Dampier, considering that the enterprise was dangerous, returned with a part of the men on board; the rest continued their sport and slept on shore. Next morning they discovered that their boat, which they had left on the beach, was destroyed, and that they were watched by a party of fifty armed Spaniards. The enemy, however, afraid to encounter them openly, remained among the trees, and kept firing from thence at them. The latter thought it prudent to retreat to an isolated rock which they had seen when landing, just appearing above the water. Wading off to it, almost up to their necks, amidst a shower of bullets, they gained its highest point. Here they hoped to hold out until the Spaniards had retired; but what was their horror to find that the water was rising, and that in a short time the rock would be entirely covered! Fortunately their position was seen from the ships, and a boat sent to rescue them. On the death of Captain Cook, the quartermaster, Edward Davis, was elected commander in his stead. After this the pirates entered the Gulf of Amapalla. On an island within it the priest of a village was made prisoner, with two native boys, while endeavouring to escape. With these as hostages, Captain Davis and a number of his men proceeded to the town, where he told the people that his people were Spaniards, and had been sent to clear the sea of pirates, his intention being to repair his ships. This statement being credited, he and his men were well received. He accompanied the inhabitants to church, where all public business was transacted. The intention of Davis was to ensnare the principal inhabitants, and to make them pay a ransom. His object was frustrated, in consequence of one of the pirates violently pushing a man before him, when the Indians, suspecting treachery, took to flight. Upon this Davis and his people fired, and one of the unfortunate Indians was killed. Notwithstanding this, through fear, they assisted in storing the ships with animals taken from a farm belonging to a nunnery. In return, Davis presented one of his prizes, laden with flour, to the inhabitants. The crews having had a dispute about the division of the spoil, the two vessels here separated; Eaton sailing on the 2nd of September, and Davis, accompanied by Dampier, on the following day, the padre and the young Indians having been previously landed. Davis now found it difficult to decide what course to pursue. The Spaniards were everywhere on the alert, in consequence of a party of buccaneers having crossed the isthmus, and now being engaged in cruising in boats along the coast. The _Bachelor's Delight_ now put into La Plata, where Drake had destroyed the _Cacafuego_. While she lay here, the _Cygnet_, of London, a regular trader, under Captain Swan, came in. He had endeavoured to open up a peaceful traffic with the Spaniards, but his party had been attacked and several of his men killed.