ard, which Drake had
discovered when in those waters the year previously; there make all
preparations for a boat attack upon the town during the night of the
following day, capture Nombre, and then propose, as ransom, the
surrender of Hubert Saint Leger, and any other Englishmen that might be
in the hands of the Spaniards. The project was a sufficiently daring
one, for Nombre de Dios had at that time the reputation of being the
Treasure-house of the World, since to it was brought across the isthmus,
from Panama, all the treasure of Peru, for shipment to Spain, therefore
it would almost certainly be well guarded by soldiers. On the other
hand, however, probabilities favoured the assumption--which, as we have
already seen, was correct--that the plate ships would by this time have
sailed from Nombre on their homeward voyage, in which case, since there
would be no treasure to guard, the vigilance of the authorities might be
somewhat relaxed, and a surprise might reasonably be expected to result
in success. Also it was hoped that from the creek which the adventurers
proposed to enter, the party might be able to get into touch with the
terrible tribe of Cimarrones--or Maroons, as the English called them.
This tribe originated in a number of African negroes who, some eighty
years previously, had escaped from their Spanish masters and taken to
the "high woods," or virgin forest, where, having taken to themselves
wives from among the neighbouring Indians, they had in process of time
grown into a formidable tribe, having one mission in life, and one only,
namely, to harry the Spanish settlements generally, and to destroy, with
every circumstance of the most refined and diabolical cruelty, every
Spanish man, woman, or child who might be so unfortunate as to fall into
their hands. Dyer knew something of these terrible blacks, having
already met them in Drake's company; he knew that they were ever to be
found lurking in the immediate vicinity of the half-dozen or so Spanish
settlements established on the isthmus, and believed that it might be
possible to obtain valuable information from them concerning the
condition of Nombre, and perhaps even to secure their assistance in the
contemplated attack upon the town. But when he suggested this last
proposal, George and the others at once vetoed it from motives of policy
and humanity, arguing that if the Cimarrones were permitted to gain
access to the interior of the town, there was no