water, and that no
one ever attempted to fish for her because there falls in here a great
high sea."[5]

In the bay of Guayaquil, on the coast of Peru, Davis and Swan, who had
joined him in a small ship called the _Cygnet_, captured four vessels,
three of which had cargoes of negroes. Most of them were let go, to
the great disappointment of Dampier who was filled with a mighty scheme
of treasure finding which he outlined in these words:

"Never was put into the hands of men a greater opportunity to enrich
themselves. We had 1000 negroes, all lusty young men and women, and we
had 200 tons of flour stored up at the Galapagos Islands. With these
negroes we might have gone and settled at Santa Maria on the Isthmus of
Darien, and have employed them in getting gold out of the mines there.
All the Indians living in that neighborhood were mortal enemies to the
Spaniards, were flushed by successes against them, and for several
years had been fast friends of the privateers. Add to which, we should
have had the North Sea open to us, and in a short time should have
received assistance from all parts of the West Indies. Many thousands
of buccaneers from Jamaica and the French islands would have flocked to
us; and we should have been an overmatch for all the force the
Spaniards could have brought out of Peru against us."

Soon after this, the little squadron blockaded the Bay of Panama for
several weeks, plundering whatever shipping came their way. There they
were joined by two hundred Frenchmen and eighty Englishmen, old
buccaneers who had crossed the Isthmus of Darien to have a fling in the
South Seas. Presently another party of two hundred and sixty-four sea
rovers under French command were added to the fleet, besides a strong
force of Englishmen led by one Townley. Davis was made
commander-in-chief of this formidable combination of ten ships and nine
hundred and sixty men, of which the flagship was the _Batchelor's
Delight_. They laid in wait for the annual treasure fleet sent by the
Viceroy of Peru to Panama and found it, but were beaten off because
Davis' confederates lacked his eagerness for fighting at close quarters.

Turning his attention to the mainland, Davis sacked and burned the city
of Leon on the lake of Nicaragua. There one of the free-booters killed
"was a stout, grey-headed old man of the name of Swan, aged about
eighty-four years, who had served under Cromwell, and had ever since
made privateering or