, "and those commanded to land that
were in them before." They then marched on "with greater courage than
ever," till late into the night, when they lay down in a plundered bean
patch.

"On the sixth day" they were nearly at the end of their tether. They
dragged along slowly, some in boats, some in the woods, halting every
now and then in despair of going farther, and then staggering on again,
careless if they lived or died. Their lips were scummy with a sort of
green froth, caused by their eating grass and the leaves of trees. In
this condition they came at noon to a plantation, "where they found a
barn full of maize." They beat the door in in a few minutes, "and fell
to eating of it dry," till they were gorged with it. There was enough
for all, and plenty left to take away, so they distributed a great
quantity, "giving to every man a good allowance." With their knapsacks
full of corn cobs they marched on again, in happier case than they had
been in for several days. They soon came to "an ambuscade of Indians,"
but no Indians stayed within it to impeach their passage. On catching
sight of the barricade many buccaneers flung away their corn cobs, with
the merry improvidence of their kind, "with the sudden hopes they
conceived of finding all things in abundance." But the larder was as
bare as it had been in the other strongholds: it contained "neither
Indians, nor victuals, nor anything else." On the other side of the
river, however, there were many Indians, "a troop of a hundred," armed
with bows, "who escaped away through the agility of their feet." Some of
the pirates "leapt into the river" to attack these Indians, and to bring
them into camp as prisoners. They did not speed in their attempt, but
two or three of them were shot through the heart as they waded. Their
corpses drifted downstream, to catch in the oars of the canoas, a
horrible feast for the caymans. The others returned to their comrades on
the right or northern bank of the river among the howls of the Indians:
"Hey, you dogs, you, go on to the savannah; go on to the savannah, to
find out what's in pickle for you."

They could go no farther towards the savannah for that time, as they
wished to cross the river, and did not care to do so, in the presence of
an enemy, without due rest. They camped about big fires of wood,
according to their custom, but they slept badly, for the hunger and toil
had made them mutinous. The growling went up and down the camp til