Then by night he proceeded slowly in the
direction of the Spanish vessel. The man-of-war was anchored not very
far from the town, and when about two o'clock in the morning the watch
on deck saw some canoes approaching they supposed them to be boats from
shore, for, as has been said, such vessels were continually plying about
those shallow waters. The canoes were hailed, and after having given an
account of themselves they were asked if they knew anything about the
pirate ship upon the coast. L'Olonnois understood very well that it
would not do for him or his men to make answer to these inquiries, for
their speech would have shown they did not belong to those parts.
Therefore he made one of his prisoner fishermen answer that they had not
seen a pirate vessel, and if there had been one there, it must have
sailed away when its captain heard the Spanish ship was coming. Then the
canoes were allowed to go their way, but their way was a very different
one from any which could have been expected by the captain of the ship.
They rowed off into the darkness instead of going toward the town, and
waited until nearly daybreak, then they boldly made for the man-of-war,
one canoe attacking her on one side and the other on the other. Before
the Spanish could comprehend what had happened there were more than
twenty pirates upon their decks, the dreaded L'Olonnois at their head.
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