imagine
by whose fault, neither did the time give him the leasure to search." It
was a still night, and he had heard no noise, yet something had startled
the cavalier. Earnestly hoping that the rider had been alarmed by the
silence of the night and the well-known danger of the road, he lay down
among the grass again to wait for the mules to come. The bells clanged
nearer and nearer, till at last the mules were trotting past the ambush.
The captains blew their whistles to the attack. The raiders rose from
the grass-clumps with a cheer. There was a rush across the narrow
trackway at the drivers, the mules were seized, and in a moment, two
full recuas were in the raiders' hands.

So far all had gone merrily. The sailors turned to loot the mule packs,
congratulating themselves upon their glorious good fortune. It must have
been a strange scene to witness--the mules scared and savage, the jolly
seamen laughing as they pulled the packs away, the Maroons grinning and
chattering, and the harness and the bells jingling out a music to the
night. As the packs were ripped open a mutter of disappointment began to
sound among the ranks of the spoilers. Pack after pack was found to
consist of merchandise--vicuna wool, or dried provender for the
galleons. The amount of silver found amounted to a bare two horse loads.
Gold there was none. The jewels of the King's treasurer were not to be
discovered. The angry sailors turned upon the muleteers for an
explanation. The chief muleteer, "a very sensible fellow," was taken to
Drake, who soon learned from him the reason why the catch was so poor.
The cavalier who had noticed Robert Pike was the saviour of the
treasure. As soon as the figure half all in white had risen ghost-like
by the road, he had galloped to the treasure mules to report what he had
seen to the treasurer. The thing he had seen was vague, but it was yet
too unusual to pass unnoticed. Drake, he said, was a person of devilish
resource, and it was highly probable, he thought, that the pirates had
come "in covert through the woods" to recoup themselves for their former
disappointments. A white shirt was the usual uniform for men engaged in
night attacks. No Maroon would wear such a thing in that locality, and,
therefore, it would be well to let the food train pass ahead of the
treasure. The loss of the food train would be a little matter, while it
would surely show them whether an ambush lay in wait or not. The
treasurer had acco