told," by the coming in of many sea-birds to the shore's
shelter, but the lumbermen "believed it was a certain Token of the
Arrival of Ships," and took no precautions against tempest. Two days
later the wind broke upon them furiously, scattering their huts like
scraps of paper. The creek began to rise "faster than I ever saw it do
in the greatest Spring Tide," so that, by noon, the poor wretches,
huddled as they were in a hut, without fire, were fain to make ready a
canoa to save themselves from drowning. The trees in the woods were torn
up by the roots, "and tumbled down strangely across each other." The
ships in the creek were blown from their anchors. Two of them were
driven off to sea, dipping their bows clean under, and making shocking
weather of it. One of them was lost in the bay, being whelmed by a green
sea.

The storm destroyed all the tools and provisions of the lumbermen, and
left Dampier destitute. His illness, with the poisonous worm in his leg,
had kept him from work for some weeks, so that he had no cords of red
wood ready cut, "as the old Standards had," to buy him new tools and new
stores. Many of the men were in the same case, so they agreed with the
captains of two pirate ketches which called at the creek at that time,
to go a cruise to the west to seek their fortunes. They cruised up and
down the bay "and made many Descents into the country," "where we got
Indian Corn to eat with the Beef, and other Flesh, that we got by the
way." They also attacked Alvarado, a little, protected city on the river
of that name, but they lost heavily in the attack. Of the sixty pirates
engaged, ten or eleven were killed or desperately wounded. The fort was
not surrendered for four or five hours, by which time the citizens had
put their treasure into boats, and rowed it upstream to safety. It was
dark by the time the pirates won the fort, so that pursuit was out of
the question. They rested there that night, and spent the next day
foraging. They killed and salted a number of beeves, and routed out much
salt fish and Indian corn, "as much as we could stow away." They also
took a number of poultry, which the Spaniards were fattening in coops;
and nearly a hundred tame parrots, "yellow and red," which "would prate
very prettily." In short they heaped their decks with hen-coops,
parrot-cages, quarters of beef, casks of salt fish, and baskets full of
maize. In this state, the ships lay at anchor, with their men loafing on
d