"Now now, Roger, my lad; what are you thinking of?" These words were
addressed to a tall, fair young man of about eighteen or nineteen years
of age, who was standing on Plymouth Hoe, gazing earnestly at the Sound
and the evolutions of certain vessels which had just entered it round
Penlee Point.
The speaker was a lad of about the same age, but shorter in height,
sturdier in build, and altogether more robust and healthy-looking than
his companion, who belonged rather to the class of dreamers than that of
workers.
The time was a bright summer morning in the month of June, in the year
1586; and although the great Armada--which Philip of Spain fondly
believed was to crush England--was as yet undreamed of, war was even
then being carried on in a somewhat desultory manner between England and
Spain, very much to the disadvantage of the latter country.
English gentlemen, who called themselves "gentlemen adventurers", were
fitting out merchant-vessels as warships, and sailing for the Spanish
Main and the Indies in the hope of securing some of the splendid prizes
that were at that time to be obtained through pluck and audacity, in the
shape of Spanish galleons richly and heavily laden with spices and gold
from Manila, plate from Acapulco, or costly silks and fabrics and
treasure untold from the new Spanish colony of Mexico.
It was of these stirring deeds and adventures that Roger Trevose of
Pentillie Manor, on the river Tamar, in the county of Devon--fairest and
sweetest of all English counties,--was thinking when his friend Harry
Edgwyth, who had just arrived upon the scene, put his question: "How
now, Roger, my lad; what are you thinking of?"
"I was thinking, Harry, what a splendid thing it would be if you and I
could join some of these gentlemen adventurers (heroes I call them), and
try our luck in the Spanish seas, fighting for our fortunes, and the
glory of dear old England. Just think of it, lad! That is a life for a
man to lead; is't not so, Harry? Pentillie Castle, as you know well, is
heavily mortgaged; and my poor father and mother are very hardly put to
it to make sufficient money to keep the old place up; and what would be
more fitting, Harry, I ask you, than for the only son, the heir to those
fair estates and that grand old mansion, to sail in some ship going to
the Indies, and endeavour to retrieve the fortunes of his house? Think
for a moment, Harry; who knows but that we might sight some rich Spanish
galleon, laden almost to the water's edge with plate, and, having
sighted her, chase and capture her! Why, a share of one of those
splendid cargoes that the plate galleons carry would probably be
sufficient to enable me to restore the fortunes of the dear old home,
pay off its mortgages, and free my dearly-loved parents from the load of
care that is now oppressing them. And that," continued Roger, becoming
wildly enthusiastic, "need not be the finish of it all. With some of
the money I could and would fit out an expedition of my own, and sail
for the Indies on my own account; and perhaps return with my ship more
richly-laden than any ship has ever been before; and my name would ring
through England; I should be given honours; perhaps be called to court;
and who knows, Harry, where I should stop! Why, lad, it is enough to
fire the most sluggish blood, let alone mine, which is hot enough, God
wot, as is that of all the Trevose family."
"Ay, Roger," answered Harry, "but have you well weighed the risks; have
you thought of what your parents would feel if you left them all alone
to go to the Spanish Main, whence, perchance, you would never return?
Remember, lad, you are their only son, and heir to the old estate and
manor; and think what they would feel did you never come back."
"Harry," replied Roger, "never, never have I seen or met your equal for
caution! Why prate, lad, of what might happen? Think rather of what is
certain to befall, and that is that I shall come back a rich man, rich
enough to enable me to realise all my wishes and ambitions. Why, if
everyone thought as you do, where would now be the names of the heroes
who have already made our dear England the mistress of the seas?
`Nothing dare, nothing gain', lad; that's my motto!"
"You are quite right in what you say," replied Harry, "but only too well
do I know your careless and reckless disposition, Roger; and although
you would surely do daring deeds, and cover yourself with glory, I fear
me greatly that you would not live to bring home that treasure, even if
you did live long enough to gain it."
