,
which the troops had flung away in their hurry.

Having dispersed the enemy, the men reformed in the Plaza, "where a tree
groweth hard by the Cross." Some hands were detailed to stop the ringing
of the alarm bell, which still clanged crazily in the belfry; but the
church was securely fastened, and it was found impossible to stop the
ringing without setting the place on fire, which Drake forbade. While
the men were trying to get into the church, Drake forced two or three
prisoners to show him the Governor's house, where the mule trains from
Panama were unloaded. Only the silver was stored in that place; for the
gold, pearls, and jewels, "being there once entered by the King's
officer," were locked in a treasure-house, "very strongly built of lime
and stone," at a little distance from the Cross, not far from the
water-side. At the Governor's house they found the door wide open, and
"a fair gennet ready saddled" waiting for the Governor to descend. A
torch or candle was burning on the balcony, and by its light the
adventurers saw "a huge heap of silver" in the open space beneath the
dwelling-rooms. It was a pile of bars of silver, heaped against the wall
in a mass that was roughly estimated to be seventy feet in length, ten
feet across, and twelve feet high--each bar weighing about forty pounds.
The men were for breaking their ranks in order to plunder the pile; but
Drake bade them stand to their arms. The King's treasure-house, he said,
contained more gold and pearls than they could take away; and presently,
he said, they would break the place open, and see what lay within. He
then marched his men back into the Plaza.

All this time the town was filled with confusion. Guns were being fired
and folk were crying out in the streets. It was not yet light, and
certain of the garrison, who had been quartered outside the city, ran to
and fro with burning matches, shouting out "Que gente? Que gente?" The
town at that time was very full of people, and this noise and confusion,
and the sight of so many running figures, began to alarm the boat guard
on the beach. One Diego, a negro, who had joined them on the sands, had
told them that the garrison had been reinforced only eight days before
by 150 Spanish soldiers.

This report, coupled with the anxiety of their position, seems to have
put the boat party into a panic. They sent off messengers to Drake,
saying that the pinnaces were "in danger to be taken," and that the
force wou