Many bodies of the Spaniards killed in the assault of the town, remained unburied where they had fallen, and the Buccaneers were apprehensive that some infectious disorder would thereby be produced. 24th. At the Island Puna. They hastened therefore to embark on board the vessels in the port, their plunder and 500 of their prisoners, with which, on the 25th, they fell down the River to the Island Puna, where they proposed to wait for the ransom.
May. Grogniet dies. On the 2d of May, Captain Grogniet died of a wound he received at Guayaquil. Le Picard was afterwards the chief among the French Buccaneers.
The 5th of May had been named for the payment of the ransom, from which time the money was daily and with increasing impatience expected by the Buccaneers. It was known that Spanish ships of war were equipping at Callao purposely to attack them; and also that their former Commander, Edward Davis, with a good ship, was near this part of the coast. They were anxious to have his company, and on the 4th, dispatched a galley to seek him at the Island Plata, the place of rendezvous he had appointed for his prize.
The 5th passed without any appearance of ransom money; as did many following days. The Spaniards, however, regularly sent provisions to the ships at Puna every day, otherwise the prisoners would have starved; but in lieu of money they substituted nothing better than promises. The Buccaneers would have felt it humiliation to appear less ferocious than on former
occasions, and they recurred to their old mode of intimidation. They made the prisoners throw dice to determine which of them should die, and the heads of four on whom the lot fell were delivered to a Spanish officer in answer to excuses for delay which he had brought from the Lieutenant Governor of Guayaquil, with an intimation that at the end of four days more five hundred heads should follow, if the ransom did not arrive.
14th. On the 14th, their galley which had been sent in search of Davis returned, not having found him at the Island Plata; but she brought notice of two strange sail being near the Cape Santa Elena. Edward Davis joins Le Picard. These proved to be Edward Davis's ship, and a prize. Davis had received intelligence, as already mentioned, of the Buccaneers having captured Guayaquil, and was now come purposely to join them. He sent his prize to the Buccaneers at Puna, and remained with his own ship in the offing on the look-out.
The four days allowed for the payment of the ransom expired, and no ransom was sent; neither did the Buccaneers execute their sanguinary threat. It is worthy of remark, that intreaty or intercession made to this set of Buccaneers, so far from obtaining remission or favour, at all times produced the opposite effect, as if reminding them of their power, instigated them to an imperious display of it. The Lieutenant Governor of Guayaquil was in no haste to fulfil the terms of the treaty made by the Governor, nor did he importune them with solicitations, and the whole business for a time lay at rest. The forbearance of the Buccaneers may not unjustly be attributed to Davis having joined them.
23d. On the 23d, the Spaniards paid to the Buccaneers as much gold as amounted in value to 20,000 pieces of eight, and eighty packages of flour, as part of the ransom. The day following,
the Lieutenant Governor sent word, that they might receive 22,000 pieces of eight more for the release of the prisoners, and if that sum would not satisfy them, they might do their worst, for that no greater would be paid them. Upon this message, the Buccaneers held a consultation, whether they should cut off the heads of all the prisoners, or take the 22,000 pieces of eight, and it was determined, not unanimously, but by a majority of voices, that it was better to take a little money than to cut off many heads.
Lussan, his own biographer and a young man, boasts of the pleasant manner in which he passed his time at Puna. 'We made good cheer, being daily supplied with refreshments from Guayaquil. We had concerts of music; we had the best performers of the city among our prisoners. Some among us engaged in friendships with our women prisoners, who were not hard hearted.' This is said by way of prelude to a history which he gives of his own good fortune; all which, whether true or otherwise, serves to shew, that among this abandoned crew the prisoners of both sexes were equally unprotected.