The Beginning of British Honduras


and range themselves under his banner the moment he ap-
peared. And so it actually happened. He entered the harbour
toward the end of August 1640 and landed all his men with-
out resistance. He advanced in battle formation and sent to
summon Willis to get out of the island with all his English,
in default of which he could count that quarter would be
given to none. Le Vasseur did not neglect to pose as the in-
jured party and to accuse Willis of such cruelties against the
French as appeal to men who take no time to reflect.
 "I care nothing about the lamentations of thousands of
your sort," answered Willis. He was a buccaneer, not a
hypocrite.
 But Le Vasseur's demand was followed by the uprising of
the French who were under the orders of the English general,
whose English and Scottish followers now suddenly felt that
their French would go over to Le Vasseur to their destruc-
tion. Willis was bewildered. He had not the time to inves-
tigate whether Le Vasseur had the means to back up the
haughty tone in which he spoke. As a consequence Willis
decided to withdraw, and he and his men embarked in con-
fusion on a vessel which was in the harbour. Immediately
thereafter Le Vasseur entered into a kind of fort which the
English had built and where there were three small cannons.
 "Tortuga, citadel of Saint Domingue, is ours," was the
message sent to Cardinal Richelieu.
 It seems as if Willis had belonged for a time to the Earl
of Carlisle's people on St. Christopher and Nevis, for the
French did mix up his name later with Hawley and Vallett.
Both Hawley and Willis were called handsome. Both Vallett
and Wormeley had fled in panic. The overlapping is caused
by our inability to count wounded grouse and partridge. Many
of the adventurers attracted to Tortuga had come to Willis
from Nevis, where Roger Glover was trading. It is however
certain that the other half of his followers were men belong-
ing to the Earl of Wai wick's people who had been expelled
before from thpe Providence colony of Association on Tor-
tuga, and that from some of these, who had previously been