walls were strong and were defended with such skill
that the assailants were driven back time and again. The pirates had
nothing but small guns with them, and although they advanced close to
the castle walls and kept up a constant fire, yet they were able to do
very little damage. On the other hand, the Spaniards were well armed,
and in the course of the day succeeded in killing and wounding no less
than sixty of the pirates. Toward evening the buccaneers retired
discouraged to their ships.

All that night the Spaniards labored hard to strengthen their castle and
to put things in readiness for the renewal of the attack which they
expected on the morrow. However, Captain Morgan did not continue his
attack on the second day, but busied himself in taking prisoner such of
the sailors as he could find in the water or on the shore, and trying to
recover some of the riches that were lost in the two ships.

Among those whom he captured was the pilot of the second vessel. This
man was a stranger among the Spanish, and from him Morgan gathered much
information. By this means he discovered that the Spanish Council of
State had sent six well-equipped men-of-war with instructions to drive
the English pirates out of the seas, and to destroy as many of them as
possible. This vigorous action was taken at the order of the Spanish
monarch, who had frequently complained to the English of the
depredations their subjects were committing on the Spanish possessions,
but had never been given the least satisfaction. When, however, the
ships arrived at Cartagena, two of the six were found to be too large
for cruising along the shallow waters of the coast, and were returned to
Spain. The remaining four sailed toward Campeche to seek out the
English, but in the port of that city one of the ships was lost in a
fierce gale, and only the three which Morgan had now captured remained
to act against the pirates. The night before Morgan arrived, the admiral
had given a banquet to all his people, and on that occasion he persuaded
them neither to take nor to give quarter; and this was the reason why
the sailors fought even in the presence of death by drowning. It seems
that Don Alonso had been warned by a deserting negro that the buccaneers
were building a fire ship, but he deemed it impossible that they should
construct one that would menace the safety of his vessels.

More important information which the pilot gave, however, was that in
the vessel whic