e should be soon alongside
of her, that he sent for his first Lieutenant, who commanded between
decks, and directed him to see all the great guns loaded with two
round-shot for the first broadside, and after that with one round-shot
and one grape, strictly charging him at the same time not to suffer a gun
to be fired till he, the Commodore, should give orders, which he informed
the Lieutenant would not be till we arrived within pistol-shot of the
enemy. In this constant and eager attention we continued all night,
always presuming that another quarter of an hour would bring us up with
this Manila ship, whose wealth, with that of her supposed consort, we
now estimated by round millions. But when the morning broke and daylight
came on, we were most strangely and vexatiously disappointed by finding
that the light which had occasioned all this bustle and expectancy was
only a fire on the shore. And yet I believe there was no person on board
who doubted of its being a ship's light, or of its being near at hand. It
was, indeed, upon a very high mountain, and continued burning for several
days afterwards. It was not a volcano, but, rather, as I suppose, stubble
or heath set on fire for some purpose of agriculture.

At sun-rising, after this mortifying delusion, we found ourselves about
nine leagues off the land. On this land we observed two remarkable
hummocks, such as are usually called paps; these a Spanish pilot and two
Indians, who were the only persons amongst us that pretended to have
traded in this part of the world, affirmed to be over the harbour of
Acapulco. Indeed, we very much doubted their knowledge of the coast, for
we found these paps to be in the latitude of 17 degrees 56 minutes,
whereas those over Acapulco are said to be in 17 degrees only, and we
afterwards found our suspicions of their skill to be well grounded.

And now, being in the track of the Manila galleon, it was a great doubt
with us (as it was near the end of January) whether she was or was not
arrived. And as we now began to want a harbour to refresh our people, the
uncertainty of our present situation gave us great uneasiness, and we
were very solicitous to get some positive intelligence, which might
either set us at liberty to consult our necessities, if the galleon was
arrived, or might animate us to continue on our present cruise with
cheerfulness if she was not. With this view the Commodore, after
examining our prisoners very particularly, res