person charged with this errand managed to do it so secretly that we
could not hear what was said; but we understood the reply of the
French to be, "I am the admiral," which made us think he wished to
surrender, as they were in so small a force. Scarcely had the French
made this reply, when they slipped their cables, spread their sails,
and passed through our midst. Our admiral, seeing this, followed the
French commander, and called upon him to lower his sails, in the name
of King Philip, to which he received an impertinent answer. Immediatly
our admiral gave an order to discharge a small culverin, the ball from
which struck the vessel amidship, and I thought she was going to
founder. We gave chase, and some time after he again called on them to
lower their sails. "I would sooner die first than surrender!" replied
the French commander. The order was given to fire a second shot, which
carried off five or six men; but, as these miserable devils are very
good sailors, they maneuvered so well that we could not take one of
them; and, notwithstanding all the guns we fired at them, we did not
sink one of their ships. We only got possession of one of their large
boats, which was of great service to us afterward. During the whole
night our flag-ship (the _San Pelayo_) and the galley chased the
French flag-ship (_Trinity_) and galley....

The next morning, being fully persuaded that the storm had made a
wreck of our galley, or that, at least, she had been driven a hundred
leagues out to sea, we decided that so soon as daylight came we would
weigh anchor, and withdraw in good order, to a river (Seloy) which was
below the French colony, and there disembark, and construct a fort,
which we would defend until assistance came to us.

On Thursday, just as day appeared, we sailed toward the vessel at
anchor, passed very close to her, and would certainly have captured