On the Spanish Main; Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of DarienMasefield, John
History
On the Spanish Main; Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien
Masefield, John
Buccaneers; Spanish Main
train along the ground, telling his comrades to stand clear. His mates
ran from the building applauding his device. In another moment the
pirate blew upon his musket match to make the end red, and fired the
train he had laid, "and blew up the whole castle into the air, with all
the Spaniards that were within." "Much the better way of the two," says
one of the chroniclers, who saw the explosion.
"This being done," says the calm historian, "they pursued the course of
their victory" into the town. By this time, the streets were thronged
with shrieking townsfolk. Men ran hither and thither with their poor
belongings. Many flung their gold and jewels into wells and cisterns, or
stamped them underground, "to excuse their being totally robbed." The
bells were set clanging in the belfries; while, to increase the
confusion, the Governor rode into the streets, calling on the citizens
to rally and stand firm. As the dreadful panic did not cease, he rode
out of the mob to one of the castles (Castle Gloria), where the troops
were under arms. It was now nearly daybreak, or light enough for them to
see their enemy. As the pirates came in sight among the fruit-trees, the
Governor trained his heavy guns upon them, and opened a smart fire. Some
lesser castles, or the outlying works of Castle Gloria, which formed the
outer defences of the town, followed his example; nor could the pirates
silence them. One party of buccaneers crept round the fortifications to
the town, where they attacked the monastery and the convent, breaking
into both with little trouble, and capturing a number of monks and nuns.
With these they retired to the pirates' lines.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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