A Tour Through South America

by A. S. Forrest

The loss of life on both sides had been great; but the pirates had more dangers to encounter before the city was completely in their hands. Guns which had been mounted in hastily constructed batteries directed a fierce fire upon them as they marched towards the walls, and many more were killed before they got through the gates and began to pillage the town.

For some reason that has never been properly understood or accounted for, Morgan set fire to the place, and all attempts to stay the progress of the flames were unavailing. Richly decorated buildings filled with fine tapestries and pictures were, with few exceptions, reduced to ashes. The fire, it has been stated, lasted for a whole month, and hundreds of slaves who had hidden in the buildings perished in the flames.

Only one of the churches escaped the fire, and the pirates used it as a hospital.

The main body of the marauders encamped at night outside the city, but all day long were busy within its walls ransacking the rich warehouses and dwellings before the fire should reach them.

There was one large warehouse in the city in which the Genoese conducted their slave market, two thousand magnificent houses filled with riches of every description, besides five thousand smaller dwellings and two hundred warehouses, and from these the plunderers obtained a very considerable amount of booty. But by far the most valuable treasure in the city was lost to the pirates, for the King’s plate and royal treasure, together with the gold and silver plate and jewelled vestments of the churches and monasteries, had been put on board a huge galleon and taken out to sea.

It has always been known that much of the treasure that escaped the buccaneers, as well as a large amount of the booty which they captured and hid in various retreats, has never been discovered or reclaimed, and for years many and varied expeditions have been fitted out with the object of seeking and finding these lost riches.

Morgan and his gang had, however, done very well out of their expedition to Panama, from whence they returned to Chagres laden with spoil.

As part of a deep-laid scheme which had matured in his own mind, Morgan, when half-way from Cruces to Chagres, ordered all the pirates to be thoroughly searched, in spite of the usual solemn oath which every one of them had taken, that they would conceal no treasure. He even permitted himself to be subjected to the same indignity in order to prevent the resentment which this unusual order might provoke.

But resentment and suspicion were expressed in murmurings and complaints when the spoil was divided on their reaching Chagres, for it was thought and alleged that the commander had kept the best jewels to himself. The grumbling reached such a pitch that it caused Morgan no little apprehension, but he had already determined on his plan of playing a dastardly trick upon his companions.