After Sir Fulke's death, and the stir which naturally followed,
things grew very quiet with me. Almost my whole day was devoted to
what Mr. Cartwright had called 'grinding the weapons' for his coming
attack on prelatical government.
In spite of my books I was very lonely. Mr. Drake was at this time
almost always away on duty. Upnor Castle was full of Spanish
prisoners, who had been seized in the neighbouring ports in pursuance
of the Queen's recent order, whereby she sought to make reprisal for
a like order issued by her loving brother-in-law the King of Spain.
And that some recognition might be made for the labours of the
Inquisition so generously bestowed on the English prisoners in Spain,
Mr. Drake was ordered to preach at Upnor every day.
It seemed a great delight to the old navy preacher to go and rail
before them at the Romish church, and it was no doubt most
medicinable in his case, for never saw I a man more furious against
Spain than he was at that time, and not without cause.
Frank Drake had sold his bark, and sailed with his cousin, Mr. John
Hawkins, in the great trading expedition which Sir William Garrard
and Company had fitted out for the Guinea coast and the Indies. His
kind old kinsman suffered him to venture his small savings with him,
and had given him a petty officer's place in the fleet, out of pity
for the wrongs he had suffered at Rio de la Hacha, under Captain
Lovell, of which I have already spoken.
We were all rejoiced at his good fortune, for it was as pretty a sail
of ships as ever left the coast. There was the great _Jesus of
Lubeck_, Mr. Hawkins's admiral; the _Minion_, his vice-admiral; a
smart bark of fifty tons, called the _Judith_; besides three others,
the _Swallow_, the _William and John_, and the _Angel_. It was,
moreover, no fast secret that the Queen's grace and many of the
Council were sharers in the venture, so that it lacked not any kind
of furniture, either of men or arms, and great things were expected
from it for all concerned, even to the lowest mariner. Indeed I
myself had adventured a moderate sum, being persuaded by Drake how
profitable the negro trade had been and would be again.
Of this expedition nothing had now been heard for more than a year,
and we began to grow anxious. At last a Spaniard who had put into
Plymouth gave Mr. William Hawkins intelligence that his brother was
on his way home, laden with the untold spoils of a town which he had
sacked, and of prizes which he had taken on the seas. We hardly knew
what to think of this, for such dealings were not at all to John
Hawkins's liking. He was a wary, far-casting man, and I always
thought looked on trading, especially in negroes, as more profitable
than piracy, as indeed it was. Thus he had always laboured while in
the Indies, by just dealing, that the planters and merchants should
stand well with him and secretly support him, when, as happened
sometimes, he was forced to carry a high hand over governors who
refused to trade quietly.
Mr. Drake was sure the report was all another Spanish lie, and was
not surprised when, some time after, he heard that some Spanish
mariners had been bragging over their cups that Hawkins and all his
men had been entrapped and put to the sword far inland, and the whole
undertaking brought to nought. I need not say with what alarm and
anxiety these reports filled us, for they sounded far more like truth
than the last. It in no way decreased our fear for Frank's safety
when shortly afterward the Queen seized the treasure-ships of the
Duke of Alva, which had been chased by privateers and pirates into
Southampton, Plymouth, and Foy, and were still lying there, since the
ship-masters knew not how to get through to the Netherlands. We
could not doubt then that the Council had certain news that all we
feared was true. Every one now gave up all hope, and thought only of
revenge and reprisal, when tidings joyfully reached us that the
_Judith_, one of the ships of the expedition, had put into Mount's
Bay, crowded with twice her proper crew, and in command of 'Captain'
Drake!
All kinds of rumours now arose of what had happened, mingled with
news of how the Spaniards had laid an embargo on British ships in the
Netherlands and in Spain, and imprisoned every Englishman they could
clutch. The Queen replied undaunted with like boldness, and every
prison along the coast was packed with Spanish sailors, and every
town-hall with treasure and rich cargoes.
Such doings very soon caused it to be reported with greater certainty
that the Council had certain news of Mr. Hawkins's death and the
destruction of all his men, when to our great relief it was said that
the _Minion_, with the general aboard and a half-starved crew, had
come home. We were more hopeful now, but hungrier than ever for
news. Mr. Drake brought us every kind of horrible tale from the
Spanish prisoners at Upnor. I think they devised them in pure
revenge for his preaching at them, and the more they lied the more he
rated their idolatry and superstition.
