MORGAN'S EARLY CAREER—HE RESOLVES TO ATTACK PORTOBELLO—THE CASTLE OF TRIANA BLOWN INTO THE AIR—CAPTURE OF THE CITY—ATROCITIES COMMITTED BY THE BUCCANEERS—THE PRESIDENT OF PANAMÁ MARCHES AGAINST THEM—HE IS DRIVEN BACK—MORGAN SENDS HIM A SPECIMEN OF HIS WEAPONS—RANSOM OF THE CITY AND RETURN TO JAMAICA—THE BUCCANEERS PREPARE ANOTHER ARMAMENT, AND RESOLVE TO ATTACK PANAMÁ—CAPTURE OF FORT SAN LORENZO—MARCH ACROSS THE ISTHMUS—MORGAN ARRIVES IN SIGHT OF PANAMÁ—COWARDICE OF THE GOVERNOR—BATTLE WITH THE SPANIARDS—BURNING OF THE CITY—TORTURE OF PRISONERS—BRAVERY OF A CAPTIVE GENTLEWOMAN—THE BUCCANEERS RECROSS THE ISTHMUS—DIVISION OF THE BOOTY. None of the "brethren of the coast," as English buccaneer, French filibuster, and Dutch sea-rover were pleased to style each other, are better known to fame than Henry Morgan, the Welshman, whose deeds have been heralded in all the principal languages of Europe. Born of respectable parents in easy circumstances, he left home still a lad, and shipped for Barbadoes in the service of a master who, on reaching port, sold him as a slave. On regaining his liberty he proceeded to Jamaica, and finding no other employment joined a piratical expedition which was then on the point of starting for a cruise in the Spanish West Indies. After storing up his share in the proceeds of three or four profitable raids, he was enabled to purchase a vessel in partnership with a few of his more thrifty comrades, and being elected captain made a successful cruise off the coast of Campeche. On his return he was appointed vice-admiral of a fleet, which, under the command of Mansvelt, was preparing for an attack on the island of Santa Catarina. On the death of Mansvelt in 1664, Morgan, whose gallantry had won the respect of the buccaneers, was appointed his successor, and soon found himself in command of a dozen vessels and seven hundred men. A council was summoned, and it was first proposed to attempt the capture of the city of Habana; but not daring to undertake such an enterprise with so slender a force, the freebooters determined to plunder Puerto Principe, an island town of Cuba grown rich by traffic in hides, and one never yet sacked by the sea-robbers. Warned by a Spanish prisoner who escaped from the fleet as it neared the shore, the inhabitants had time to conceal most of their valuables, and the spoils of this expedition amounted to but fifty thousand pesos, a sum insufficient to pay the debts of the marauders on their return to Jamaica. It was at once determined to undertake some new adventure, and though a difference of opinion between the French and English members of his command caused the former to withdraw from Morgan's service, he soon afterward set sail for the mainland with a fleet of nine ships, and a force of four hundred and sixty fighting men, revealing his design to no one, but promising his followers booty in abundance. [Sidenote: ATTACK ON PORTO BELLO.]