The Spaniards, being now obliged to confine them selves within their settlements, the Buccaneers resolved to leave them no security even there. They began, therefore, to harass them by a new mode of warfare, uniting in formidable bands, and making incursions into the territories of their enemies. At the head of the first of these associations, or regiments of Buccaneers, was Francis L'Olonois, so called from the sands of Olonc, where he was born. From the abject state of a bondman, this man had raised himself, by his courage and conduct, to the command of two canoes, with 22 men. lie was cruising with them, off the coast of Cuba, when an Armadilla mounting ten pieces of cannon, with a crew of eighty vigorous young fellows, was sent against him by the governor of the Havannah. At the sight of this vessel, the pirates rowed to a creek, where they concealed their canoes among the tree:. The frigate, ithout perceiving them, came to moor in the same creek, and the adventurers, having an opportunity of surveying it at leisure, resolved to attack it without delay. They rowed gently along the shore, under cover of the trees, and stationing themselves on both sides of the enemy's ship, began at break of day to fire upon it from their concealment. The Spaniards failed not to return the fire, without being able, how ever, to do any injury to their unseen foe. This unequal combat continued till noon ; when the Spaniards, hav ing lost the greater number of their men, suspended their fifitig, and prepared to retreat. L'Olonois im mediately pursued them with his canoes, and, after a faint resis,:.nce, the Spaniards surrendered. Their bar barous coleineror was proceeding to put all the wounded to death, when a negro slave, dreading the same fate, threw hi used' at his feet, and offered to make an im portant discovery if he would spare his life. Having obtained his promise to that effect, he declared that the governor of the Havannah had sent him on board the ship to serve as executioner to the Buccaneers, whom, in the confidence of their being taken, he had ordered to be hanged. Fired with rage at this discovery, L'Olonois ordered all the Spaniards to be brought before him, and struck off their beads, one after another, with his sabre. One alone was left alive to be sent to the governor of the Ilavannah, with a letter from L'Olonois, in which he informed him of the fate of his frigate and its crew, threatening the same treatment to all the Spaniards who should fall into his hands, among whom he did not despair of yat nurnhering the governor himself. L'Olonois was now master of an excellent vessel, but his crew was small, and his hopes of treasure had been disappointed. With a view of procuring both men and plunder, he sailed to the port of Maracaibo, where he took, by surprise, a sloop laden with plate and other articles of value. With these prizes he returned to Tortuga, where he was received by the inhabitants with unbounded joy, and crowds of adven turers flocked around him, offering to follow his for tunes wherever he should lead. Among other admirers of his valour and success, was 'Michael de Basco, who had signalized himself by many daring exploits, and particularly of late, by taking, even under the cannon of Porto Bello, a Spanish ship of war, whose cargo was estimated at one million of crowns. These two adven turers concerted an expedition against the Spanish towns in Terra Firma ; and having invited all the Buccaneers then in 'Tortuga to join in this glorious enterprize, they soon collected a force of 600 men. Michael, being well acquainted with the places which they meant to invade, was to have the command of this force by land ; and of the fleet, consisting of about eight vessels, L'Olonois embarked as admiral, in a ship which mounted ten guns. This armament, the largest, which the Buccaneers had ever been able to raise, had scarcely set sail, when it fell in with and captured two large Spanish ships, one of which, besides an immense cargo of cocoa nuts, contained money and jewels to the value of 50,000 crowns, and the other furnished them with a large store of gunpowder, besides muskets and arms of various descriptions. Encouraged by these captures, which seemed to augur well of the enterprize, they proceeded to the bay of Venezuela, which runs up the country for about fifty leagues. At the mouth of this bay, which is likewise called the lake of Maracaibo, are two small islands, on one of which were erected a watch tower and a fort, to guard the entrance against any hostile fleet. The first achievement of the Buccaneers was to carry this fort by storm, to spike the cannon, and to put to the sword the whole garrison, consisting of two hundred men. They next proceeded to Maracaibo, which they found deserted by the inhabitants, who had retired with their effects to the small town of Gibraltar on the other side of the bay.
