walls went the pirates, with yells and
howls of triumph, and not long after that the town was taken. The
Governor died, fighting in the principal fort, and the citizens and
soldiers all united in the most vigorous defence; but it was of no use.
Each pirate seemed to have not only nine lives, but nine arms, each one
wielding a cutlass or aiming a pistol.

When the fighting was over, the second act in the horrible drama took
place as usual. The pirates ate, drank, rioted, and committed all manner
of outrages and cruelties upon the inhabitants, closing the performance
with the customary threat that if the already distressed and
impoverished inhabitants did not pay an enormous ransom, their town
would be burned.

Before the ransom was paid, the Governor of Panama heard what was going
on at Porto Bello, and sent a force to the assistance of the town, but
this time the buccaneers did not hastily retreat, Morgan knew of a
narrow defile through which the Spanish forces must pass, and there he
posted a number of his men, who defended the pass so well that the
Spaniards were obliged to retreat. This Governor must have been a
student of military science; he was utterly astounded when he heard that
this pirate leader, with less than four hundred men, had captured the
redoubtable town of Porto Bello, defended by a strong garrison and
inhabited by citizens who were brave and accustomed to fighting, and,
being anxious to increase his knowledge of improved methods of warfare,
he sent a messenger to Morgan "desiring him to send him some small
pattern of those arms wherewith he had taken with such violence so great
a city." The pirate leader received the messenger with much courtesy,
and sent to the Governor a pistol and a few balls, "desiring him to
accept that slender pattern of the arms wherewith he had taken Porto
Bello, and keep them for a twelvemonth; after which time he promised to
come to Panama and fetch them away."

This courteous correspondence was continued by the Governor returning
the pistol and balls with thanks, and also sending Morgan a handsome
gold ring with the message that he need not trouble himself to come to
Panama; for, if he did, he would meet with very different fortune from
that which had come to him at Porto Bello.

Morgan put the ring on his finger and postponed his reply, and, as soon
as the ransom was paid, he put his booty on board his ships and
departed. When the spoils of Porto Bello came to be cou