So the ladies were all
brought to town and shut up securely until their friends and relatives
managed to raise enough money to pay their ransom and set them free, and
then, I have no doubt, de Lussan advised them to go to church and offer
up thanks for their happy deliverance.
As our high-minded pirate pursued his plundering way along the coast of
South America, he met with a good many things which jarred upon his
sensitive nature--things he had not expected when he started out on his
new career. One of his disappointments was occasioned by the manners and
customs of the English buccaneers under his command. These were very
different from the Frenchmen of his company, for they made not the
slightest pretence to piety.
When they had captured a town or a village, the Englishmen would go to
the churches, tear down the paintings, chop the ornaments from the
altars with their cutlasses, and steal the silver crucifixes, the
candlesticks, and even the communion services. Such conduct gave great
pain to de Lussan. To rob and destroy the property of churches was in
his eyes a great sin, and he never suffered anything of the kind if he
could prevent it. When he found in any place which he captured a wealthy
religious community or a richly furnished church, he scrupulously
refrained from taking anything or of doing damage to property, and
contented himself with demanding heavy indemnity, which the priests
were obliged to pay as a return for the pious exemption which he granted
them.
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