Those of the Spaniards who were not killed, were forced into the service of their captors, and Pierre found himself in command of a very good vessel.
Now it so happened that the man-of-war was so far away that she knew nothing of this fight on board one of the fleet which she was there to watch, and if she had known of it, she would not have been able to give any assistance, for there was no wind by which she could sail to the mouth of the river.

Therefore, so far as she was concerned, Pierre considered himself safe.
But although he had captured a Spanish ship, he was not so foolish as to haul down her flag, and run up his own in her place.

He had had very good success so far, but he was not satisfied.

It was quite probable that there was a rich store of pearls on board the vessel he had taken, but on the other vessels of the fleet there were many more pearls, and these he wanted if he could get them.

In fact, he conceived the grand idea of capturing the whole fleet.
But it would be impossible for Pierre to attempt anything on such a magnificent scale until he had first disposed of the man-of-war, and as he had now a good strong ship, with a much larger crew than that with which he had set out,--for the Spanish prisoners would be obliged to man the guns and help in every way to fight their countrymen,--Pierre determined to attack the man-of-war.
A land wind began to blow, which enabled him to make very fair headway out to sea.