our vigilance and readiness to receive the enemy,
which they could not be ignorant of, cooled their resolution, and made
them forget the vaunts of the preceding day; so that we passed this
second night with as little molestation as we had done the first.

We had finished sending the treasure on board the evening before, so
that the third morning, being the 15th of November, the boats were
employed in carrying off the most valuable part of the effects from
the town. As the commodore proposed to sail in the afternoon, he this
day about ten o'clock, pursuant to his promise, sent all his prisoners
on shore, to the number of eighty-eight, giving orders to Lieutenant
Brett to have them secured in one of the churches under a strict
guard, till he and his men were ready to embark. Mr Brett was also
ordered to set the whole town on fire, except the two churches, which
fortunately stood at some distance from the houses, after which he was
to abandon the place and return on board. Mr Brett punctually complied
with these orders, and immediately distributed pitch, tar, and other
combustibles, of which there was great abundance to be had, into
various houses in the several streets of the town, so that as the
place was to be fired in many different quarters at the same time, the
destruction might be the more violent and sudden, and the enemy
might not be able to extinguish it after his departure. All these
preparations being made, Mr Brett made the cannon in the fort be
spiked; and setting fire to the houses most to windward, he collected
his men and marched them to the beach, where the boats waited to take
them off.

As that part of the beach where he intended to embark was an open
place without the town, near the churches, his retreat was perceived
by the Spaniards on the hill, on which they resolved to endeavour
to precipitate his departure, in order to have a pretext for
future boasting. For this purpose, a small squadron of their horse,
consisting of about sixty, selected probably for this service, marched
down the hill with much seeming resolution, as if they had proposed
to have charged our men now on the open beach without any advantage
or situation. But no sooner did Mr Brett halt his men and face about,
than they stopped their career, and did not venture to advance any
farther. On arriving at the boats, and being quite ready to embark,
our people were detained some time by missing one of their number;
and, after some consi