In case he declined these terms, the
admiral declared he would come up the channel in boats filled with his
soldiers and put every pirate to the sword.
When Morgan received this letter, he called his men together in the
public square of the town, and asked them what they would do, and when
these fellows heard that they were asked to give up all their booty,
they unanimously voted that they would perish rather than do such an
unmanly thing as that. So it was agreed that they would fight themselves
out of the lake of Maracaibo, or stay there, dead or alive, as the case
might be.
Chapter XIX
A Tight Place for Morgan
At this important crisis again turned up the man with an idea. This was
an inventive buccaneer, who proposed to Morgan that they should take a
medium-sized ship which they had captured at the other end of the lake,
and make a fire-ship of her. In order that the Spaniards might not
suspect the character of this incendiary craft, he proposed that they
should fit her up like one of the pirate war-vessels, for in this case
the Spaniards would not try to get away from her, but would be glad to
have her come near enough for them to capture her.
Morgan was pleased with this plan, and the fire-ship was prepared with
all haste. All the pitch, tar, and brimstone in the town were put on
board of her, together with other combustibles.
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