WILLIAM EVANS CONTINUES HIS YARN. "We were now about two days' sail from the island of Porto Rico, and we had discovered from the ship's papers that it was from the Port of San Juan in that island that she had recently sailed. "The name of the craft was the _Villa de Vera Cruz_, and our plan was to re-christen her, alter her rig and general appearance, and sail boldly into the Port of San Juan, hoping to be taken for some vessel just arrived from Spain or elsewhere. Then, if unmolested, we should examine the harbour; and, if it were found to contain any vessel suitable for our purpose, the plan was that we were to wait for nightfall, and then board the other vessel by means of the boats, capture her, and sail out of the harbour again before daylight with both vessels. And when once well out of sight of land, and reasonably safe from pursuit, all the survivors of her crew, if any, were to be killed and flung overboard. All stores, cargo, and guns were to be transferred to the new capture, and our present craft sunk--as we had done with the galley. "It had become a saying with us that `dead men tell no tales'; so it was agreed to kill every soul we captured, taking care that none escaped us. We should thus--so we believed--keep our movements secret for some considerable period at any rate. For--it is useless for me to attempt to disguise the fact--we had not been in possession of our prize twenty-four hours ere we had agreed to start piracy in earnest, preying on all nations, and selecting some nook where we could hide what treasure we captured.