d them that the
Castle de la Barra, which guarded the entrance to the Gulf, had been
mounted with great guns and manned by a strong garrison. Outside the
channel were three Spanish men-of-war with their guns run out and decks
cleared for battle.

The truth of these assertions was confirmed by a scouting party the same
day. In order to gain a little time Morgan sent a Spaniard to the
admiral of the men-of-war, demanding a ransom "for not putting Maracaibo
to the flame." The answer reached him in a day or two, warning him to
surrender all his plunder, and telling him that if he did not, he should
be destroyed by the sword. There was no immediate cause for haste,
because the Spanish admiral could not cross the sandbanks into the Gulf
until he had obtained flat-bottomed boats from Caracas. Morgan read the
letter to his men "in the market-place of Maracaibo," "both in French
and English," and then asked them would they give up all their spoil,
and pass unharmed, or fight for its possession. They agreed with one
voice to fight, "to the very last drop of blood," rather than surrender
the booty they had risked their skins to get. One of the men undertook
to rig a fireship to destroy the Spanish admiral's flagship. He proposed
to fill her decks with logs of wood "standing with hats and Montera
caps," like gunners standing at their guns. At the port-holes they would
place other wooden logs to resemble cannon. The ship should then hang
out the English colours, the Jack or the red St George's cross, so that
the enemy should deem her "one of our best men of war that goes to fight
them." The scheme pleased everyone, but there was yet much anxiety among
the pirates. Morgan sent another letter to the Spanish admiral, offering
to spare Maracaibo without ransom; to release his prisoners, with one
half of the captured slaves; and to send home the hostages he brought
away from Gibraltar, if he might be granted leave to pass the entry. The
Spaniard rejected all these terms, with a curt intimation that, if the
pirates did not surrender within two more days, they should be compelled
to do so at the sword's point.

Morgan received the Spaniard's answer angrily, resolving to attempt the
passage "without surrendering anything." He ordered his men to tie the
slaves and prisoners, so that there should be no chance of their
attempting to rise. They then rummaged Maracaibo for brimstone, pitch,
and tar, with which to make their fireship. They strew