And I have great hopes that I shall execute on your own
person the very same punishment I have done to them you sent against me.
Thus I have retaliated the kindness you designed unto me and my
companions."
When this message was received by the dignified official who filled the
post of Governor of Cuba, he stormed and fairly foamed at the mouth. To
be utterly foiled and discomfited by this resurrected pirate, and to be
afterwards addressed in terms of such unheard-of insolence and abuse,
was more than he could bear, and, in the presence of many of his
officials and attendants, he swore a terrible oath that after that hour
he would never again give quarter to any buccaneer, no matter when or
where he was captured, or what he might be doing at the time. Every man
of the wretched band should die as soon as he could lay hands upon him.
But when the inhabitants of Havana and the surrounding villages heard of
this terrible resolution of their Governor they were very much
disturbed. They lived in constant danger of attack, especially those who
were engaged in fishing or maritime pursuits, and they feared that when
it became known that no buccaneer was to receive quarter, the Spanish
colonists would be treated in the same way, no matter where they might
be found and taken. Consequently, it was represented to the Governor
that his plan of vengeance would work most disastrously for the Spanish
settlers, for the buccaneers could do far more damage to them than he
could possibly do to these dreadful Brethren of the Coast, and that,
unless he wished to bring upon them troubles greater than those of
famine or pestilence, they begged that he would retract his oath.
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