It was some time before we heard the truth. Frank sent us letters
(in which I noted that he wrote himself 'Captain' Drake) saying that
Mr. William Hawkins, Governor of Plymouth, had sent him up to inform
the Council fully of what had occurred, and that he was detained in
London upon that business. So things stood with us when one morning,
a month or more after Sir Fulke's death, I was awakened by the sound
of a gruff, loud voice, such as soldiers affect, in conversation with
Lashmer's somewhat strident tenor.
'Good master soldier,' cried Lashmer, 'I tell you he is still abed,
and you cannot see him this two hours.'
'Nay, by this bright honour, but I will see him,' said the other.
'And yet I think you will not,' said Lashmer; 'and yet again, by this
bright honour is a good oath, and a gentleman's oath, and one that
may not be sworn to a lie or a thing that is not true, unless,
indeed, there be provocation; for provocation, look you, master
soldier, excuses many things. It is your great peacemaker.'
'Why, this is monstrous logic,' returned the bass, 'and such as I
never heard all the time I was sergeant-groom under the Signor John
Peter Pugliano, esquire of the Emperor's stables, a man of most
fertile Italian wit. What need of the philosopher's stone, if by
mere logic you can make of provocation a peacemaker?'
'Well, softly now, and I will show you,' answered Lashmer, whose talk
served often to wile a dull hour, since he had been to Cambridge and
gleaned I know not what stray scraps of learning that careless
students had dropped in his way,--'I will show you how a man will
come to swear the peace of another for some assault, or battery, or
mayhem, or anything, and that other shall show provocation. Then
shall no peace be sworn, and they shall be at one again. For it
shall appear that he who battered the other did him no wrong, seeing
there was provocation in it. So they that thought they had quarrel
shall find by this same sweet provocation that they have none.'
'Then must I provoke all men,' said the sergeant-groom, 'if I would
live at peace with them.'
'Ay, by this bright honour,' said Lashmer; 'then no matter how often
you get a bloody coxcomb, yet shall you never have quarrel with any
man.'
'Then will I now most lovingly break your pate,' said the other,
'that you may stand my friend and bring me to your master. For my
master, the most excellent esquire, Henry Waldyve, bade me spare no
pains to see your master as soon as possible.'
Whether my servant's logic would have been put to this severe test I
cannot say, for at Harry's name I sprang out of bed and cried from
the window that I would see the messenger forthwith.
I hurried from my chamber to find Harry's servant discussing his
morning ale with Lashmer. He rose to a stiff military position as I
entered, and made me a most lofty salute with his Spanish hat. He
was a tall, soldierly-looking man of about forty years of age, with a
peaked beard and very fierce moustaches that had been nicely
disciplined in the Spanish fashion to curl nearly up to his eyes. By
his side hung a very terrible 'schiavona,' which he wore instead of a
rapier, after the fashion of the German _reiters_, considering, as he
afterwards told me, that the broadsword was the only fit weapon for
horsemen. It had a great steel closed hilt, presenting such a
defiant tangle of rings, hilt-points, and twisted bars after the
latest pedantic fancy as to make the beholder tremble to think what
the blade must be.
Indeed his whole appearance was foreign. He wore a large ruff, a
thing as new to me as his sword; and his doublet, which showed
clearly the marks of a corselet often worn over it, was pinked and
slashed in the furthest fantastic fashion.
'If you come on the part of Mr. Waldyve,' said I, receiving his
salute, 'you are thrice welcome.'
'In truth I bring you, sir, that most excellent and soldierly young
gentleman's most full and lovingly complete commendation. Know me,
at your worship's service, as Alexander Culverin, sometime
sergeant-groom under the Signor John Peter Pugliano, esquire of the
Emperor's stables, and now body-servant and master of the horse to
that most proper gentleman Mr. Henry Waldyve.'
All this he said drawn up as stiff and soldierly as though he were
mounting guard over the Emperor's own bedchamber. His presence much
impressed my peaceful follower, though to me he was a thing to smile
at lovingly; for somewhere in his face was a simple, kindly, almost
childish look, that was strangely in contrast with his fiercely
curling moustache, his loud, gruff voice, and his very warlike
bearing.
'When came your master home?' I asked, for in truth I was greatly
surprised to hear of his return so suddenly.
'But a week ago,' said the Sergeant; 'since which time we have been
lying at my Lord of Bedford's house in London; for Mr. Waldyve had
matters to report to the Council ere he could come down here.'
