There Fonseca had landed with about two hundred rascals of his own stamp; and his first act of aggression had been to plunder and destroy the little city.  The inhabitants, of course, fled in every direction; and on meeting us, they promised the Indians half of the articles which had been plundered from them if we could overpower the invaders and recapture them.  I determined to surprise the rascals in the midst of their revellings.  I divided my little army into three bands, giving to Gabriel the command of the Apaches, with orders to occupy the shores of the bay and destroy the boats, so that the pirates should not escape to their vessels.  The Arrapahoes were left in the prairie around the city to intercept those who might endeavour to escape by land.  The third party I commanded myself.  It consisted of fifty well-armed Shoshones and fifty-four Mexicans from the coast, almost all of them sons of English or American settlers.

Early in the morning we entered into what had been, a few days before, a pretty little town.  It was now nothing but a heap of ruins, among which a few tents had been spread for night shelter.  The sailors and pirates were all tipsy, scattered here and there on the ground, in profound sleep.  The Sandwichers, collected in a mass, lay near the tents.  Near them stood a large pile of boxes, kegs, bags, &c.; it was the plunder.  We should have undoubtedly seized upon the brigands without any bloodshed had not the barking of the dogs awakened the Sandwichers, who were up in a moment.  They gave the alarm, seized their arms, and closed fiercely and desperately with my left wing, which was composed of the white men.

These suffered a great deal, and broke their ranks, but I wheeled round and surrounded the fellows with my Shoshones, who did not even use their rifles, the lance and tomahawk performing their deadly work in silence, and with such a despatch in ten minutes but few of the miserable islanders lived to complain of their wounds.  My Mexicans, having rallied, seized upon Fonseca, and destroyed many of the pirates in their beastly state of intoxication.  Only a few attempted to fight, the greater number staggering towards the beach to seek shelter in their boats.  But the Apaches had already performed their duty; the smallest boats they had dragged on shore, the largest they had scuttled and sunk.  Charging upon the miserable fugitives, they transfixed them with their spears, and our victory was complete.

The pirates remaining on board the two vessels, perceiving how matters stood, saluted us with a few discharges of grape and canister, which did no execution; the sailors, being almost all of them runaway Yankees, were in all probability as drunk as their companions on shore.  At last they succeeded in heaving up their anchors, and, favoured by the land breeze, they soon cleared the bay.  Since that time nothing has been heard of them.

Fonseca, now certain of his fate, proved to be as mean and cowardly as he had been tyrannical before his defeat.  He made me many splendid offers if I would but let him go and try his fortune elsewhere:  seeing how much I despised him, he turned to the Mexicans, and tried them one and all; till, finally, perceiving that he had no hope of mercy, he began to blaspheme so horribly that I was obliged to order him to be gagged.