The adventurers, on entering Maracaibo, found its houses well supplied with provisions, and its cellars stored with excellent wines. Fifteen days were lost
by the pirates in riot and debauchery, and the Spaniards had improved the interval in fortifying Gibraltar by powerful batteries along the shore, barricading the highways, and protecting, by strong entrenchments, every approach to the town. One narrow path alone had been left open for the convenience of the inhabitants, and that path, too, was commanded by a battery. By these obstacles, however, formidable as they were, the intrepid adventurers were not to be discouraged. " He re," cried L'Olonois to his comrades, "are the richest of the Spaniards ; we must take them and their treasure, or perish in the attempt." When they had approached within pistol shot of the entrenchments, whole ranks of them were cut down by the artillery and musketry, which the Spaniards levelled against them with a cool and certain aim. But their danger only roused them to more desperate efforts of courage ; and the last breath of the fallen was spent in animating their comrades to conquer, or to (lie gloriously like them. Their perseverance was crowned with victory ; with the help of large branches which they had carried with them on purpose, they forced the entrenchments in several places ; and, after a furious combat, in which the Spaniards displayed unusual valour, they at last became masters of the town. Of a garrison of six hundred men, four hundred were killed upon the spot, one hundred were wounded, and scarcely a single officer survived the carnage of that dreadful day.
The booty, though large, was insufficient to satisfy the rapacity of these unprincipled robbers, who inflicted on many of their prisoners the cruellest tortures, in order to extort from them a discovery of the places in which they supposed their treasure to be concealed. They remained four weeks in Gibraltar, during which time their numbers were considerably diminished by a violent fever, occasioned chiefly by the putrefaction of dead bodies which they had left unburied on the ground. At length, after setting fire to the town, they reunited to Maracaibo, which would have shared the same fate, had not the inhabitants agreed to pay them a ransom of thirty thousand crowns. Not content, however, with this sum, for which they themselves had stipulated, they robbed the churches of their bells, images, and pictures, for the pretended purpose of decorating a chapel which they designed to build in Tortuga. When they came to share the plunder which had accrued from this expe dition, they found it amount, in all, to 260,000 crowns in money, plate, and jewels ; besides other commodities, equivalent to at least 100,000 more.
With this booty they returned to Tortuga, where L'Olonois had not continued long when his necessities again compelled him to undertake some new adventure. He soon saw himself at the head of eight hundred resolute fellows, ready for any daring enterprize. When they were out at sea, he disclosed to them his intention of making a descent on the shores of the lake Nicaragua, where they could not fail to find such quantities of treasure as would amply compensate for any hardships or perils they might encounter in their undertaking. His fleet was forced into the bay of Honduras by a cur rent, which baffled all his efforts to get out again to sea. It was therefore resolved to remain there during the rest of the season ; and, in the mean time, to plun der all the Spanish towns and villages situated on the two shores of the bay. L'Olonois, with about three hundred of his followers, set out for the town of St Pedro. After a feeble resistance, the town surrendered on condition that the inhabitants should be allowed two hours to retire. That short space of time they employed so well, that the adventurers found but little left behind for them to plunder. On his return to the rest of his comrades, L'Olonois found them extremely dissatisfied with the result of their enterprize, and chagrined at the state of inactivity in which the current forced them to remain. Many of them even secretly resolved to take the first opportunity of returning to Tortuga ; and when L'Olonois proposed to sail to the river Guatimala, they openly abandoned him, and under the direction of two of their captains, steered their course towards home. Notwithstanding this defection, L'Olonois proceeded on his enterprize ; and arrived at the mouth of the Nicaragua. Here he was immediately discovered by the Indians, who, in conjunction with the Spaniards, suddenly fell on the small band of adventurers, and put most of them to the sword. L'Olonois, with a handful of his followers, escaped into their boats, but were only reserved for more dreadful misfortunes. Compelled by want of provisions to land on the shores pf Darien Straits, they were seized by the Indians, who, exas perated by their depredations, tore L'Olonois limb from limb ; threw his members, yet quivering, into a fire, and scattered his ashes in the air.