'And have you brought me any message from him beside his
commendations?' I asked.
'Saving your worship's worship,' said the man, 'he would have you
ride over at your worship's most early haste to Ashtead, since he
would have some speech with you together with some poor soul, who, to
judge by his most unhorsemanlike carriage, is a mariner or sailor.'
'Gave he the name of this same sailor?' I asked.
'That he did. A name he had that sorts well with one who splashes
about all his life in that most base element called water. To be
short with you, it is one Captain Drake, though I hold it most false
heraldry to apply so dignified and soldierly a title to a seafaring
man.'
'Well, we can talk of this as we go,' said I, in a mighty hurry now
to be off. 'I will ride back with you now, if you will wait till
Lashmer has saddled our horses.'
I tarried but to eat my manchet and drink my bowl of ale, since I
hold a morsel in the morning with a good draught, sweetened and
defecated by all night standing, to be very good and wholesome for
the eyesight.
As I mounted my horse I saw Culverin watching me with a most judicial
air. I must own I felt no little comfort and gratitude to my
guardian for his good training to see him nod a distinct though
qualified approval to himself when he saw me in the saddle.
'Know you what business your master has with Captain Drake?' I asked
as we rode out of my gates, my mouth watering for news.
'Nay, not I,' answered Culverin; 'yet I hope it will be none, since I
hold it unseemly for a gentleman and a soldier to have near
communication with sailors.'
'Yet Captain Drake,' I said, 'has great love and respect for
land-soldiers.'
'Has he indeed?' replied the Sergeant, looking very pleased; 'a most
notable sign of his good sense, and had he said horse-soldiers, it
would have been a notable sign of his better sense.'
'How make you that good, Master Culverin?' asked Lashmer, whose
hunger for an argument was by this time getting the better of his awe
of the stranger.
'It is good of itself, Master Lashmer,' said Sergeant Culverin. 'For
when I was sergeant-groom under Signor John Peter Pugliano, esquire
of the Emperor's stables, he was wont to say (and, mark you, he was a
man of most fertile Italian wit) that soldiers were the noblest
estate of mankind, and horsemen the noblest of soldiers. They were
masters of war, he said, and ornaments of peace, speedy goers and
strong abiders, triumphers both in courts and camps. In truth, your
only salvation is to be a horse-soldier. Take that of me.'
Seeing Lashmer was on the point of a desperate charge upon this
monstrous position, I changed our subject quickly by asking news of
Harry.
'It was but three weeks ago, sir,' said Culverin, 'that we got your
letters telling of Sir Fulke Waldyve's death. We were in winter
quarters, whither we had gone when the campaign ended so ill for us
with the fall of St. Jean d'Angely. Then we tarried not for drum or
trumpet, but came straight homewards in the first ship that sailed.
It was a pity it fell so. There was pretty warfare there, and most
profitable for a gentleman to see. For, look you, sir, a soldier can
learn more from defeats than victories. Take that of me. We were
present all through last year's campaign, and rode in M. Ardelot's
regiment when they drubbed us so soundly at Jarnac. After his death
we were attached to the admiral himself, and so continued till our
second rout at Moncontour. It was an evil time for the Huguenots,
but a pretty schoolhouse for a scholar of arms, and my master was
growing to be a most sweet soldier. I tell you, sir, his name was on
every tongue in the army, so high a courage and discretion had he
shown in all passages of arms we had made together.'
'Ah,' said I, 'there is little need to tell me that. I knew well
what men would say of him when the time came to show what stuff was
in him.'
'And so did I too, sir,' said he. 'As soon as ever he came to the
Emperor's Court, and rode down to the tilting ground, I said to
Signor John Peter Pugliano, esquire of the stables, "There is a
soldier," said I; for his seat was as well as a man could sit. It
won my heart, sir, to see him. From that hour I was his servant. I
craved leave to direct his exercises under the esquire, and grew to
love him as my own horse.'
'Was it, then, pure love that made you follow him to England?' I
asked.
'Indeed, sir, I think it was. After he had been with us a year or
so, he took it in his mind to see some service in the French wars. I
begged to go in his train; for I loved him, and could not see him go
to the wars without a proper following or some old dog to watch over
him when dangers were thick.'
'And you gave up your honourable post of sergeant-groom for his sake?'
