When the
little fleet of Spanish vessels, including the one which
had been captured by Bartholemy Portuguez and his men,
were on their way to Campeachy, they met with very stormy
weather so that they were separated, and the ship which
contained Bartholemy and his companions arrived first
at the port for which they were bound.
The captain, who had Bartholemy and the others in charge,
did not know what an important capture he had made;
he supposed that these pirates were ordinary buccaneers,
and it appears that it was his intention to keep them
as his own private prisoners, for, as they were all
very able bodied men, they would be extremely useful
on a ship. But when his vessel was safely moored, and
it became known in the town that he had a company of
pirates on board, a great many people came from shore
to see these savage men, who were probably looked upon
very much as if they were a menagerie of wild beasts
brought from foreign lands.
Among the sightseers who came to the ship was a merchant
of the town who had seen Bartholemy before, and who
had heard of his various exploits. He therefore went
to the captain of the vessel and informed him that he
had on board one of the very worst pirates in the whole
world, whose wicked deeds were well known in various
parts of the West Indies, and who ought immediately
to be delivered up to the civil authorities. This proposal,
however, met with no favor from the Spanish captain,
who had found Bartholemy a very quiet man, and could
see that he was a very strong one, and he did not at
all desire to give up such a valuable addition to his
crew. But the merchant grew very angry, for he knew
that Bartholemy had inflicted great injury on Spanish
commerce, and as the captain would not listen to him,
he went to the Governor of the town and reported the
case. When this dignitary heard the story he immediately
sent a party of officers to the ship, and commanded
the captain to deliver the pirate leader into their
charge. The other men were left where they were, but
Bartholemy was taken away and confined in another ship.
The merchant, who seemed to know a great deal about
him, informed the authorities that this terrible pirate
had been captured several times, but that he had always
managed to escape, and, therefore, he was put in irons,
and preparations were made to execute him on the next
day; for, from what he had heard, the Governor considered
that this pirate was no better than a wild beast, and
that he should be put to death without even the formality
of a trial.
But there was a Spanish soldier on board the ship who
seemed to have had some pity, or perhaps some admiration,
for the daring pirate, and he thought that if he were
to be hung the next day it was no more than right to
let him know it, so that when he went in to take some
food to Bartholemy he told him what was to happen.
Now this pirate captain was a man who always wanted
to have a share in what was to happen, and he immediately
racked his brain to find out what he could do in this
case. He had never been in a more desperate situation,
but he did not lose heart, and immediately set to work
to free himself from his irons, which were probably
very clumsy affairs. At last, caring little how much
he scratched and tore his skin, he succeeded in getting
rid of his fetters, and could move about as freely as
a tiger in a cage. To get out of this cage was Bartholemy's
first object. It would be comparatively easy, because
in the course of time some one would come into the hold,
and the athletic buccaneer thought that he could easily
get the better of whoever might open the hatch. But
the next act in this truly melodramatic performance
would be a great deal more difficult; for in order to
escape from the ship it would be absolutely necessary
for Bartholemy to swim to shore, and he did not know
how to swim, which seems a strange failing in a hardy
sailor with so many other nautical accomplishments.
In the rough hold where he was shut up, our pirate,
peering about, anxious and earnest, discovered two large
earthen jars in which wine had been brought from Spain,
and with these he determined to make a sort of life-preserver.
He found some pieces of oiled cloth, which he tied tightly
over the open mouths of the jars and fastened them with
cords. He was satisfied that this unwieldy contrivance
would support him in the water.
Among other things he had found in his rummagings about
the hold was an old knife, and with this in his hand
he now sat waiting for a good opportunity to attack
his sentinel.
This came soon after nightfall. A man descended with
a lantern to see that the prisoner was still secure,
let us hope that it was not the soldier who had kindly
informed him of his fate, and as soon as he was fairly
in the hold Bartholemy sprang upon him. There was a
fierce struggle, but the pirate was quick and powerful,
and the sentinel was soon dead. Then, carrying his two
jars, Bartholemy climbed swiftly and noiselessly up
the short ladder, came out on deck in the darkness,
made a rush toward the side of the ship, and leaped
overboard. For a moment he sank below the surface, but
the two air-tight jars quickly rose and bore him up
with them. There was a bustle on board the ship, there
was some random firing of muskets in the direction of
the splashing which the watch had heard, but none of
the balls struck the pirate or his jars, and he soon
floated out of sight and hearing. Kicking out with his
legs, and paddling as well as he could with one hand
while he held on to the jars with the other, he at last
managed to reach the land, and ran as fast as he could
into the dark woods beyond the town.
Bartholemy was now greatly in fear that, when his escape
was discovered, he would be tracked by bloodhounds,
for these dogs were much used by the Spaniards in pursuing
escaping slaves or prisoners, and he therefore did not
feel safe in immediately making his way along the coast,
which was what he wished to do. If the hounds should
get upon his trail, he was a lost man. The desperate
pirate, therefore, determined to give the bloodhounds
no chance to follow him, and for three days he remained
in a marshy forest, in the dark recesses of which he
could hide, and where the water, which covered the ground,
prevented the dogs from following his scent. He had
nothing to eat except a few roots of water plants, but
he was accustomed to privation, and these kept him alive.
