“The Gold Road,” answered his father, “was the roughly paved highway leading from the old city of Panama on the Pacific to Nombre de Dios and Porto Bello on the Caribbean. If you will look at the map here you will see Porto Bello situated about twenty-five miles east of Colón with Nombre de Dios just beyond. Nombre de Dios, however, was abandoned after its capture by Sir Francis Drake, and the terminus of the road became Porto Bello. To-day the place is of no importance—a small village of native huts—but the ruins of the old castles and forts are still standing in a good state of preservation, and the place is historically very interesting. Moreover, just off the port Sir Francis Drake’s body was buried at sea. But to resume. The Gold Road was the only route from the Pacific to the Atlantic and over it all the vast treasures won by the Spaniards from the west coasts of North, South and Central America and Mexico were transported on mule-back to be shipped to Spain. Over it were carried the millions in gold, silver and jewels of the Incas; over it was carried the output of countless fabulously rich mines, incalculable wealth in pearls from the islands off Panama, emeralds from Colombia, bullion and plate, the stupendous wealth wrested by the ruthless Dons from Indian princes, princesses and kings; such a treasure as the world had never seen before. In long mule trains the vast wealth was carried over the Gold Road through the jungle, escorted by armed men, accompanied by shackled slaves, and in Porto Bello it was stored in the great stone treasure house to await the galleons and their armed convoy to carry it to Spain. Naturally, with such incredible fortunes stored in Porto Bello, the Spaniards used every effort and spared no expense to make the place so impregnable that there was no chance of its falling to the buccaneers, and in all New Spain, aside from Havana, there was no spot more strongly fortified and garrisoned than Porto Bello. The defenses consisted of two immense castles or forts, several batteries and outlying bastions and a garrison of nearly four hundred men, all seasoned veterans and heavily armed. To attack this formidable spot Morgan had nine vessels, several of them small boats, and a total force of four hundred and sixty men. No buccaneer had dreamed of attacking Porto Bello since the completion of its defenses—although in 1602 it had been taken and sacked by William Parker—but Morgan counted on a complete surprise, an assault made under cover of darkness from the land side and conducted by one of his men who had once been a prisoner in Porto Bello.