'Ay, sir, and willingly; for he promised to carry me to England with
him after he had had his fill of fighting. My bowels yearned for the
land I had not seen for twenty years. Indeed, sir, there's no man
loves the smoke of his own country that hath not been singed in the
flame of another soil. Take that from me, sir, saving your wisdom.'
'Then you are of English parentage, Sergeant Culverin?'
'Yes, sir, though many think not, because of my name and a certain
carriage that comes to men of travel; yet I am English born, sir, and
never knew father or mother, save an English great piece on the
Calais barbican.'
'Then save you, Sergeant, from your kinsmen,' said I, thinking he was
jesting, 'since the Moors call great pieces the "mothers of death."
You and it are the only children I ever heard that they had.'
'You are merry, sir, but I jest not,' said the Sergeant, drawing
himself up very stiff on his horse. 'What I say is sober truth. The
first human eyes that ever saw me, as I could ever hear, were just
those of an old gunner, who found me one night in the mouth of his
culverin. He, good soul, took care of me. "She is the only lass I
ever loved," he was wont to say, "but I never thought she would be
mother of a son to me." So he took me home, and his mates and he
would have the priest kursten me "Culverin" after my mother, and
"Alexander," because they said I must be born to be a mighty soldier.'
'Truly, Sergeant,' said I, seeing how serious he was, though I had
much ado to stop laughing, 'a most honourable and soldierly descent.'
'Ay, sir, you may say that,' he answered, looking round at Lashmer,
from whom came a sound of choking laughter. 'A most soldierly and
royal parentage. She was as good a piece as ever was cast, and
stamped, look you, with King Harry's own arms, rest his soul! To say
no more, for modesty's sake, it is not one or two who have rued their
ribald merriment at what I am telling you.'
And with that he laid his hand upon the great steel hilt of his
broadsword, and glared so terribly at Lashmer that I thought the poor
lad would have fallen from his saddle from pure fear of the bristling
of the Sergeant's fierce moustache.
I do not think Lashmer ever laughed at Sergeant Culverin again, at
least not in his face. Indeed it was not many who did; most men
feared his sword too much, and those who knew him best, and were not
afraid, loved him too well.
I think three men never greeted each other more warmly than Frank,
Harry, and I when I reached Ashtead. It was like summer to see them
again, yet I found them much altered.
Harry seemed shocked by his father's death, and looked very sad in
his black clothes. His face was bronzed, his short beard neatly
trimmed to a point, and a scar scarce healed stretched across one
temple. Yet I thought I never saw him look more manly, handsome, or
lovable, in spite of the foreign look his travels had given him.
Captain Drake, too, was changed. His eye was as bright and his ways
as cheery as ever; yet when he was not speaking I could see in his
face a harder and sterner look than there used to be. His dress,
too, was very different to what he had worn in the old days; though
plain, it was of good stuff, and cut according to the fashion. He
wore, moreover, a smart rapier, and had the air of a gentleman,
though without having lost his sailor-like looks.
'You will want to know why I sent for you, Jasper,' said Harry, as
soon as our greetings were over.
'Nay, that do I not,' said I; 'so long as you sent for me, that is
enough.'
'Well, but I had a good reason,' answered Harry. 'I met Captain
Drake in London, whither he had come on business, as he will tell
you. As he was coming hither to see his father at Upchurch we
journeyed together, and he told me--tell him, Frank, what you told
me, and then he will know why we sent for him.'
'Well, lad,' said Captain Drake, setting himself down for a long
tale, as sailors will, 'you remember how I wrote to you of the voyage
which I made to Cape de la Vela in the Indies with Captain Lovell,
the year after our brush with the caravel, and how it all ended in
the wrong I suffered from the Spaniards at Rio de la Hacha for no
cause but their accursed treachery?'
'Yes, that I do,' said I; for he had written to me about it at
Cambridge, and Mr. Drake, too, had told me fully of that most wicked
dealing with his son.
'Well, that was well enough,' Drake went on; 'a plague on the false
papist hearts; but what came after was worse.'
'And at one time we feared it was worse again,' said I; 'for we
thought we had lost you as well as our venture. But how came it
about? We looked for nothing but success under Mr. Hawkins.'
