, he hastily built
a fire-ship, put some desperate men at the helm, and sent her, a sheet
of flame, into the midst of the squadron. The admiral's ship was
destroyed; and the pirates sailed away, exulting over their
adversaries' discomfiture. Rejoicing over their victories, the
followers of Morgan then planned a venture that should eclipse all
that had gone before. This was no less than a descent upon Panama, the
most powerful of the West Indian cities. For this undertaking, Morgan
gathered around him an army of over two thousand desperadoes of all
nationalities. A little village on the island of Hispaniola was chosen
as the recruiting station; and thither flocked pirates, thieves, and
adventurers from all parts of the world. It was a motley crew thus
gathered together,--Spaniards, swarthy skinned and black haired; wiry
Frenchmen, quick to anger, and ever ready with cutlass or pistol;
Malays and Lascars, half clad in gaudy colors, treacherous and sullen,
with a hand ever on their glittering creeses; Englishmen, handy alike
with fist, bludgeon, or cutlass, and mightily given to fearful oaths;
negroes, Moors, and a few West Indians mixed with the lawless throng.

Having gathered his band, procured provisions (chiefly by plundering),
and built a fleet of boats, Morgan put his forces in motion. The first
obstacle in his path was the Castle of Chagres, which guarded the
mouth of the Chagres River, up which the buccaneers must pass to reach
the city of Panama. To capture this fortress, Morgan sent his
vice-admiral Bradley, with four hundred men. The Spaniards were
evidently warned of their approach; for hardly had the first ship
flying the piratical ensign appeared at the mouth of the river, when
the royal standard of Spain was hoisted above the castle, and the dull
report of a shotted gun told the pirates that there was a stubborn
resistance in store for them.

Landing some miles below the castle, and cutting their way with
hatchet and sabre through the densely interwoven vegetation of a
tropical jungle, the pirates at last reached a spot from which a clear
view of the castle could be obtained. As they emerged from the forest
to the open, the sight greatly disheartened them. They saw a powerful
fort, with bastions, moat, drawbridge, and precipitous natural
defences. Many of the pirates advised a retreat; but Bradley,
dreading the anger of Morgan, ordered an assault. Time after time did
the desperate buccaneers, with horrid