Thereupon every man shifted as they might for the time:  and heaving their planks overboard, took them such poor weapons as they had:  viz., a broken pointed rapier, one old visgee, and a rusty caliver:  JOHN DRAKE took the rapier, and made a gauntlet of his pillow, RICHARD ALLEN the visgee, both standing at the head of the pinnace, called Eion.  ROBERT took the caliver and so boarded.  But they found the frigate armed round about with a close fight of hides, full of pikes and calivers, which were discharged in their faces, and deadly wounded those that were in the fore-ship, JOHN DRAKE in the belly, and RICHARD ALLEN in the head.  But notwithstanding their wounds, they with oars shifted off the pinnace, got clear of the frigate, and with all haste recovered their ship:  where within an hour after, this young man of great hope, ended his days, greatly lamented of all the company.

Thus having moored our ships fast, our Captain resolved to keep himself close without being descried, until he might hear of the coming of the Spanish Fleet; and therefore set no more to sea; but supplied his wants, both for his own company and the Cimaroons, out of his aforesaid magazine, beside daily out of the woods, with wild hogs, pheasants, and guanas:  continuing in health (GOD be praised) all the meantime, which was a month at least; till at length about the beginning of January, half a score of our company fell down sick together (3rd January, 1573), and the most of them died within two or three days.  So long that we had thirty at a time sick of this calenture, which attacked our men, either by reason of the sudden change from cold to heat, or by reason of brackish water which had been taken in by our pinnace, through the sloth of their men in the mouth of the river, not rowing further in where the water was good.

Among the rest, JOSEPH DRAKE, another of his brethren, died in our Captain’s arms, of the same disease:  of which, that the cause might be the better discerned, and consequently remedied, to the relief of others, by our Captain’s appointment he was ripped open by the surgeon, who found his liver swollen, his heart as it were sodden, and his guts all fair.  This was the first and last experiment that our Captain made of anatomy in this voyage.

The Surgeon that cut him open, over-lived him not past four days, although he was not touched with that sickness, of which he had been recovered about a month before:  but only of an over-bold practice which he would needs make upon himself, by receiving an over-strong purgation of his own device, after which taken, he never spake; nor his Boy recovered the health which he lost by tasting it, till he saw England.

The Cimaroons, who, as is before said, had been entertained by our Captain in September last, and usually repaired to our ship, during all the time of our absence, ranged the country up and down, between Nombre de Dios and us, to learn what they might for us; whereof they gave our Captain advertisement, from time to time; as now particularly certain of them let him understand, that the Fleet had certainly arrived in Nombre de Dios.