nd in this condition he was
dragged to Captain Morgan. As soon as he was in the admiral's presence,
he was questioned as to the number of soldiers then in the forts, "with
many other circumstances." It must have been a most uncomfortable trial,
for "after every question, they made him a thousand menaces to kill him,
in case he declared not the truth." When they had examined him to their
satisfaction, they recommenced their march, "carrying always the said
sentry bound before them." Another mile brought them to an outlying
fortress, which was built apparently between Porto Bello and the sea,
to protect the coast road and a few outlying plantations. It was not yet
light, so the pirates crept about the fort unseen, "so that no person
could get either in or out." When they had taken up their ground, Morgan
bade the captured sentry hail the garrison, charging them to surrender
on pain of being cut to pieces. The garrison at once ran to their
weapons, and opened a fierce fire on the unseen enemy, thus giving
warning to the city that the pirates were attacking. Before they could
reload, the buccaneers, "the noble Sparks of Venus," stormed in among
them, taking them in their confusion, hardly knowing what was toward.
Morgan was furious that the Spaniards had not surrendered at discretion
on his challenge. The pirates were flushed with the excitement of the
charge. Someone proposed that they "should be as good as their words, in
putting the Spaniards to the sword, thereby to strike a terror into the
rest of the city." They hustled the Spanish soldiers "into one room,"
officers and men together. The cellars of the fort were filled with
powder barrels. Some ruffian took a handful of the powder, and spilled a
train along the ground, telling his comrades to stand clear. His mates
ran from the building applauding his device. In another moment the
pirate blew upon his musket match to make the end red, and fired the
train he had laid, "and blew up the whole castle into the air, with all
the Spaniards that were within." "Much the better way of the two," says
one of the chroniclers, who saw the explosion.

"This being done," says the calm historian, "they pursued the course of
their victory" into the town. By this time, the streets were thronged
with shrieking townsfolk. Men ran hither and thither with their poor
belongings. Many flung their gold and jewels into wells and cisterns, or
stamped them underground, "to excuse their being total