CHAPTER I.--RAVENAU DE LUSSAN.

As a young French Officer joins De Graff, at St. Domingo--Cruises round Carthagena--Crosses the Isthmus--Hardships--Joins the Buccaneer Fleet--Grogniet, the French Captain--Previous history of his Life--Fight with Greek mercenaries on the island--Take La Seppa--Engagement off Panama--Take Puebla Nueva--Separate from English--Capture Leon--Sack Chiriquita--Burn Granada--Storm Villia--Surprised by river ambuscade--Treachery of Greek spy--Capture vessels--Behead Spanish prisoners--Letter of Spanish President--Burning of the Savannahs--Quarrel between French and English--Attack on Quayaquilla--Love adventure of De Lussan--Retreat of French Buccaneers by land over the Isthmus of Darien--Passage from North to South Pacific--Great danger--Pass between the mountains--Daring stratagem of De Lussan--Escape--The river of the torrents--Rafts--Arrives at St. Domingo 1