t that time the entrance to the harbor was very narrow, and the channel
swept close under the Port Royal shore. Everybody in the town knew that
something had happened on the frigate. The garrison of the fort was out
and the guns were loaded and bore fair upon the channel. Softly, for
they were within earshot distance of the fort, Morgan passed the word to
train the guns of the battery on the parapet of the fort. He also told
off all the men with small arms to line the side, with instructions for
them to fire at the port-holes of the fort as they passed, and he
charged every one, under pain of death, to keep all fast until he gave
the word. Hornigold bent all his mind to getting the ship safely out of
the harbor. Two or three reliable men were stationed in the gangway,
whose sole business it was to repeat his commands without fail during
the confusion, no matter what happened. They were right in the entrance
now, and coming opposite the fort. The men below were still keeping up a
great noise, but a hail which came across the water from the rampart was
entirely audible, the distance not being more than half pistol shot.

"Hello, the _Mary Rose_! Hello, the frigate!"

"Ay, ay! What is it?"

"Where are you going? Where's Lord Carlingford?"

There was no answer. The rapidly moving ship was fairly abreast the fort
now. In thirty seconds she would be beyond it.

"We have killed the Governor and Kempthorne, and this is the ship of Sir
Henry Morgan, bound for the Spanish Main on a buccaneering cruise.
Fire!"

A perfect hail of shot at point blank range belched forth from the
twenty-four guns of the larboard battery of the onrushing ship. In the
surprise and confusion caused by this murderous discharge at short
range, the frigate slipped by, and although every gun in the fort,
whether it bore or not, was finally discharged by the infuriated
soldiery, no serious damage was done to the ship. Here and there a man
fell. The starboard main topsail sheet was cut, a few ropes parted, but
that was all. Pouring a perfect hail of musketry and pistol fire upon
the surprised garrison, which did execution, the frigate slipped through
the channel. Before the cannon could be reloaded they were out of range.
There before them lay the open sea, bounded to the southward by the rich
and unprotected cities of the Spanish Main.

"We're out of the harbor, sir," cried Hornigold, coming aft to where
Morgan stood triumphant on the poop.

"That's