But Morgan's pirates were not making
war; they were robbers and murderers on a grand scale. They had no right
to call themselves civilized; they were worse than barbarians.
[Illustration: "Morgan began to upbraid them, and ordered them taken
below."--p. 151.]
Chapter XVIII
A Piratical Aftermath
Morgan's destination was the isle of Savona, near which a great Spanish
fleet was expected to pass, and here he hoped to make some rich prizes.
But when he got out to sea he met with contrary and dangerous winds,
which delayed him a long time, and eventually when he arrived at Savona,
after having landed at various places, where he pillaged, murdered, and
burned, according to the extent of his opportunities, he found at least
one-half of his men and ships had not arrived. With the small force
which he now had with him he could not set out to attack a Spanish
fleet, and therefore he was glad to accept the suggestion made to him by
a Frenchman who happened to be in his company.
This man had been with L'Olonnois two years before when that bloody
pirate had sacked the towns of Maracaibo and Gibraltar; he had made
himself perfectly familiar with the fortifications and defences of these
towns, and he told Morgan that it would be easy to take them. To be
sure they had been thoroughly sacked before, and therefore did not offer
the tempting inducements of perfectly fresh towns, such as
Port-au-Prince, but still in two years the inhabitants must have
gathered together some possessions desirable to pirates, and therefore,
although Morgan could not go to these towns with the expectation of
reaping a full harvest, he might at least gather up an aftermath which
would pay him for his trouble.
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