of their country; but the
gentlemanly filibuster was frankly shocked at the state of affairs
existing in Queaquilla, where he found the most beautiful and wanton
women he had ever encountered. The monks and priests with which the town
swarmed took the lead in illicit intercourse with the entirely willing
ladies, and there were few children who had the faintest idea concerning
the identity of their paternal parents. The people of this place had
been told frightful stories about the pirates, and when De Lussan
captured a pretty young woman, the maid to the wife of the governor, she
begged him with tear-strewn cheeks, _Senor, por l'amor de Dios no mi
coma!_ [Senor, for the love of God do not eat me!] It took but a short
time, however, for the jovial buccaneers to prove to the ladies that
they were not greatly to be feared by the fair sex unless the latter
proved unkind; and when the pirates retired to the island of Puna with
their spoils they were accompanied by many of the ladies of Queaquilla,
who went with them nominally as prisoners awaiting ransom but really as
willing mistresses. There the freebooters spent many glorious weeks in
high revelry, with music, wine, dancing, and all other amusements most
dear to the pirate heart, the Spanish ladies entering most heartily into
the spirit of the occasion. In the attack on the town De Lussan killed
the Spanish treasurer, and the latter's disconsolate widow fell to the
lot of the slayer of her husband. In a few days she developed for the
gallant Frenchman a passion that was absolutely embarrassing, insisting
that he should remain with her after the rest of the band had departed,
should marry her, and should live with her at Queaquilla. She actually
went so far as to obtain from the governor a signed pardon for De Lussan
for offences committed against Spanish possessions, so that he could be
assured that he might safely remain. De Lussan, however, though he tells
us that he "was not a little perplexed herewith," could not resolve to
settle down and abandon the career of a pirate for that of a private
citizen; he may also have had doubts as to the intention of the governor
of keeping his fair promises when once he had the famous freebooter in
his power; so he further tells us: "Thus I rejected her proposals, but
so as to assure her I should retain even long as I lived a lively
remembrance of her affections and good inclinations toward me." Thus he
extricated himself from his qua