'And nothing but that should you have had,' said Drake. 'Merrily
should we have singed the King of Spain's beard, and filled some most
noble pockets beside our own, but that Jack Hawkins was over
scrupulous with the traitors. Things went well enough at first, in
spite of bad weather, especially for me; for off Cape de Verde we
fell in with a Frenchman from Rochelle, who had taken a Portugal
caravel. This Jack Hawkins chased and took, and made me master and
captain of her. We called her the _Grace of God_, and a good name
too, seeing how God graced our venture. For we drubbed the Portugals
wherever we met them, and before we left the Guinea coast we had
gathered as fine a cargo of black flesh as a merchant need wish to
see.
'Being well filled up with what we sought, we sailed for the Indies.
My luck stood by me still; for when Captain Dudley of the _Judith_
died, Cousin Jack gave me his place, and made me full captain. We
found traffic on the Main a bit hard, because the King of Spain had
most uncourteously charged that no man should trade so much as a
_peso_-worth with us. Yet negroes are dear to a Don's heart, and
there are ways, lad, there are ways that none know better than old
Jack. So we had reasonable trade at mighty good prices, both in
black flesh and our other merchandise, till we came to Rio de la
Hacha. We were but two ships when we anchored before the town--the
_Angel_ and my lady _Judith_. The rest had been sent to Curaçoa to
make provision for the fleet. So they thought to try their scurvy
tricks there again, and refused us water, thinking thereby to starve
us into selling our negroes for half nothing. The Treasurer, who was
in charge, had fortified the town and got some hundred or so of
harquebusiers behind his bulwarks; so we could not land, but took a
caravel in spite of all their shot, right under their noses, and rode
there till our general came round in the _Jesus_. They soon found
that an English cock could crow as loud and louder than a Spaniard.
For old Jack set ashore two hundred small shot and pikemen, and took
the town. It was no less than their discourtesy deserved, and they
suffered no harm; for every man of them ran clean out of the place at
the first bark of our snappers. I think it was only a little comedy
to please the King of Spain; for Master Treasurer and all of them
came in at night to trade, and before we left we had two hundred less
black mouths to fill and a pretty store of gold and pearls in our
hold.
'We had done such a brisk trade and no bones made all along the
coast, after our persuasions at Rio de la Hacha, that when we came to
Carthagena, our traffic being nearly done, we tried nothing against
it, save that the _Minion_ saluted the castle with a few shot from
her great pieces, while we landed and took certain _botijos_ of wine
from an island, just to drink their health, leaving woollen and linen
cloth there in payment. So we bore up for Florida; but being taken
in a _furicano_, which I believe the Lord sent to guide us, we were
driven into San Juan de Ulloa, the port of the city of Mexico, as you
know. Now listen, lad; listen what God sent us. There in the port
at our mercy--entirely in our power--were twelve galleons, laden with
two hundred thousand pounds' worth of gold and silver. Two hundred
thousand pounds! Think of it, if you can, without going mad, for I
can't. Yet, in spite of God's plain guidance, as I told him again
and again, Jack Hawkins set them all at liberty without touching a
_peso_, fearing, as he said, the Queen's displeasure, the simple
fool, if he touched the goods of her most loving brother-in-law! Ah!
had we known how the brave Queen was going to deal with her loving
brother-in-law's money in her own fair ports of Southampton and the
West, Jack would have listened to me when I told how best to please
her Grace!
'Well, it was no good. Not a _peso_ would he touch, but only asked
leave to refit and victual; and now, lad, comes the worst of all.
Next morning we saw open of the haven thirteen great ships, being the
Plate fleet and its wafters--a sight to make an honest Protestant
man's mouth water. Lord, Lord, Jasper! I cannot think of it with
loving-kindness to Jack. Just see now, lad! We had complete command
of the haven. Not a fly-boat, not a pinnace could enter or leave
without our yea. To keep the Spaniards outside in the north wind was
only the other way of saying present wreck to every rag and stick of
them; and that meant wellnigh two millions loss to the Spaniards, and
Heaven knows what gain to us in wreckage, and flotsam, and trifles we
should have had for our trouble in saving crews.
'Did God ever show a greater mercy to His faithful people than that?
I ask you, sir. You know better than I, because you are a scholar.
Yet Jack Hawkins let his scruples stand before the plain will of God,
and would make conditions with them. Would I could have told him
what our lion-hearted Queen was doing in the narrow seas with her
dear brother-in-law's belongings; but we did not know. Then he would
have heard the voice of the Lord aright. But, as it was, he was
stubborn, and let them all in on conditions of peace, and safe
fitting and victualling for ourselves; to the which was passed the
word of Don Martin Henriquez, Viceroy of Mexico, himself, who was
with the fleet; a pox on him till this hand has squeezed him dry, and
then the knave may go hang!