Often he heard the hounds baying on the dry land adjoining
the marsh, and sometimes he saw at night distant torches,
which he was sure were carried by men who were hunting
for him.
But at last the pursuit seemed to be given up; and hearing
no more dogs and seeing no more flickering lights, Bartholemy
left the marsh and set out on his long journey down
the coast. The place he wished to reach was called Golpho
Triste, which was forty leagues away, but where he had
reason to suppose he would find some friends. When he
came out from among the trees, he mounted a small hill
and looked back upon the town. The public square was
lighted, and there in the middle of it he saw the gallows
which had been erected for his execution, and this sight,
doubtless, animated him very much during the first part
of his journey.
The terrible trials and hardships which Bartholemy experienced
during his tramp along the coast were such as could
have been endured only by one of the strongest and toughest
of men. He had found in the marsh an old gourd, or calabash,
which he had filled with fresh water, for he could expect
nothing but sea water during his journey, and as for
solid food he had nothing but the raw shellfish which
he found upon the rocks; but after a diet of roots,
shellfish must have been a very agreeable change, and
they gave him all the strength and vigor he needed.
Very often he found streams and inlets which he was
obliged to ford, and as he could see that they were
always filled with alligators, the passage of them was
not very pleasant. His method of getting across one
of these narrow streams, was to hurl rocks into the
water until he had frightened away the alligators immediately
in front of him, and then, when he had made for himself
what seemed to be a free passage, he would dash in and
hurry across.
At other times great forests stretched down to the very
coast, and through these he was obliged to make his
way, although he could hear the roars and screams of
wild beasts all about him. Any one who is afraid to
go down into a dark cellar to get some apples from a
barrel at the foot of the stairs, can have no idea of
the sort of mind possessed by Bartholemy Portuguez.
The animals might howl around him and glare at him with
their shining eyes, and the alligators might lash the
water into foam with their great tails, but he was bound
for Golpho Triste and was not to be stopped on his way
by anything alive.
But at last he came to something not alive, which seemed
to be an obstacle which would certainly get the better
of him. This was a wide river, flowing through the inland
country into the sea. He made his way up the shore of
this river for a considerable distance, but it grew
but little narrower, and he could see no chance of getting
across. He could not swim and he had no wine jars now
with which to buoy himself up, and if he had been able
to swim he would probably have been eaten up by alligators
soon after he left the shore. But a man in his situation
would not be likely to give up readily; he had done
so much that he was ready to do more if he could only
find out what to do.
Now a piece of good fortune happened to him, although
to an ordinary traveller it might have been considered
a matter of no importance whatever. On the edge of the
shore, where it had floated down from some region higher
up the river, Bartholemy perceived an old board, in
which there were some long and heavy rusty nails. Greatly
encouraged by this discovery the indefatigable traveller
set about a work which resembled that of the old woman
who wanted a needle, and who began to rub a crow-bar
on a stone in order to reduce it to the proper size.
Bartholemy carefully knocked all the nails out of the
board, and then finding a large flat stone, he rubbed
down one of them until he had formed it into the shape
of a rude knife blade, which he made as sharp as he
could. Then with these tools he undertook the construction
of a raft, working away like a beaver, and using the
sharpened nails instead of his teeth. He cut down a
number of small trees, and when he had enough of these
slender trunks he bound them together with reeds and
osiers, which he found on the river bank. So, after
infinite labor and trial he constructed a raft which
would bear him on the surface of the water. When he
had launched this he got upon it, gathering up his legs
so as to keep out of reach of the alligators, and with
a long pole pushed himself off from shore. Sometimes
paddling and sometimes pushing his pole against the
bottom, he at last got across the river and took up
his journey upon dry land.
But our pirate had not progressed very far upon the
other side of the river before he met with a new difficulty
of a very formidable character. This was a great forest
of mangrove trees, which grow in muddy and watery places
and which have many roots, some coming down form the
branches, and some extending themselves in a hopeless
tangle in the water and mud. It would have been impossible
for even a stork to walk through this forest, but as
there was no way of getting around it Bartholemy determined
to go through it, even if he could not walk. No athlete
of the present day, no matter if he should be a most
accomplished circus-man, could reasonably expect to
perform the feat which this bold pirate successfully
accomplished. For five or six leagues he went through
that mangrove forest, never once setting his foot upon
the ground, by which is meant mud, water, and roots,
but swinging himself by his hands and arms, from branch
to branch, as if he had been a great ape, only resting
occasionally, drawing himself upon a stout limb where
he might sit for a while and get his breath. If he had
slipped while he was swinging from one limb to another
and had gone down into the mire and roots beneath him,
it is likely that he would never have been able to get
out alive. But he made no slips. He might not have had
the agility and grace of a trapeze performer, but his
grasp was powerful and his arms were strong, and so
he swung and clutched, and clutched and swung, until
he had gone entirely through the forest and had come
out on the open coast.
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