Creeping along under the shroud of night and the cover of a dense thicket, the silence broken now and then by the watchword of a drowsy sentinel, the freebooters surrounded the castle unperceived, and Morgan, coming close under the walls, bid his captive summon the garrison to capitulate, threatening sure death in case of resistance. They replied with a random volley of musketry and cannon shot. Applying scaling-ladders to the walls, the buccaneers swarmed over the parapets, and after a stout resistance the Spaniards surrendered. Morgan fulfilled his threat. Securing all his prisoners in a large chamber, near the powder-magazine, he fired it by means of match and train when at a safe distance, and the citizens of Portobello, now roused by the sound of the firing, beheld the castle and all its inmates blown high into the air. The invaders fell at once on the panic-stricken inhabitants, rushing through the streets with hideous outcries, and cutting down whomever they met. Many had already fled to the neighboring forests, first casting their money and jewelry into wells and cisterns, or hiding them underground. The governor of the town rallied a small party and retired with them into the strongest of the remaining forts, whence a brisk fire was opened on the assailants. Approaching within two hundred yards the buccaneers aimed at the mouths of the cannon, picking off the Spanish gunners as they reloaded their pieces; but their ranks were repeatedly ploughed by well-directed discharges of artillery. After suffering heavy loss to little purpose, they came close up to the castle and attempted to burn down the gates. The Spaniards received them with sharp volleys of musketry, and dropping hand-grenades and missiles of every description on the heads of the besiegers, they drove them back beyond the range of the guns. Morgan now began to despair, but rallied after remaining for a while in hesitation as to his next movement. To quote the words of Exquemelin, "many faint and calm meditations came into his mind; neither could he determine which way to turn himself in that strait." A part of his forces had been detailed to attack one of the minor fortresses, and looking in that direction he saw that his men had already planted the English colors on the battlements, and were hastening to his support. Taking heart from this success the commander at once resolved to renew the attack, and being a man ready of resource soon hit on a new expedient. He caused a number of priests and nuns to be seized and dragged from their cloisters, and ordering scaling-ladders to be made, wide enough for several to mount abreast, bid his prisoners fix them against the castle walls, thinking thus to shield his men from the weapons of the Spaniards. [Sidenote: A VALIANT SPANIARD.]