They were in some Distress for Provisions, and we had Plenty; so we brought their Ship in for them, gave them a present Supply, and when we had help'd them to moor and secure the Ship in the Harbour, we made them lock all their Hatches and Cabins up, and come on Shore, and there we feasted them five or six Days, for we had a Plenty of all Sorts of Provisions, not to be exhausted; and if we had wanted an hundred Head of fat Bullocks, we could have had them for asking for of the Natives, who treated us all along with all possible Courtesy and Freedom in their Way. The History of the Adventures and Success of these Men, from the Time we left them to the Time of their Arrival at our new Plantation, was our whole Entertainment for some Days. I cannot pretend to give the Particulars by my Memory; but as they came to us _Thieves_, they improv'd in their Calling to a great Degree, and, next to ourselves, had the greatest Success of any of the Buccaneers whose Story has ever been made publick. I shall not take upon me to vouch the whole Account of their Actions, neither will this Letter contain a full History of their Adventures; but if the Account which they gave us was true, you may take it thus: First, that having met with good Success after they left us, and having taken some extraordinary Purchase, as well in some Vessels they took at Sea, as in the Plunder of some Towns on the Shore near _Guyaquil_, as I have already told you, they got Information of a large Ship which was loading the King's Money at _Puna_, and had Orders to sail with it to _Lima_, in order to its being carry'd from thence to _Panama_ by the Fleet, under the Convoy of the _Flotilla_, or Squadron of Men of War, which the King's Governor at _Panama_ had sent to prevent their being insulted by the Pirates, which they had Intelligence were on the Coast; by which, we suppose, they meant us who were gone, for they could have no Notion of these Men then. Upon this Intelligence they cruis'd off and on upon the Coast for near a Month, keeping always to the Southward of _Lima_, because they would not fall in the Way of the said _Flotilla_, and so be overpower'd and miss of their Prize: At last they met with what they look'd for, that is to say, they met with the great Ship abovenam'd: But to their great Misfortune and Disappointment, (as they first thought it to be) she had with her a Man of War for her Convoy, and two other Merchant Ships in her Company. The Buccaneers had with them the Sloop which they first sent to us for our Intelligence, and which they made a little Fregate of, carrying eight Guns, and some Patareroes: They had not long Time to consult, but in short they resolv'd to double man the Sloop, and let her attack the great Merchant-Ship, while the Fregate, which was the whole of their Fleet, held the Man of War in Play, or at least kept him from assisting her.