Gustave Aimard

“ Belle Tête reminded.
"Yes," Montbarts replied.
"Now, brothers," said Drake, rising, and doffing his cap, "listen to me: I, William Drake, swear on my faith and honour, the most complete devotion to the association of the Twelve, submitting myself beforehand to undergo the punishment my brothers may please to inflict on me, even death, if I were to betray the secret of the Association, and break my oath. Heaven help me!"
After Drake each filibuster uttered the same oath in a firm voice, and with a solemn accent. ”

“ The Count smiled.
"Well do you fancy that I have degenerated from my ancestors?"
"I suppose nothing, sir, Heaven forbid!" he answered humbly, "I only see with terror that you are preparing a hideous future for yourself."
"Be it so! I accept it in all its rigor, if God will permit me to accomplish my oath."
"Alas! My lord, you know that man proposes; you are at this moment a prisoner of the Cardinal; reflect, I implore you, who knows whether you will ever leave the prison to which I am conducting you? Consent to be free."
"No; cease your entreaties! The Cardinal is not immortal. ”

“ Montbarts, calm and gloomy, examined him attentively, while fixing a scrutinizing glance upon him.
At length the Indian succeeded in speaking, though his voice issued from his throat like a whistle.
"Omopoua was a renowned chief among his people," he said; "a Spaniard had degraded him by making him a slave, through treachery, and selling him like a beast of burden: you restore Omopoua to the rank from which he ought never to have descended. It is well, you lose a bad slave, but gain a devoted friend; were it not for you I should be dead—my life belongs to you." ”

“ Doña Clara, a simple girl, brought up with all the rigid strictness of Spanish manners, but an Andalusian from head to foot, had listened with a quiver of delight to the confession of this love which she had shared from the first moment.
Everybody, therefore, was happy at the castle; Michael alone formed an exception, with his stolid face, which was never unwrinkled; the more rapidly he saw matters tending to the conclusion the young people desired, the more gloomy and anxious he became.
In the meanwhile the frigate had left Algeciras for Cadiz. ”

“ In the rear of the centre formed by the Spanish soldiers, another circle had been drawn up as if by enchantment, but the latter was composed of buccaneers and red Caribs, at whose head Omopoua made himself remarkable.
The adventurers and Indians had manoeuvred with so much intelligence, vivacity, and silence, that the Spaniards were enveloped in a network of steel, even before they had suspected the danger that menaced them.
The Count uttered an exclamation of rage, to which the soldiers responded by a cry of terror. ”

“ Montbarts said brutally, "that you are a spy and a traitor, and that you will be hanged within ten minutes."
"I?" the stranger replied, with very cleverly assumed surprise; "Why, you must be mad, sir, or suffering under a strange mistake. Let me pass, I request."
"I am not mad or mistaken, Señor Don Antonio de la Ronda."
The stranger started, a livid pallor covered his face, but he immediately recovered himself.
"Why, this is madness!" he said.
"Sir," Montbarts remarked, still calm, but remaining in front of the door, "when I affirm, you deny. It is evident that one of us lies, or is mistaken. ”

“ Montbarts then advanced a step, and in a firm and sonorous voice, whose manly accents soon captivated all these men who listened eagerly to his words, he revealed to them the purpose of the expedition, which up to this time was unknown to them.
"Brothers of the coast," he said; "messmates and friends, the moment has arrived to reveal to you what I await from your courage and your devotion to the common cause. You are not mercenaries, who, for scanty pay, let themselves be killed like brutes, ignorant for what or from whom they are fighting. ”

“ While doing a good deed, we are carrying out the plan so long resolved by ourselves, and at last we have found the impregnable spot we have so long desired. You all know the island of Tortuga, brethren? Separated only by a narrow channel from Saint Domingo, it rises like an advanced sentry in the middle of the sea. It is the eagle's nest, whence we will laughingly brave the fury of the Spaniards. To Tortuga, brethren!"
"To the island of the Tortoise!" the adventurers shouted, brandishing their weapons enthusiastically.
"Good!" Montbarts continued. ”

“ Belonging to one of the first families of the Spanish aristocracy, destined to be one day immensely rich, and through his name to hold the highest offices and make one of those magnificent marriages of convenience, which render diplomatists so happy, by leaving their minds perfectly free for grand political combinations,—he strove, as far as lay in his power, to check the beating of his heart, and not to trouble by any unusual passion, the bright serenity of his existence. ”

“ You tremble at what I am saying to you at this moment, my old servant," he added more gently, "what would it be were you able to read in my heart all the hatred, auger, and rage it contains against those who have mercilessly ground me beneath their heel, and who have eternally deprived me of happiness, in order to satisfy the paltry calculations of a narrow and criminal ambition?"
"Oh, my lord Count! Permit an old servant of your family, a man who is entirely devoted to you, to implore you to resign these fearful schemes of vengeance. Alas! You will be the first victim of your hatred." ”

“ We wish to share the honour of the triumph, or assume a part of the defeat." Montbarts felt involuntarily affected by these generous words, so nobly pronounced; and by a spontaneous movement he held out his hands to the filibusters, who pressed them energetically, and said,—
"You are right, brothers. We must all share in the great work which, I hope, will at length place us in the position to achieve great things. We will all go to Tortoise Island. But I will ask you—and believe me that I am not speaking thus through any ambitious motive—to let me conduct the expedition." ”

