I'll see to it." Away went Don Francisco on his errand, leaving Captain Blood to reflect, between bitterness and satisfaction, that a reputation for as much chivalry as is consistent with piracy is not without its uses.
Punctually on the third day the Deputy-Governor was back in Maracaybo with his mules laden with plate and money to the value demanded and a herd of a hundred head of cattle driven in by negro slaves.
These bullocks were handed over to those of the company who ordinarily were boucan-hunters, and therefore skilled in the curing of meats, and for best part of a week thereafter they were busy at the waterside with the quartering and salting of carcases.
While this was doing on the one hand and the ships were being refitted for sea on the other, Captain Blood was pondering the riddle on the solution of which his own fate depended.

Indian spies whom he employed brought him word that the Spaniards, working at low tide, had salved the thirty guns of the Salvador, and thus had added yet another battery to their already overwhelming strength.

In the end, and hoping for inspiration on the spot, Captain Blood made a reconnaissance in person.
At the risk of his life, accompanied by two friendly Indians, he crossed to the island in a canoe under cover of dark.

They concealed themselves and the canoe in the short thick scrub with which that side of the island was densely covered, and lay there until daybreak.

Then Blood went forward alone, and with infinite precaution, to make his survey.