fight of the enemy; and in cafe he fliould be difcovered when in
port, and fhould be apprehenfive o f an attack, he muft land his
treafure, and muft take fome o f his artillery on Ihore for its defence,
not neglecting to fend frequent and particular accounts to
the city of Manila of all that paffes. But if, after the firft fire on
Ihore, the Captain obferves that two others only are made by the
centinels, he is then to conclude, that there is nothing to fear :
And he is to purfue his coutfe without interruption, making the
beft of his way to the port of Cabite, which is the port to the
.city of Manila, and the conftant ftation for all the fhips employed
in this commerce to Acapulco.
C H A P .
C H A P . XI.
Our cruife off the port of Acapulco for the Manila
fhip.
I H A V E already mentioned, in the ninth chapter, that the
return of our barge from the port of Acapulco, where ihe had
furprized three Negroe fifhermen, gave us inexpreffible fatif-
fa&ion; as we learnt from our prifoners, that the galeori was then
preparing to put to fea, and that her departure was fixed, by an
edi£t .of the Viceroy of Mexico, to the 14th o f March, IV. S. that is,
to-the 3d of March, according to our reckoning.
. What related to this Manila fhip being the matter to which we
were moft attentive, it was neceflarily the firft article o f our examination
; but having fatisfied ourfelves upon this head, we then
indulged our curiofity m enquiring after other news when the
prifoners informed us, that they had received intelligence at Apa-
pulco, of our having plundered and burnt the town of P a ita ; arid
that, "on this occafion, the Governor of Acapulco had augmented the
fortifications o f the place, and had taken feveral precautions to prevent
us from forcing our way into the harbour ; that in particular,
he had planted a guard on the Ifland which lies at the harbour’s
mouth, and that this guard had been withdrawn but two nights
before the arrival of our barge : So that had the barge fucceeded
in her firft attempt, or had fhe. arrived at the port the fecond
time two days fooner, fhe could fcarcely have avoided being feized
on j or if fhe had efcaped, it muft have been with the lofs of the
gfeateft part of her crew, as fhe would have been under the fire of
the guard, before fhe had known her danger.
K k The