We have not the forces to meet
force."
"In that case, monsieur, perhaps you will tell me what we are to
do with regard to the future. Am I to submit at every turn to the
dictates of this man Blood? Is the enterprise upon which we are
embarked to be conducted as he decrees? Am I, in short, the King's
representative in America, to be at the mercy of these rascals?"
"Oh, by no means. I am enrolling volunteers here in Hispaniola,
and I am raising a corps of negroes. I compute that when this is
done we shall have a force of a thousand men, the buccaneers apart."
"But in that case why not dispense with them?"
"Because they will always remain the sharp edge of any weapon that
we forge. In the class of warfare that lies before us they are so
skilled that what Captain Blood has just said is not an overstatement.
A buccaneer is equal to three soldiers of the line. At the same
time we shall have a sufficient force to keep them in control. For
the rest, monsieur, they have certain notions of honour. They will
stand by their articles, and so that we deal justly with them, they
will deal justly with us, and give no trouble.
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