heir leader proposed to attack so strong a place as this the
hearts of the boldest among them shrank. But Morgan, with a few inspiring
words, restored their courage.

"What boots it," he exclaimed, "how small our number, if our hearts be
great! The fewer we are the closer will be our union and the larger our
shares of plunder."

Boldness and secrecy carried the day. One of the castles was taken by
surprise, the first knowledge of the attack coming to the people of the
town from the concussion when Morgan blew it up. Before the garrison or
the citizens could prepare to oppose them the freebooters were in the
town. The governor and garrison fled in panic haste to the other castle,
while the terrified people threw their treasures into wells and cisterns.
The castle made a gallant resistance, but was soon obliged to yield to the
impetuous attacks of the pirate crews.

It was no light exploit which Morgan had performed,--to take with five
hundred men a fortified city with a large garrison and strengthened by
natural obstacles to assault. The ablest general in ordinary war might
well have claimed renown for so signal a victory. But the ability of the
leader was tarnished by the cruelty of the buccaneer. The people were
treated with shocking barbarity, many of them being shut up in convents
and churches and burned alive, while the pirates gave themselves up to
every excess of debauchery.

The great booty gained by this raid caused numerous pirate captains to
enlist under Morgan's flag, and other towns were taken, in which similar
orgies of cruelty and debauchery followed. But the impunity of the
buccaneers was nearing its end. Their atrocious acts had at length aroused
the indignation of the civilized world, and a treaty was concluded between
Great Britain and Spain whose chief purpose was to put an end to these
sanguinary and ferocious deeds.

The first effect of this treaty was to spur the buccaneers to the
performance of some exploit surpassing any they had yet achieved. So high
was Morgan's reputation among the pirates that they flocked from all
quarters to enlist under his flag, and he soon had a fleet of no fewer
than thirty-seven vessels manned by two thousand men. With so large a
force an expedition on a greater scale could well be undertaken, and a
counsel of the chiefs debated whether they should make an assault upon
Vera Cruz, Carthagena, or Panama. Their choice fell upon Panama, as the
richest of the three.