The Threat to Espinosa.--Adroit Stratagem.--Wonderful Escape.--The Storm.--Revelry at Jamaica.--History of Hispaniola.--Plan of a New Expedition.--The Foraging Ships.--Morgan’s Administrative Energies.--Return of the Foragers.--Rendezvous at Cape Tiburon.--Magnitude and Armament of the Fleet.--Preparations to Sail. Morgan, in the self-assurance of triumph, sent word to the governor of Maracaibo, that unless he sent him, within eight days, five hundred beef cattle, the city of Maracaibo should be reduced to smouldering ruins. They were sent in within two days. All hands were employed in butchering, salting, and storing away the meat in preparation for sea. Returning with his fleet to the mouth of the lake, Morgan sent word to Admiral Espinosa that he had, on board his ships, between two and three hundred prisoners, including one hundred and fifty sailors of the Spanish fleet, who were captured in the Marquesas. He demanded a free passage, promising, if that were granted him, he would send all his prisoners unharmed ashore, as soon as his fleet was safe on the other side of the fort. If this free passage were not granted him, he declared that he would force his way through; and that he would bind all his prisoners to the rigging, that they might be the most exposed to the shot from the fort; and that having passed by, every one who survived the cannonade should be killed and thrown overboard. The prisoners, well instructed in the cruelty and the inflexible will of this demoniac pirate, sent the most pathetic appeals to the admiral to save them from this dreadful fate. He, influenced by the pride of the soldier rather than by human sympathies, unfeelingly replied: “If you had been as loyal to the king in hindering the entrance of these pirates as I shall be in hindering their going out, you would never have caused these troubles either to yourselves or to our whole nation, which hath suffered so much through your pusillanimity. I shall not grant your request; but shall endeavor, according to my duty, to maintain that respect which is due to my king.” When Morgan heard of this reply he said: “Very well; if the admiral will not give me permission to pass, I will find a way of passing without his permission.” Before attempting to run through the strait, all the pirates landed for a division of the booty. In making an inventory of their effects it was found that they had, in gold, silver, and jewels, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. They had a still larger sum than this in the vast amount of merchandise which they had gathered from all the ships and store-houses of the two cities. They had also a large number of slaves, who brought cash prices in all the ports of the West Indies.