminal receive such marks of affection from the very men who had delivered him up to justice, and he gave orders to follow the two young men, and observe them narrowly.

The servant reported to his master that he had followed the two young men to the door of their mother’s apartment; that on entering, their first care was to give their mother the sum of money which they had received; that she, astonished at the sight of so considerable a sum, had shown more uneasiness than pleasure at it, and eagerly questioned them as to how they obtained it, and the cause of their brother’s absence; that for a time the two youths could answer only with tears, but that at last, threatened by the malediction of a mother so tenderly beloved, they had confessed the truth. At this dreadful recital, the unfortunate woman, penetrated with gratitude, terror and admiration, and abandoning herself to the most violent transports of despair, sprang towards the door to go out, with the intention of declaring every thing to the magistrate; but that restrained by her cruelly generous sons, overwhelming them with reproaches, and bathing them with tears, overpowered at once by anger, and by the most passionate grief and tenderness, she had fallen senseless in their arms.

After this recital, the judge repaired to the prison, and questioned the younger brother, who still persisted in his account, and nothing could induce him to retract. The magistrate at last told him, that he wished to know to what extent of heroism filial piety could raise a virtuous heart, and declared to him he was informed of the truth. The judge went to report this adventure to the sovereign, who struck with an action so heroic, desired to see the three brothers and the happy mother of such virtuous children: he loaded them with praises and marks of distinction, assigned to the youngest 1,500 crowns a year, and 500 each to the other two.

The Cave of Clatto

The Lands of Clatto are most remarkable on account of the robberies said to have been committed on them when possessed by a family called Seaton. What is called Clatto Den is a den with steep banks. In the face of one of these is said to have been a cave, the mouth of which is now covered by the falling in of the soil, but it communicated with the old Castle or Tower of Clatto, the remains of which are visible at no great distance. The cave is said to have had another opening towards the road; and there the heedless traveller, being suddenly seized, was dragged into the cavern, from which nobody returned.

The ruin of the family of robbers that possessed the castle and the cave is ascribed by tradition to the following event. King James the Fourth accidentally passed that way alone, and was attacked by a son of Seaton, who stopped his horse. The king, though apparently unarmed, had a sword concealed under his garment, which he drew, and with a blow cut off the right hand that had seized his horse’s reins. The robber instantly fled into a cavern, and the king, taking up the hand, rode off. Next day, attended by a strong retinue, he visited the Castle of Clatto, under pretence of seeing Seaton and his sons, who had been represented as enterprising men, well calculated to hold public employments. The old man presented his family to the king, but one of his sons was absent, and he was said to be unwell, in consequence of a hurt he had accidentally received. The king insisted on seeing him, and desired to feel his pulse. The young man held out his left hand; the king would feel the other also. After many ineffectual excuses, he was obliged to confess that he had lost his right hand. The king told him that he had a hand in his pocket, which was at his service, if it would fit him. Upon this, according to the barbarous mode of administering justice in those times, they were all seized and executed.

Adventures of Morgan, Prince of Free-booters: Attacked By Wild Bulls!