The governor-general of the islands sent a squadron to pursue the pirates, but they accomplished nothing. From Zamboanga Adjutant Francisco Alvarez went out alone to encounter them; he captured the caracoa of the pirate Gani, a relative of Salé, and of thirty captives whom the latter was carrying away. Alvarez freed twenty-two--afterward going to an island of Joló, where he captured twelve Moros. Bobadilla, in answer to his message, on November 8 received pressing orders to return to Manila without loss of time, the governor yielding so far as to allow that he might leave in the fortress of Zamboanga at most fifty Spaniards. This was equivalent to condemning those unfortunates to a sure death, and the Jesuit fathers protested against it, saying that necessarily they would incur the same fate; but finally the supreme authority of the islands decided upon the total abandonment of the posts above mentioned. Nevertheless Bobadilla, with the object of encouraging the Lutaos and leading the Moros to believe that he was not abandoning the post, sent in pursuit of them Don Juan de Morales Valenzuela, with two caracoas, to the islands called "Orejas de Liebre," on January 2, 1663; but on the fourth of the same month he received a new and more positive order from the captain-general, dated October 11, that without delay or any excuse he must abandon Zamboanga. At sight of this, Bobadilla warned Morales that the withdrawal must be made, as was done on the seventh--as promptly as possible fulfilling the said imperious mandate, convinced that it was now altogether impossible to oppose so plain a decision. The governor of Zamboanga made a solemn surrender of the fort to the master-of-camp of the Lutao natives, Don Alonso Macombon, receiving from him an oath of fidelity to hold it for the king of España and defend it from his enemies; but Don Alonso refused to include among these the sultan of Mindanao, on the pretext that he had not sufficient strength to oppose the dreaded Corralat. The governor, fearing his defection, did not leave him any artillery. The Jesuits also surrendered to Macombon their houses and churches, carrying away the images, ornaments, chalices, and books; and six thousand Christians remained in Zamboanga exposed to the rage of the Mahometans. Some Lutaos, although not many, decided to go to the province of Cebú, or to that of Dapitan; others scattered through Joló or Mindanao in search of safety, returning to their former religion.