The pirates, hearing of this, went out to meet him at a narrow gorge through which he was bound to pass, and a hundred of them were sufficient to check the approach of the bold men from Panama.
From a safe distance the Governor then sent word to Morgan, threatening him that if he did not retire at once it would go hard with him, to which the implacable buccaneer replied that all he wanted was the money, and when he got it he would leave, but not before. Persuaded that he was in earnest the Governor rode back to Panama, leaving the distressed citizens of Porto Bello to get out of their difficulties as best they could.
The ransom was raised and the demands of Morgan were satisfied.
So astonished was the Governor of Panama at the fall of so strong a city before such a handful of men, that he sent to Morgan to ask him for a pattern of the weapons with which he had accomplished so great a feat. Not without humour Morgan gave a pistol and some bullets to the envoy to take back, with instructions to his master to keep the same for a year, when the sender would come in person to Panama and claim them.
FORT LORENZO.
The Governor, thinking this was no joke, returned the proffered loan, assuring Morgan that he had no need of such weapons. At the same time he sent a ring of gold and the message “that he desired him not to give himself the labour of coming to Panama as he had done to Porto Bello, for he did assure him he should not speed so well there as he had done there.”
In July, 1670, a treaty was concluded between Great Britain and Spain with the object of putting an end to the depredations of the buccaneers, and bringing about peace and a settled state of affairs in the West Indian Islands. On the publication of this treaty, the buccaneers determined on a great expedition; fearing, doubtless, that the chances for their professional operations would be curtailed after the treaty had been put into force and was well established.
Morgan, therefore, made preparations and gathered around him men and ships for what was to be his greatest undertaking. The rewards to be given on this voyage, and the rules for the conduct of the enterprise, were all written out, agreed upon, and signed by each of the pirate crews. Morgan himself was to take one hundredth part of the booty, and the captain of each ship was to draw the shares of eight men over and above his own, for the expenses of his vessel.
The surgeons were allowed two hundred pieces of eight, besides their pay, for chests of medicines. The compensations for the loss of limbs or eyes were very liberal, the payment being made in money or slaves according to the sufferers’ choice. An extra reward was held out to the pirate who should, in any engagement, be the first to haul down the enemies’ colours, enter a castle or perform some similar act of daring.