The rumour had got about among the natives (and here is additional proof of Orlando’s mysterious power over the imagination) that some kind of miracle was to be performed. “Thus,” writes Brigge (but his manuscript is full of burns and holes, some sentences being quite illegible), “when the rockets began to soar into the air, there was considerable uneasiness among us lest the native population should be seized⁠ ⁠… fraught with unpleasant consequences to all⁠ ⁠… English ladies in the company, I own that my hand went to my cutlass. Happily,” he continues in his somewhat long-winded style, “these fears seemed, for the moment, groundless and, observing the demeanour of the natives⁠ ⁠… I came to the conclusion that this demonstration of our skill in the art of pyrotechny was valuable, if only because it impressed upon them⁠ ⁠… the superiority of the British.⁠ ⁠… Indeed, the sight was one of indescribable magnificence.