140 tons burden, and sailed for Darien. When
he arrived at this isthmus, he laid up his ship and marched inland,
guided by Indians. After traveling twelve leagues among the
mountains, he came to a small river running down into the Pacific.
Here he and his comrades built a boat, launched it in the stream,
and dropped down into the bay of Panama. Then he rowed to the Isle
of Pearls, and there captured a small barque, from Quito, with
sixty pounds of gold. This raised the spirits of the adventurers,
and six days later they took another barque, with a hundred and
sixty pounds of silver. They then set off in quest of pearls. They
searched for a few days, but did not find them in proportion to
their expectations. They therefore determined to return, and
re-entered the mouth of the river they had descended. Here they
loosed the prizes they had taken, and let them go.

The delay at Pearl Island was a mistake, and a misfortune. Captain
Oxenford should have known that the Spanish authorities of the
mainland would, when they heard that a single boat's load of
Englishmen was ravaging their commerce, make a great effort to
capture him; and his attack should have been swift and determined,
and his retreat made without a halt. The fortnight which had been
allowed to slip away caused his ruin. The news of their presence
speedily arrived at Panama. Captain Ortuga was dispatched with four
barques in search of them and, falling in with the liberated
prizes, learned the course that the English had taken. The river
had three branches, and the Spaniard would have been much puzzled
to know which to ascend; but the carelessness of the adventurers
gave him a clue; for, as he lay with his boats, wondering which
river he should ascend, he saw floating on the water large
quantities of feathers. These were sufficient indications of a camp
on the banks, and he at once followed that branch of the stream.

In four days he came upon the boat, which was hauled upon the sand,
with only six men with her. They were lying asleep on the bank, and
the coming of the Spaniards took them completely by surprise, and
one of them was killed before he could make his escape into the
woods. The rest got off. The Spaniards left twenty men to guard the
boat, and with eighty others went up the country. Half a league
away they found some huts, and in these the treasures of gold and
silver which the English had captured were discovered.

Satisfied with having recovered