The Spaniards, having failed to blow up their dreaded enemies, had retreated into the surrounding country and had left the town.

The triumphant pirates spread themselves everywhere.

They searched the abandoned town for people and valuables, and every man who cared to do so took one of the empty houses for his private residence.

They made the church the common meeting-place where they might all gather together when it was necessary, and when they had spent the night in eating and drinking all the good things they could find, they set out the next day to hunt for the fugitive citizens.
For three weeks Morgan and his men held a devil's carnival in Maracaibo.
To tell of the abominable tortures and cruelties which they inflicted upon the poor people, whom they dragged from their hiding-places in the surrounding country, would make our flesh creep and our blood run cold.
When they could do no more evil they sailed away up the lake for Gibraltar.
It is not necessary to tell the story of the taking of this town.

When Morgan arrived there he found it also entirely deserted.