We continu'd to Cruise [_Feb._ 2] hereabout, but without finding any other Prize for near three Weeks more; so we resolv'd to go up as high as _Puna_, the Place where I had been so lucky before; and we assur'd our Prisoners, that in about two Months we would return, and relieve them; but they chose rather to be on Board us, so we took them all in again, and kept on with an easy Sail, at a proper Distance from Land, that we might not be known, and the Alarm given; for as to the Ship which we had taken, and which was stranded among the Rocks, as we had taken all the Men out of her, the People on the Shore, when they should find her, could think no other than that she was driven on Shore by a Storm, and that all the People were drown'd, or all escap'd and gone; and there was no Doubt but that the Ship would beat to Pieces in a very few Days. We kept, I say, at a Distance from the Shore, to prevent giving the Alarm; but it was a needless Caution, for the Country was all alarm'd on another Account, _viz._ about an 130 bold Buccaneers had made their Way over Land, not at the Isthmus of _Darien_, as usual, but from _Granada_, on the Lake of _Nicaragua_ to the North of _Panama_, by which, tho' the Way was longer, and the Country not so practicable as at the ordinary Passage, yet they were unmolested, for they surpriz'd the Country; and whereas the _Spaniards_, looking for them at the old Passage, had drawn Entrenchments, planted Guns, and posted Men at the Passages of the Mountains, to intercept them and cut them off, here they met with no _Spaniards_, nor any other Obstruction in their Way, but coming to the South Sea had Time, undiscover'd, to build themselves Canoes and Periaguas, and did a great deal of Mischief upon the Shore, having been follow'd, among the rest, by 80 Men more, commanded by one _Guilotte_, a _Frenchman_, an old Buccaneer; so that they were now 210 Men; and they were not long at Sea before they took two _Spanish_ Barks going from _Guatimala_ to _Panama_, loaden with Meal, Coco, and other Provisions; so that now they were a Fleet of two Barks, with several Canoes, and Periaguas, but no Guns, nor any more Ammunition than every one carry'd at first at their Backs. However, this Troop of Desperadoes had alarm'd all the Coast, and Expresses both by Sea and Land were dispatch'd, to warn the Towns on the Coast to be upon their Guard, all the way from _Panama_ to _Lima_; but as they were represented to be only such Freebooters as I have said, Ships of Strength did not desist their Voyages, as they found Occasion, as we shall observe presently: We were now gotten into the Latitude of 10, 11, and 12 Degrees and a Half; but, in our overmuch Caution, had kept out so far to Sea, that we miss'd every Thing which would otherwise have fallen into our Hands; but we were better inform'd quickly, as you shall hear.