He gave himself out to be
some sort of religious prophet, and this brought the blacks like
flies round a honey-pot. The news of it caught Puerto Bello at a
moment when there was not a single Royal ship in the harbour.
The Governor lost his head and the priests likewise. Getting word
that Diaz was marching straight on the place, and not five leagues
distant, they fell to emptying the banks in a panic, stripping the
churches, and fetching up treasure from the vaults of the religious
houses. There happened to be a schooner lying in the harbour--the
_Rosaway_, built at Marblehead--lately taken by the Spaniards off
Campeachy, with her crew, that were under lock and key ashore,
waiting trial for cutting logwood without licence. The priests
commandeered this Vessel and piled her up with gold, the Governor
sending down a guard of soldiers to protect it; but in the middle
of the night, on an alarm that Diaz had come within a mile of the
gates, the dunderhead drew off half of this guard to strengthen the
garrison. On their way back to the citadel these soldiers were met
and passed in the dark by the _Rosaway's_ crew, that had managed to
break prison, and in the confusion had somehow picked up the
password.
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