and
gardens, and regaled themselves with strawberries, which are described
as being big as walnuts and very delicious to the taste. In fact,
everything about the place pleased them, excepting the fact that most of
the valuables had been transported and hidden. It appeared, too, that
the Spaniards, fearing a revolt among their Chilian slaves, had killed
nearly all of them. Nevertheless a few were found who served as guides
and showed the pirates where much plate and many kinds of valuable goods
had been stored away.

The buccaneers spent that night in the village, and the next morning the
Spaniards came bearing a flag of truce and offered to treat with their
conquerors. The buccaneers finally agreed to depart, providing a ransom
of ninety-five thousand pieces of eight was paid. This was promised by
the inhabitants, and it was agreed that it should be paid the next day.

That night an earthquake shook the surrounding country and badly
frightened the pirates, who were sleeping in one of the largest
churches. Moreover, during the night the Spaniards turned the mountain
streams through the streets of the town, apparently hoping to drive out
the buccaneers, or at least to prevent the burning of the town.

Until noon the next day the pirates waited for the ransom, but when it
did not appear they were satisfied that the Spaniards had never intended
to pay it, and accordingly the buccaneers burned the town and retreated
to the coast. Here they found that the Spaniards had tried to burn the
ship by rather an extraordinary stratagem. They took the hide of a
horse, blew it up till it floated like a great bladder, and upon it put
a man who paddled himself under the stern of the ship. Here he crammed
oakum, brimstone and other combustibles between the rudder and the
sternpost, and set the whole on fire. In a few moments the vessel was
covered with smoke, and in the confusion the Spaniard escaped. However,
his plot was not successful, for the pirates had the good fortune to
discover the cause of the fire and put it out before any serious damage
was done.

Three weeks later, the pirates visited the island of Juan Fernandez,
where they spent several days and where they celebrated their Christmas
holiday by firing three volleys of shot. They found an abundance of
goats on the island and were able to replenish their larder. The water
supply was excellent, but at one time when Ringrose with nine of his
companions in two canoes had land