'I need not tell the rest. You guess what came--what must have come.
It was like night after day. Relying on all their solemn words and
papistical oaths, no less than on the hostages they had given us, we
laboured together two days peaceably to bestow the ships properly in
the port and prepare ours for refitting. A good part of our ordnance
we set ashore upon an island in the mouth of the port, which, by the
conditions, was to be in our possession.
'On the third day after we had let them in, when we were about to set
the carpenters to work, and were all dismantled, I could see things
were going treacherously, in spite of their fine words. Soldiers
were marching to and fro, and ordnance being bent upon us. Jack sent
to inquire what it might mean, and Don Martin Henriquez passed his
word of honour to protect us from treason.
'Still the preparation went on, and Jack protested again--this time
with much effect; for his messenger was seized, a trumpet blown, and
in a moment all was in a roar and blaze. Out of the smoke that hid
the quay and ships we could see the glitter of harness and pikes and
halberds, and the glow of matches, as hundreds of soldiers rushed
upon us and thrust out to the island in crowded long-boats. In a
trice our men ashore were overcome and cut down, and our ships
swarming with Spaniards.
'Lord, what a fight it was then! Tooth and nail, claw and heel, we
went at them. Such a roar and din there was as my ears at least had
never heard, till it lulled again, and not a Spaniard was left alive
upon our ships. It was glorious work, but we had no time to think of
it.
'No sooner were we clear than we cut our headfasts and warped out on
our sternfasts; but though that saved us from boarding again, it did
little good; for the treacherous dogs were masters of the island and
our great pieces, as well as of their own on the ships and the
platform. Still, for a whole hour we made a great fight of it, in
which we sunk two of their great ships and burnt another.
'By this time the _Jesus_ was dismasted and an utter wreck. She,
being the admiral, had aboard of her all our treasure--twelve
thousand pounds in gold, lad, besides negroes and merchandise.
'It was impossible to bring her off, so Jack resolved to abandon her,
after taking out all she had. To this end we drew her off and set
her in front of the _Minion_, to keep off the shot of the Spanish
batteries, and so save our whole ship from destruction while we were
at our work. For the _Minion_ was the only ship we had now that
would sail, except my _Judith_, which I had got safe off after the
fight. But the Spaniards saw our game, and fired two other great
ships of theirs, and loosed them down wind at us. They may call us
cowards, Jasper, but it is a fearful thing to see two fireships a
mass of roaring, crackling flames, and each twice and thrice as big
as yourself, bearing down on you. Who can blame them if the crew of
the _Minion_ grew afraid and cast her off from the _Jesus_, in spite
of all their captain or the general could say? So suddenly was it
done that the general himself almost perished in trying to come
aboard the _Minion_, and many were drowned in the attempt, and many
left aboard the grand old _Jesus_ with the treasure, to fall a prey
to those rake-hell traitors.
'I quickly lay aboard the _Minion_ with the _Judith_, and took out of
her all I had room for; and so, at the mercy of God and looking for
nothing but death, seeing how overladen we were and without proper
provisions, I made my way home as speedily as I might. Jack takes it
unkindly that I left him; yet, God knows, I did it for the best,
trusting, by His help, to save my ship and all those aboard, if such
a thing were possible to any man. Who knows, if I had tarried with
the general, I should not have fared like him, and had to set half my
crew ashore to suffer Heaven knows what miseries at the hand of
Indians and wild beasts and Spaniards, which is worse. Ay, and to
lose half the rest from famine and sickness. God be praised for His
mercy to me, and judge between me and Cousin Jack.'
So Frank Drake ended his relation of that famous adventure in the
port of San Juan de Ulloa, and fell to walking fiercely up and down
the room where we sat. I knew not what to answer him; for I was
almost as much moved as he, and firmly believed it was the will of
God that they should have destroyed the two Spanish fleets. It is
strange to look back upon now, yet I cannot wonder that I thought as
I did, seeing what my masters had been at Cambridge, and, above all,
in what a perilous case England then was.
Never, I think, was reformation in greater danger than at that time.
There were already constant rumours of the disquiet in the north.
