Exasperated not only by his own accumulated chagrin, but also by
the reproaches for his failure which reached him from London,
Colonel Bishop actually went so far as to consider hunting his
quarry in Tortuga itself and making an attempt to clear the
island of the buccaneers it sheltered. Fortunately for himself,
he abandoned the notion of so insane an enterprise, deterred not
only by the enormous natural strength of the place, but also by
the reflection that a raid upon what was, nominally at least, a
French settlement, must be attended by grave offence to France.
Yet short of some such measure, it appeared to Colonel Bishop
that he was baffled. He confessed as much in a letter to the
Secretary of State.
This letter and the state of things which it disclosed made my Lord
Sunderland despair of solving this vexatious problem by ordinary
means. He turned to the consideration of extraordinary ones, and
bethought him of the plan adopted with Morgan, who had been enlisted
into the King's service under Charles II. It occurred to him that
a similar course might be similarly effective with Captain Blood.
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