The pirates raged like demons; they shot down every man they could see at the cannon or upon the walls, and they made desperate efforts to capture the principal fort, but they did not succeed, and after a long time Morgan began to despair.

The garrison was strong and well commanded, and whenever the pirates attempted to scale the wall they were shot down, while fire-pots full of powder, with stones and other missiles, were hurled upon them.
At last the wily Morgan had an idea.

He set his men to work to make some ladders high enough to reach to the top of the walls, and wide enough to allow three or four men to go up abreast.

If he could get these properly set up, his crew of desperate tiger-cats could make a combined rush and get over the walls.

But to carry the ladders and place them would be almost impossible, for the men who bore them would surely be shot down before they could finish the work.