men. They spent days in
trying to recover the money and plate which were on board the sunken
Spanish ships. The sterns of these projected above water, and a great
deal of valuable treasure was recovered from them. The pirates worked
very hard at this, although they had not the slightest idea how they
were to pass the castle and get away with the plunder after they had
obtained it.

When the wrecks had been stripped of everything of value, the time came
for demanding a ransom for not burning the town and hanging the
prisoners, and as the poor citizens knew very well what they might
expect, they sent word to the admiral, who had escaped to the castle,
begging him to accede to the demands of Morgan, and to let the wretched
pirates go. But the admiral, Don Alonso, was a thoroughbred Spaniard,
and he would listen to no such cowardly suggestion. He would consent to
no ransom being paid, and on no account would he allow the pirates to
pass the channel. The citizens, however, who knew what was good for
them, raised the money, and paid the ransom in coin and cattle, and
Morgan declared that if the admiral would not let him out of the lake,
he would have to attend to that matter himself.

But before he made another bold stroke against the enemy his stingy and
niggardly spirit urged him to defend himself against his friends, and
before endeavoring to leave he ordered a division of the spoils. Many of
the goods taken from the two towns were on board the different vessels
of the fleet, and he was very much afraid that if his comrades, who
commanded the other ships, should be so fortunate as to get out to sea,
they would sail away with the booty they carried, and he would not see
any of it. Therefore, the booty from every ship was brought on board his
own fine vessel, and every man was put through an examination as rigid
as if he had been passing a custom house, and was obliged to prove that
he had not concealed or kept back any money or jewels. The value of the
plunder was very great, and when it had been divided, according to the
scale which Morgan had adopted, the pirate leader felt safe. He now had
his share of the prizes in his own possession, and that to him was more
important than anything else in the world.

The question of getting away was a very serious one; the greater part of
his fleet consisted of small vessels which could not defy the guns of
the fort, and as the stout hearts and brawny arms of his followers could
b