eral mules laden with household goods and
merchandise, and twenty prisoners, men, women, and children. Some of
these were put to the rack, to make them confess where they had hid the
rest of the goods; but they could extort very little from them.
Lolonois, who valued not murdering, though in cold blood, ten or twelve
Spaniards, drew his cutlass, and hacked one to pieces before the rest,
saying, "If you do not confess and declare where you have hid the rest
of your goods, I will do the like to all your companions." At last,
amongst these horrible cruelties and inhuman threats, one promised to
show the place where the rest of the Spaniards were hid. But those that
were fled, having intelligence of it, changed place, and buried the
remnant of their riches underground, so that the pirates could not find
them out, unless some of their own party should reveal them. Besides,
the Spaniards flying from one place to another every day, and often
changing woods, were jealous even of each other, so that the father
durst scarce trust his own son.

After the pirates had been fifteen days in Maracaibo, they resolved for
Gibraltar; but the inhabitants having received intelligence thereof, and
that they intended afterwards to go to Merida, gave notice of it to the
governor there, who was a valiant soldier, and had been an officer in
Flanders. His answer was, "he would have them take no care, for he hoped
in a little while to exterminate the said pirates." Whereupon he came to
Gibraltar with four hundred men well armed, ordering at the same time
the inhabitants to put themselves in arms, so that in all he made eight
hundred fighting men. With the same speed he raised a battery toward the
sea, mounted with twenty guns, covered with great baskets of earth:
another battery he placed in another place, mounted with eight guns.
This done, he barricaded a narrow passage to the town through which the
pirates must pass, opening at the same time another one through much
dirt and mud into a wood which was totally unknown to the pirates.

The pirates, ignorant of these preparations, having embarked all their
prisoners and booty, took their way towards Gibraltar. Being come in
sight of the place, they saw the royal standard hanging forth, and that
those of the town designed to defend their homes. Lolonois seeing this,
called a council of war what they ought to do, telling his officers and
mariners, "That the difficulty of the enterprise was very great