In the next place, they drove away all the flock of goats they had at the old bower, as I called it, which belonged to the Spaniards; and, in short, left as little appearance of inhabitants any where as possible; and the next morning early they posted themselves with all their force at the plantation of the two men, waiting for their coming. As they guessed, so it happened: these new invaders, leaving their canoes at the east end of the island, came ranging along the shore, directly towards the place, to the number of two hundred and fifty, as near as our men could judge. Our army was but small indeed; but that which was worse, they had not arms for all their number neither: the whole account, it seems, stood thus:—first, as to men:

17 Spaniards.
5 Englishmen.
1 Old Friday, or Friday’s father.
3 Slaves, taken with the women, who proved very
faithful.
3 Other slaves who lived with the Spaniards.
—
29
To arm these they had:
11 Muskets.
5 Pistols.
3 Fowling-pieces.
5 Muskets, or fowling-pieces, which were taken by
me from the mutinous seamen whom I reduced.
2 Swords.
3 Old halberts.
—
29

To their slaves they did not give either musket or fusil, but they had every one an halbert, or a long staff, like a quarter-staff, with a great spike of iron fastened into each end of it, and by his side a hatchet; also every one of our men had hatchets. Two of the women could not be prevailed upon but they would come into the fight, and they had bows and arrows, which the Spaniards had taken from the savages when the first action happened, which I have spoken of, where the Indians fought with one another; and the women had hatchets too.

The Spaniard governor, whom I have described so often, commanded the whole; and William Atkins, who, though a dreadful fellow for wickedness, was a most daring, bold fellow, commanded under him. The savages came forward like lions, and our men, which was the worst of their fate, had no advantage in their situation; only that Will Atkins, who now proved a most useful fellow, with six men, was planted just behind a small thicket of bushes, as an advanced guard, with orders to let the first of them pass by, and then fire into the middle of them; and as soon as he had fired to make his retreat, as nimbly as he could, round a part of the wood, and so come in behind the Spaniards where they stood, having a thicket of trees all before them.

When the savages came on, they ran straggling about every way in heaps, out of all manner of order, and Will Atkins let about fifty of them pass by him; then seeing the rest come in a very thick throng, he orders three of his men to fire, having loaded their muskets with six or seven bullets apiece, about as big as large pistol-bullets. How many they killed or wounded they knew not; but the consternation and surprise was inexpressible among the savages, who were frighted to the last degree, to hear such a dreadful noise, and see their men killed, and others hurt, but see nobody that did it. When in the middle of their fright, William Atkins and his other three let fly again among the thickest of them and in less than a minute the first three, being loaded again, gave them a third volley.

Had William Atkins and his men retired immediately, as soon as they had fired, as they were ordered to do; or had the rest of the body been at hand to have poured in their shot continually, the savages had been effectually routed; for the terror that was among them came principally from this; viz. that they were killed by the gods with thunder and lightning, and could see nobody that hurt them: but William Atkins staying to load again, discovered the cheat; some of the savages who were at a distance, spying them, came upon them behind; and though Atkins and his men fired at them also, two or three times, and killed above twenty, retiring as fast as they could, yet they wounded Atkins himself, and killed one of his fellow Englishmen with their arrows, as they did afterwards one Spaniard, and one of the Indian slaves who came with the women. This slave was a most gallant fellow, and fought most desperately, killing five of them with his own hand, having no weapon but one of the armed staves and a hatchet.

Our men being thus hard laid at, Atkins wounded, and two other men killed, retreated to a rising ground in the wood; and the Spaniards, after firing three vollies upon them, retreated also; for their number was so great, and they were so desperate, that though above fifty of them were killed, and more than so many wounded, yet they came on in the teeth of our men, fearless of danger, and shot their arrows like a cloud; and it was observed, that their wounded men, who were not quite disabled, were made outrageous by their wounds, and fought like madmen.

When our men retreated, they left the Spaniard and the Englishman that were killed behind them; and the savages, when they came up to them, killed them over again in a wretched manner, breaking their arms, legs, and heads, with their clubs and wooden swords, like true savages. But finding our men were gone, they did not seem inclined to pursue them, but drew themselves up in a kind of ring, which is, it seems, their custom, and shouted twice in token of their victory; after which, they had the mortification to see several of their wounded men fall, dying with the mere loss of blood.

The Spaniard governor having drawn his little body up together upon a rising ground, Atkins, though he was wounded, would have had him march, and charge them again all together at once: but the Spaniard replied, “Seignior Atkins, you see how their wounded men fight; let them alone till morning; all these wounded men will be stiff and sore with their wounds, and faint with the loss of blood, and so we shall have the fewer to engage.”

The advice was good; but Will Atkins replied merrily, “That’s true, Seignior, and so shall I too; and that’s the reason I would go on while I am warm.”—“Well, Seignior Atkins,” says the Spaniard, “you have behaved gallantly, and done your part; we will fight for you, if you cannot come on; but I think it best to stay till morning:” so they waited.