Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-01-15
Continued from our Last Issue

M NOALAuuGu 1LO1i OuG LhASN 1cSuG
And whilst the most formidable
vessel OF the Spanish feet was thus
being put out of action at the out
set. Blood had sailed in to open fire
upon the Salvador. Leaving her
uninterrupted, and keeping to his
course, he had bewildered the crew
Of the Infanta by a couple of shots
from the chasers on his beak-head
then crashed alongside to grapple
and board her. whilst Hagthorpe
was doing the like by the San Filipe.
And in all this time not a single
shot had the S%paniards contrived 10
fire.
Boarded now and faced by the cold
steel Of the buccaneers. neither the
San Felipe nor the Infanta offered
much resistance.
Don Miguel, who. with a remnant
Of his crew, had meanwhile trans
ferred himself to the Salvador, head
ed her down toward Palomas and
the fort that guarded the passage.
This fort the Admiral, in those days
OF waiting, had taken the precaution
secretly to garrison and rearm. For
the purpose he had stripped the fort
of Cojero, farther out on the gulf of
its entire armament.
WILL " SuSplCAOiA VI LtLlS SdPbdAil
Blood gave chase, accompanied by
the Tnfanta, which was manned now
by a prize crew under the command
OF Yberville. The stern chasers of
the Salvador desultorily returned the
Furnishing fire of the pursuers; but
such was the damage she, herself.
sustained, that presently, coming
under the guns of the fort, she began
to sink. and finally settled down in
the shadows with part of her hull
above water. Thence. some in boats
and some by swimming the Admiral
got his crew ashore on Paiomas as
best he could.
And then, just as Captain Blood
accounted the victory won, the fort
suddenly revealed it's formidable and
utterly unsupported strength. With
a roar the cannone royal proclaimed
themselves. and the Arabella stag
gered under a blow that smashed
her bulwarks at the waist.
Meanwhile 1t had Jared even worse
with the frazier Infanta. Although
hit by one shot only, this had
crushed her larboard timbers on the
water line.
Out of range, at last, they day TO,
Joined by the Elizabeth and the San
Felipe, to consider their position.
CHAPTER XVII
The Dupes
1t was a crestfallen Captain Blood
who presided over the hastily SUM-
naoned council held o the poop
deck of the ArabeIla in the brilliant
morning sunshine.
He was compelled to admit that
nothing remained but to return to
Maracaybo, there to refit the ships
before attempting to force the pas
sage.
And so, back to Maracaybo came
those defeated victors of that short,
terrible fight.
Captain Blood went to give his
surgeons skill to the wounded,
among whom he remained engaged
until late afternoon. Then he re-
turned to the house of the governor,
TO indite a very scholarly letter in
purest Castilian to Don Miguel.
II have shown your exce'lency
this morning of what 1 am capable"
he wrote. although outnumbered
by more than two to IN in men IN
ships, and in guns, I have sunk or
captured the vessels of the great
feet with which you were to come to
Maracaybo to destroy us. l should
not trouble your excellency with
letter but that 1 am a humane
man. a%bhorring bloodshed. There
fore before proceeding to deal with
fort. as / have dealt already
with your feet, I make you, purely
out CT humanitarian considerations,
this last offer Of terms. I will spare
city OF Maracaybo and forth
evacuate it, leaving behind me
the forty prisoners l have taken, in
consideration of your paying me the
sum OF fifty thousand pieces of eight
and one hundred head Of cattle as a
ransom, thereafter granting me un-
ruofested passage of the bar. If your
excellency should be so ill-advised
to refuse the terms, I war; you
that you may expect no quarter from
u.s.
The letter written, he babe them
bring him from among the prisoners
the deputy governor of Maracayho,
who had been taken at Gibraltar.
its contents to him, he
him with it to Don
Miguel.
His choice OF a messenger was
shrewd. The deputy governor was