ese lines that I
have come here and have put into a very good state of defense that
castle which you took out of the hands of a parcel of cowards; for I
have again mounted the artillery which you spiked and made useless.

"My intent is to dispute with you your passage out of the lake and to
follow and pursue you everywhere. Notwithstanding, if you be content to
surrender with humility all that you have taken, together with the
slaves and all other prisoners, I will let you pass freely and without
trouble or molestation, providing you agree to return to your own
country at once.

"But in case you make any resistance or opposition to my offers, I
assure you I will utterly destroy you and put every man of you to the
sword. This is my last absolute resolution. Be prudent, therefore, and
do not abuse my bounty. I have with me very good soldiers who desire
nothing more ardently than to revenge on you and your people all the
infamous cruelties and brutal acts that you have committed upon the
Spanish nation in America.

"Dated on board the royal ship Magdalena, lying at anchor at the entry
of Lake Maracaibo, this twenty-fourth day of April, Sixteen Hundred
Sixty-nine.

_Don Alonso del Campo y Espinosa_."

As soon as Captain Morgan had received this letter, he called all his
men together in the market place at Maracaibo, and after reading the
contents both in French and in English, he requested the advice of his
companions upon the whole matter, and asked whether they preferred to
surrender all they had gained in order to obtain their liberty, or if
they wished to fight for their possessions. With one voice they cried:
"We will fight and spill the very last drop of blood in our veins rather
than surrender the booty which we have captured at the risk of our
lives."

Among those who shouted most loudly was one who pushed his way forward
to Captain Morgan and said: "If you will take care of the rest, I, with
only twelve men, will agree to destroy the biggest of those ships. I
will take that vessel which we captured in the River of Gibraltar and
make of her a fire ship. However, to conceal our purpose from the enemy,
we will fill her decks with logs of wood standing erect and wearing hats
and caps. We will put more of these logs at the portholes where they can
be made to counterfeit cannon. At the stern we will hang out the English
colors, and so make the enemy think that she is one of our largest ships
well equipped for bat