against the mainland, but he realized that he could not expect to hold it with his handful of men, so he set out for Jamaica to enlist the aid of the governor. His Excellency, however, frowned on the proposal. Not that he was unwilling to aid his buccaneer friends, but he realized that any such overt act must reach the ears of His Majesty the King and, moreover, he could ill spare the necessary men and guns from the garrison at Jamaica. Not despairing of carrying out his project, Mansvelt made for Tortuga with the idea of getting help from the French, but before he arrived he died. Meanwhile the buccaneers at St. Catherine realized their reënforcements were not forthcoming and decided to abandon the place, but before this could be done they were attacked by a superior force of Spaniards and surrendered. Evidently, too, the wily Governor of Jamaica had been thinking over the matter and surreptitiously dispatched a party of men and a number of women in a British ship to St. Catherine. Never suspecting that the isle had fallen into the Dons’ hands they sailed boldly in and were made prisoners and were transported to Porto Bello and Panama, where the men were forced to labor like slaves at constructing fortifications. “Morgan now, by Mansvelt’s death, was in command of the fleet, and with the idea of carrying out his former chief’s intentions he wrote letters to various prominent merchants in New England and Virginia, asking for funds and supplies to enable him to retain possession of St. Catherine. Before replies were received, however, he had word of the recapture of the island by the Spaniards and, abandoning this project, set out for Cuba. His original idea was to attack Havana, but deeming his force of twelve ships and seven hundred men too small for this he decided upon Puerto Príncipe—now known as Camagüey—as the town to ravage. This town, which had originally been upon the northern coast of Cuba, had been moved inland to escape the raids of the buccaneers, but this fact did not deter Morgan in the least. Landing upon the coast, Morgan and his men started overland, but unknown to them a Spanish prisoner on one of the ships had managed to escape and, swimming ashore, had made his way to the town and had warned the inhabitants. As a result, the people were up in arms, the roads were barricaded, and the buccaneers were forced to approach through the jungle.