suspecting nothing, pointed to them a galleon of great size riding at
anchor not half a league distant.

Toward this vessel accordingly the pirates directed their course, and
when they had come pretty nigh, Captain Morgan called upon the surgeon
that now it was time for him to perform the duty that had been laid upon
him. Whereupon the other did as he was ordered, and that so thoroughly
that the water presently came gushing into the boat in great streams,
whereat all hands pulled for the galleon as though every next moment was
to be their last.

And what do you suppose were our hero's emotions at this time? Like all
in the boat, his awe of Captain Morgan was so great that I do believe he
would rather have gone to the bottom than have questioned his command,
even when it was to scuttle the boat. Nevertheless, when he felt the
cold water gushing about his feet (for he had taken off his shoes and
stockings) he became possessed with such a fear of being drowned that
even the Spanish galleon had no terrors for him if he could only feel
the solid planks thereof beneath his feet.

Indeed, all the crew appeared to be possessed of a like dismay, for they
pulled at the oars with such an incredible force that they were under
the quarter of the galleon before the boat was half filled with water.

Here, as they approached, it then being pretty dark and the moon not
yet having risen, the watch upon the deck hailed them, whereupon Captain
Morgan called out in Spanish that he was Capt. Alvarez Mendazo, and that
he brought dispatches for the vice admiral.

But at that moment, the boat being now so full of water as to be