“ Michael yelled, as he dragged away his comrade; and the two men seizing their musquetoons by the barrel, as if to use them as clubs in case of need, and to clear the way, rushed into the passage when they disappeared.
The Count listened anxiously, he heard oaths and the sound of an obstinate struggle; then, at the expiration of a moment, a distant cry, that summons which sailors know so well, reached him.
Then his face grew calmer, he returned his sword to its sheath and coolly awaited the newcomers, muttering to himself—
"They have escaped, one chance is left me." ”

“ Lepoletais had risen.
"Farewell, brother," he said; "when you land tomorrow I shall be on my way to the Grand Fond; I shall, therefore, not see you again till we meet there; but do not be alarmed—you shall find everything in order when you arrive. Ah! By the way, shall I take my body of buccaneers with me?"
"Certainly; they will be of the greatest use to you in watching the enemy; but hide them carefully."
"All right," he said.
At this moment Michael the Basque rushed suddenly into the cabin, with his features distorted by passion. ”

“ The English navy was only beginning to be formed, and, in spite of the continuous efforts of Richelieu, the French navy was not in existence.
Suddenly several adventurers sprang up, no one knew whence, who, alone, castaways of civilization, men of all classes, from the highest to the most humble, belonging to all nations, but chiefly to the French, perched themselves like vultures on an imperceptible islet in the Atlantic, and undertook to contend against the Spanish power, after declaring a merciless war on their private authority. ”

“ The Major eagerly seized it.
"But," he objected, "how can I be certain that you are not deceiving me?"
"An affecting confession," the stranger observed laughingly.
"Business is business, I risk my soul in serving you."
"As for your soul, my dear sir, reassure yourself; in that quarter you have nothing to risk. But I will give you the satisfaction you desire."
And taking a dark lanthorn from under his cloak, he let the light play on the diamond.
The Major only required one glance to assure himself of the value of the rich reward offered him. ”

“ Involuntarily subdued by the accent with which the buccaneer uttered these words, Doña Clara bowed without replying, and pensively seated herself inside the ajoupa, by the side of Fray Arsenio, who was still asleep.
"Now, caballero," Lepoletais said to Don Sancho, "if you have never been present at a buccaneering expedition, I promise you you are going to see some fun, and enjoy yourself."
"Well," the young man replied, recklessly; "I will fight, if I must. It is a glorious death for a gentleman, to die sword in hand!" ”

“ Those of you who are willing to follow me can give their names to Michael the Basque, my mate. Still, as the shares will be large, the danger will be great; to obtain them I only want men resolved to conquer or to die bravely, without asking quarter of the enemy or granting it; I am Montbarts the Exterminator—I grant no mercy to the Spaniards, nor do I ask it of them. ”

“ Kitts under the command of Montbarts the Exterminator.
The sun, already low on the horizon, was enormously lengthening the shadows of the trees, the evening breeze was rising, gently agitating the leaves and tall grass, when a man mounted on a powerful horse, and wearing the costume of the Spanish Campesinos, followed a scarce traced path which wound through the centre of a vast plain covered with magnificent plantations of sugar cane and coffee, and led to an elegant hatto, whose pretty mirador commanded the country for a long distance. ”

“ Take from the rack a fusil for yourself, and four others, which you can dispose of as you please, six cutlasses, six daggers, and six hatchets; when you leave port, on passing the lugger, you will ask Michael the Basque, in my name, for two barrels of gunpowder and two bags of bullets—he will give them to you. Now go, and I wish you all good fortune."
The Carib, overcome by this generosity, so simple and so full of grandeur, knelt to the adventurer, and seizing his feet, which he placed on his head, he exclaimed, in a deeply affected voice—
"I pay you homage as to the best of men. ”

“ The Carib had laid himself down and was listening with his ear to the ground.
At the end of a few minutes he rose again, though he did not cease listening.
"What is the matter?" the monk, whom this conduct was beginning seriously to alarm, asked.
"Horsemen are coming towards us at full speed."
"Horsemen at this hour of night on the savannah?" Fray Arsenio remarked incredulously; "It is impossible."
"Why, you are here?" the Indian said with a jeering smile.
"Hum! That is true," the monk muttered, struck by the logic of the answer; "who can they be!" ”

“ Governor? What was it, if you please?"
"Zounds! you appear to be dressed as if for a journey."
"It is that ass of La Grenade, who, I know not for what reason, obliged me to put on my hat, and insisted on bringing my cloak here."
"He was right."
"How so?"
"My lord, I have the honour to inform you that you are a free man."
"I free!" the Count exclaimed, turning pale with joy and emotion.
"The King has deigned to sign your liberation, and I received the orders on landing at Antibes."
"At last!" the Count burst forth, but then immediately recovered himself. "Can you show me the order, sir?" ”

“ Basse Terre was the entrepôt, or to speak more correctly, the headquarters of the French colony: at the period when our story is laid it was only a miserable township, built without order, according to the caprice or convenience of each owner, an agglomeration of huts, rather than a town, but producing at a distance a most picturesque effect through this very chaos of houses of all shapes and sizes, thus grouped along the seashore, in front of magnificent roads, filled with vessels swinging at their anchors, and constantly furrowed by an infinite number of canoes. ”