"Harry, if I did not know you as I do, lad," retorted Roger, "I should
be inclined to dub you craven; but, as it is, I know full well that you
only suffer from excess of caution, even as you say that I suffer from
lack of the same. But I do not agree with your prophecy that I should
not live to bring home my spoil. No, I feel within myself that I shall
succeed in my venture, if I can bring my father and mother to consent to
my going; and I am also convinced that I shall be able to bring my
riches safely home. Meanwhile, the question is: Can I persuade some
brave captain to take me on his ship?"
"Have you, then, truly made up your mind to sail for the Indies, Roger,
if you can get one of our adventurers to take you?" cried Harry.
"Methought you were only dreaming, and did not seriously entertain the
idea of leaving England."
"I was never more serious in my life," replied Roger; "in fact I had
made up my mind some time since, and was but considering how and when I
could best put the matter before my parents, and wondering whether they
would give their consent to my embarking on such an enterprise. And I
would give much, Harry, my friend, if I could persuade you to accompany
me. Has not the prospect of adventure, glory, and perchance great
wealth, any attraction for you?"
"Ay, that has it," asserted Harry; "but you seem to forget that, if I go
with you, I must leave my sister behind; and what would become of her,
poor maid? I have no other relations to whom she could go, or who would
care for her; and I cannot leave her behind, all alone."
Roger broke into a peal of merry laughter.
"Why, lad," said he, "you are forever making difficulties where none
exist! Now list to me, for I have a proposal to make you. If I can
persuade my father and mother to let me go, they will then, as you say,
be alone, seeing that I am their only child; but if your sister were to
go to them, it would in part reconcile them to my absence, while at the
same time the arrangement would provide a home for your sister, and a
way out of your difficulty. What do you say to my idea?"
"That it is a good one," agreed Harry; "and I thank you, Roger, for the
thought, which truly had occurred to me also, but I did not like to be
the first to mention it. My sister has ever loved your mother, and I
think your mother has some little affection for the maid; and I am sure,
therefore, that she would be happy with your folk."
"Let us then consider the matter as settled, so far as we are concerned,
Harry," said Roger; "and let us pledge each other to sail together; to
stand by each other through thick and thin, through fair and foul; to
share all dangers; and to divide equally all plunder that we may obtain
from the rascally Dons. Then I will away to consult my folk; and you
shall come too, Harry, and add your persuasions to mine. You shall
entreat them, with me, to let me go, promising them that, if they will
part with me, your sister shall keep them company till we return. And I
am sure that if we both plead hard enough, Harry, lad, we shall in the
end succeed in obtaining from them a promise to let me go at the very
first opportunity."
"Very well, Roger," assented Harry; "this shall be the first action in
which I will stand by you according to our pledge; and I will come with
you and add my entreaties to yours that your people should let you go.
But when do you intend to ask them, lad?"
"I am in Plymouth until the morrow after next," said Roger; "and then I
intend to take my boat, which I have left at Sutton Pool, and pull up
the river back to Pentillie; and you will come with me, Harry, will you
not?"
"Ay, lad, that will I; have I not promised you?" replied the latter.
"But I must now go about my business, else shall I not be in time to
accompany you according to my promise. So until the appointed time,
when I will certainly meet you, farewell, lad! and have a care that that
hare-brain of yours does not get you into some trouble, meanwhile; for I
know what you are when you come into Plymouth on a holiday."
"Never fear for me, Harry," returned Roger; "I have now something in
view of more importance than street brawls and such follies, and shall
take care that I get into no trouble to prevent my joining you at Sutton
Pool, as we agreed."
With these words the two lads separated, Harry returning to his home to
break the momentous news to his sister, and elicit her views concerning
the proposed expedition, and Roger proceeding to the house of his uncle,
a worthy mercer of the town, with whom he was staying during the holiday
which he was at that time taking in Plymouth. Little did those two boys
(for they were scarcely more) realise the momentous nature of the step
that they had taken when they pledged one another on Plymouth Hoe!
Could they but have foreseen the wild and terrible days, the awful
sights, the hardships and privations, which lay before them, and through
which they would have to pass ere they might return to their native
country, it is highly probable that they would not have started on their
expedition at all. Or, if they had done so, it would have been with far
heavier hearts and more serious faces than they carried at the time when
they made their compact to stand by one another "through fair and foul,
through thick and thin", as they phrased it, that morning on Plymouth
Hoe.