They searched for a few days, but did not find them in proportion to their expectations.

They therefore determined to return, and re-entered the mouth of the river they had descended.

Here they loosed the prizes they had taken, and let them go.
The delay at Pearl Island was a mistake, and a misfortune.

Captain Oxenford should have known that the Spanish authorities of the mainland would, when they heard that a single boat's load of Englishmen was ravaging their commerce, make a great effort to capture him; and his attack should have been swift and determined, and his retreat made without a halt.

The fortnight which had been allowed to slip away caused his ruin.