This out-and-out pirate was afterwards living in Jamaica, and probably engaged in new enterprises, but Esquemeling would have nothing more to do with him nor with the history of his deeds.

Chapter XI

A Buccaneer Boom

The condition of affairs in the West Indies was becoming very serious in the eyes of the Spanish rulers.  They had discovered a new country, they had taken possession of it, and they had found great wealth of various kinds, of which they were very much in need.  This wealth was being carried to Spain as fast as it could be taken from the unfortunate natives and gathered together for transportation, and everything would have gone on very well indeed had it not been for the most culpable and unwarranted interference of that lawless party of men, who might almost be said to amount to a nationality, who were continually on the alert to take from Spain everything she could take from America.  The English, French, and Dutch governments were generally at peace with Spain, but they sat by quietly and saw their sailor subjects band themselves together and make war upon Spanish commerce,—­a very one-sided commerce, it is true.

It was of no use for Spain to complain of the buccaneers to her sister maritime nations.  It is not certain that they could have done anything to interfere with the operations of the sea-robbers who originally sailed from their coasts, but it is certain they did not try to do anything.  Whatever was to be done, Spain must do herself.  The pirates were as slippery as they were savage, and although the Spaniards made a regular naval war upon them, they seemed to increase rather than to diminish.  Every time that a Spanish merchantman was taken, and its gold and silver and valuable goods carried off to Tortuga or Jamaica, and divided among a lot of savage and rollicking fellows, the greater became the enthusiasm among the Brethren of the Coast, and the wider spread the buccaneering boom.  More ships laden almost entirely with stalwart men, well provided with arms, and very badly furnished with principles, came from England and France, and the Spanish ships of war in the West Indies found that they were confronted by what was, in many respects, a regular naval force.

The buccaneers were afraid of nothing; they paid no attention to the rules of war,—­a little ship would attack a big one without the slightest hesitation, and more than that, would generally take it,—­and in every way Spain was beginning to feel as if she were acting the part of provider to the pirate seamen of every nation.