Nothing could be more evident to us than that she came to look at us, nor could we imagine anything less; from whence we immediately concluded that we were discovered, and that our taking away the doctor had given a great alarm among the Spaniards, as we afterwards came to understand it had done. But we came a little while afterwards to a better understanding about the frigate. I was so uneasy about it, that I resolved to speak with her if possible, so I ordered the Madagascar ship, which of the two, was rather a better sailer than our own, to stand in directly to the coast of Chili, and then to ply to the northward, just in sight of the shore, till he came into the latitude of 22°; and, if he saw nothing in all that run, then to come down again directly into the latitude of the island of Juan Fernandez, but keeping the distance of ten leagues off farther than before, and to ply off and on in that latitude for five days; and then, if he did not meet with me, to stand in for the island. While he did this, I did the same at the distance of near fifty leagues from the shore, being the distance which I thought the frigate kept in as she stood away from me. We made our cruise both of us very punctually; I found him in the station we agreed on, and we both stood into the road again from whence we came. We no sooner made the road, but we saw the frigate, as I called her, with another ship at an anchor in the same road where she had seen us; and it was easy to see that they were both of them in a great surprise and hurry at our appearing, and that they were under sail in so very little time as that we easily saw they had slipped their cables, or cut away their anchors. They fired guns twice, which we found was a signal for their boats, which were on shore, to come on board; and soon after we saw three boats go off to them, though, as we understood afterwards, they were obliged to leave sixteen or seventeen of their men behind them, who, being among the rocks catching of goats, either did not hear the signals, or could not come to their boats time enough. When we saw them in this hurry, we thought it must be something extraordinary, and bore down upon them, having the weather-gage. They were ships of pretty good force, and full of men, and when they saw we were resolved to speak with them, and that there was no getting away from us, they made ready to engage; and putting themselves upon a-wind, first stretching ahead to get the weather-gage of us, when they thought they were pretty well, boldly tacked, and lay by for us, hoisting the English ancient and union jack.