30 THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 



Testations of joy, showed that, in their own estima- 

 tion, victory was sure to be theirs, and that the hopes 

 they entertained were about to be realized. The 

 Spaniard would not allow the buccaneers to ap- 

 proach too closely, but kept his distance — his supe- 

 rior metal raking the adversary at every shot, while 

 from the distance, the artillery of the other w T as com- 

 pletely powerless. David and his men could stand 

 this no longer, but broke through shot and shell to 

 grapple with their prize. For a long time the battle 

 was contested and interrupted by various circum- 

 stances. At the commencement, the Spaniards had 

 the advantage; and had they had a commander 

 equal to any of those of the opposing ships, the result 

 would have been different. Both parties withdrew 

 — the Spaniards under the shelter of the guns of the 

 ramparts of the city, while the others sailed up the 

 coast, and in a few days appeared again, with their 

 vessels repaired and themselves recruited in spirits, 

 ready to resume me contest. The Spaniard had, 

 meantime, fortified a part of the city, and placed 

 some very heavy artillery that would bear directly 

 upon the ships of the buccaneers, and under the pro- 

 tection of these guns did the Spanish fleet lie, while 

 the enemy tauntingly sailed about the harbor and 

 kept them for weeks in a state of blockade, with a 

 force so vastly their inferior. 



The " masterly inactivity" of the Don overcame 

 the patience of David and his men, and they for a 

 while agreed to abandon the blockade, and go on 

 small expeditions along the coast, sacking cities, pit 



