He made a compact with an old French
buccaneer, named Tributor, and with a large company of buccaneers he
actually set out to take a town. Having lost everything he possessed,
and having passed such a long time without any employment more
profitable than that of shooting fish with a bow and arrows, our doughty
pirate now desired to make a grand strike, and if he could take a town
and pillage it of everything valuable it contained, he would make a very
good fortune in a very short time, and might retire, if he chose, from
the active practice of his profession.
The town which Roc and Tributor determined to attack was Merida, in
Yucatan, and although this was a bold and rash undertaking, the two
pirates were bold and rash enough for anything. Roc had been a prisoner
in Merida, and on account of his knowledge of the town he believed that
he and his followers could land upon the coast, and then quietly advance
upon the town without their approach being discovered. If they could do
this, it would be an easy matter to rush upon the unsuspecting garrison,
and, having annihilated these, make themselves masters of the town.
But their plans did not work very well; they were discovered by some
Indians, after they had landed, who hurried to Merida and gave notice of
the approach of the buccaneers. Consequently, when Roc and his
companions reached the town they found the garrison prepared for them,
cannons loaded, and all the approaches guarded.
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