Thomas Wentworth Higginson, A book of American explorers

I then left him, and returned to the ships, and related all this to my lord the admiral, who was not a little pleased when he heard all these circumstances, and the things that had happened to me. He ordered a large stock of provisions to be put into the ships, and into certain straw houses that we had built there, with a view that I should remain, with some of the men, to examine and ascertain the secrets of the country. The next morning his lordship called me to ask my advice as to what ought to be done. My opinion was, that we ought to seize that chief and all his captains, because, when they were taken, great numbers of the people would submit. His lordship was of the same opinion. I then submitted the stratagem and plan by which this might be accomplished; and his lordship ordered that the adelantado,¹ his brother, and I, accompanied by eighty men, should go to put it into execution. We went; and our Lord gave us such good fortune, that we took the cacique, and most of his captains, his wives, sons, and grandsons, with all the princes of his race; but in sending them to the ships, thus captured, the cacique extricated himself from the too slight grasp of the man who held him,—a circumstance which afterwards caused us much injury. At this moment it pleased God to cause it to rain very heavily, occasioning a great flood, by which the mouth of the harbor was opened, and the admiral enabled to draw out the ships to sea, in order to proceed to Spain;