The rumblings of the Papist storm that was soon to burst from thence
were making themselves heard. The Scots Queen sat fouling the nest
to which she had flown for refuge, in our eyes like some unclean bird
that bred new traitors every day, and Spain cried louder and France
blustered more fiercely against the one stout heart which would not
bend to Rome.
The Queen still stoutly held the Duke of Alva's treasure, which she
had seized; our ports were closed to Spain, and those of Spain to us.
Sir William Winter was fitting out his expedition to relieve
Rochelle, with victuals, men, and furniture for the Huguenots.
Papist prizes, Spanish, French, no matter what, were daily pouring
into our ports upon the narrow seas, and Don Gueran de Espes, the
Spanish Ambassador, was a prisoner in his own house in London. It
was said at all hands that the times could not long endure the
strain, and we looked for war to burst out every day.
What wonder then, if, when the whole host of Anti-christ seemed to be
gathering about us, I, like Francis Drake, saw the finger of God in
the hurricane which had put it in our power to make so big a blow at
His enemies, and read in the disaster that followed a judgment on
those who spared to spoil the Egyptians? That was what the scholar
Said to the sailor; ay, and honestly believed it too.
'Have no doubt, Frank,' said I, 'it was the Lord's will that you had
smitten and spared not. It was His plain and manifest mercy to you
to put it in your power to bruise the serpent's head. Would God
Captain Hawkins had listened with your ears!'
'That is what I tell Harry, but he scorns it,' said Drake eagerly;
and Harry, to my inquiring look, only laughed a little low laugh, so
full of complete amusement that it made me shudder, and there rushed
to my mind the horrid Italian proverb that we heard so
often--_Inglese Italianato è Diavolo incarnato_.
'Do you not think, then,' I asked of Harry, 'that it is God's will
that we should smite Antichrist and all his host?'
'Well, let that pass, lad,' said Harry, laying his hand gently upon
my knee. 'I know not too well what God thinks of us; but it is my
will, and England's will, that we should smite, as you say, the King
of Spain, and that is why I sent for you. Ever since he came home
Frank has been striving to get redress from Spain through the
Council, but things have come to such a pass with embargoes and
imprisoned ambassadors that all hope of that is at an end. So Frank
is going to fry his own fish. Tell him what you are going to do,
Frank.'
Drake looked at Culverin and Lashmer, who had remained in the room,
with that same strange stare of his, as though to see whether he
might safely speak before them.
'Shall they go?' said Harry.
'No,' said Frank, after a pause, and the Sergeant saluted him, and
Lashmer looked like a happy sheep. 'They are neither men to blab,
yet we must be close; for it would seem there is a Spanish ear grows
on every village cross.'
Therewith Frank Drake unfolded to us his mighty project, of which I
think none but his heroic soul had yet dreamed--that glorious
enterprise which, before a few more years were gone, was to make
England's heart to leap with pride like a young stag, and set her
fair body throbbing with the wild untamable life that was to make her
what she is.
'The time is past for child's play,' he cried, with glowing face,
'the time is past for nibbling at our enemy in the narrow seas, it is
past for peaceable trade with them. If we are to live and dare
worthily of our manhood, we must bite hard and deep in their vitals.
Where is that, lad? Whence comes their life? Where but from the
Indies? There lies the heart of Spain, the heart of Antichrist, open
and unprotected, for a man who dares to try. I have seen and I know.
They are no match for us. See what we did at San Juan de Ulloa. In
spite of their numbers, in spite of their treachery, we saved two of
our ships and they lost five of theirs, and all three times the
_Minion's_ size at least. I suffered there, but still I learnt a
lesson which, by God's help, they shall rue the teaching of. But he
who attempts this must not flinch or quail. Jack Hawkins is no man
for it; but I can do it, lads, under God, I can; and if I do it, it
shall be under no man's flag but my own.'
'Frank,' said I, 'I believe if there is a man in England can attempt
this thing it is you. But be not hasty to throw away your life,
which England needs. Think of those unknown seas for which you can
get no pilot in England; think of the power of him you attack.'
'I know, lad, I know,' answered Drake, as calm and confident as ever.
'I have thought of it. I will have a pilot, and that pilot shall be
myself. It may take a year or two, but at last I will know those
seas as well as any Spaniard of them all. Then I will strike, and
let them see how I can revenge myself. Revenge is the Lord's, and by
His chosen people He does His work. To you, and such as you, He
looks to help me in this, and I have come to ask if you will join me
in working the revenge of God.'