me, you shall crawl at my feet before I've
finished with you!"

"Why not kill this caballero out of hand, captain?" asked Hornigold,
savage from a slight wound, as he limped up to Morgan.

"No, I have use for him. Are the rest silent?"

"They will tell no tales," laughed L'Ollonois grimly.

"Did none escape back up the road?"

"None, Sir Henry," answered the other. "My men closed in after them and
drove them forward. They are all gone."

"That's well. Now, for La Guayra. What force is there, Senor Capitan?"

Alvarado remained obstinately silent. He did not speak even when Morgan
ruthlessly cut him across the cheek with his dagger. He did not utter a
sound, although Mercedes groaned in anguish at the sight of his torture.

"You'd best kill him, captain," said L'Ollonois.

"No, I have need for him, I say," answered Morgan, giving over the
attempt to make him speak. "Is any one here who has been at La Guayra
recently?" he asked of the others.

"I was there last year on a trading ship of France," answered Sawkins.

"What garrison then?"

"About two hundred and fifty."

"Was it well fortified?"

"As of old, sir, by the forts on either side and a rampart along the sea
wall."

"Were the forts in good repair?"

"Well kept indeed, but most of the guns bore seaward."

"Have you the ladders ready?" cried Morgan to Braziliano, who had been
charged to convey the rude scaling ladders by which they hoped to get
over the walls.

"All ready, captain," answered that worthy.

"Let us go forward then. We'll halt just out of musket-shot and concert
our further plans. We have the Governor in our hands, lads. The rest
will be easy. There is plenty of plunder in La Guayra, and when we have
made it our own we'll over the mountains and into Caracas. Hornigold,
you are lame from a wound, look to the prisoners."

"To La Guayra! To La Guayra!" enthusiastically shouted the men, taking
up the line of march.

The rising moon flooding the white strand made the scene as light as
day. They kept good watch on the walls of La Guayra, for the sound of
the shots in the night air had been heard by some keen-eared sentry, and
as a result the garrison had been called to arms. The firing had been
too heavy to be accounted for by any ordinary circumstances, and
officers and soldiers had been at a loss to understand it. However, to
take precautions were wise, and every preparation was made as if against
an immediate attack. The drums we