SHOE TRACKS ON THE SAND. 



353 



the Dutch agreeing to release all their prisoners, and the Spanish 

 to furnish them with oxen, sheep, poultry, fruit, water, and wood. 

 Thus the Spaniards saved their town at a small expense, and 

 the Dutch found refreshments which they could have obtained 

 in no other way. 



On the 10th of November, they anchored at the mouth of a 

 river reported by their prisoners to abound in fish, while its 

 banks produced citron and other fruit trees. Boats were sent 

 to examine it. The Dutch noticed that the footprints upon the 

 shore were the prints of shoes, and not of feet as Nature made 

 them. Suspecting, therefore, the presence of Spaniards, they 

 did not disembark, but returned to the ship. The next day the 

 admiral landed with two hundred men, and was at once attacked 

 by a strong body of Spaniards concealed in the woods. The 

 latter were repulsed with loss, but Spilbergen withdrew his men 

 to the ships, as his ammunition was nearly exhausted. 



THE DUTCH SURPRISED BY THE SPANIARDS. 



On the 2d of December, the fleet left the American coast 

 and directed their course west by south for the Ladronc Islands. 

 The next year — 1616 — was ushered in with distempers that 

 proved fatal to many of the seamen. On the 23d of January, 

 they came in sight of the Ladrones, where they stopped two days 

 to traffic with the natives for flesh, fish, fruit, and fowl. The 

 savages were, as usual, treacherous and given to thieving, and 

 at times required the chastisement of powder and ball. The 

 fleet touched at the Philippines early in February, but the In- 



2H 



