The squadron, headed by the ship of Cavendish himself, the _Stag Royal_,
was well on its way to the Indies across the Atlantic, having taken in
wood, water, and stores at the Western Islands. Roger and Harry, by
this time quite recovered from their first sea-sickness, were fast
asleep in their bunks, it being their watch below, when they were
aroused by a cry on deck of "Sail-ho!" followed by the question in
another voice: "Where away?"
"Right ahead, sir," came the reply. "She seems to be a large ship, and
Spanish by her rig."
This was quite enough for the two lads, who, springing out of their
berths, dressed with all possible speed and ran up on deck.
When they arrived there, however, there was nothing to be seen from that
level; but twenty pairs of eager eyes were looking out from the
forecastle-head, anxious for the first glimpse of the stranger, who was
nearly certain to prove an enemy, and therefore a prospective prize.
Presently a voice exclaimed: "I see her, I see her; there she is right
ahead of us!" and at the same moment another hail floated down from the
masthead: "Sail-ho, again, and several of them!"
By this time both Roger and Harry could see the topsails of the ship
first sighted, and their hearts beat fast at the prospect of a coming
engagement.
"How many sail can you make out?" shouted the officer on deck.
"I can see four more, besides the one we sighted first, sir," came the
reply; "and the ships look to me like a Spanish fleet sent out to
intercept us, for they seem to be hove-to and waiting for something."
"That is well," replied the officer, smiling at Roger; "let them only
lie-to until we reach them, and there is not much doubt that they will
get something in the nature of an extremely disagreeable surprise."
Now the fleet of Cavendish consisted of three ships only--the _Stag
Royal_, on board which were Roger and Harry, with Cavendish himself, she
being the flag-ship of the little squadron. Behind, at a distance of
about half a mile, came the _Elizabeth_ and the _Good Adventure_, close
together.
Cavendish, having come on deck shortly after the first hail, looked at
the fleet of the enemy, and then cast his eyes over his own small
squadron, as if comparing in his mind the comparative strengths of the
two fleets.
Then he gave the order: "Prepare the ship for action, men; clear the
decks; get the hammocks rolled up and triced along the bulwarks; open
the powder-magazine and get powder and shot on deck, and see that the
captain of every gun has a plentiful supply of each. Also pass the word
for the yeoman of the signals to signal the _Elizabeth_ and the _Good
Adventure_ to prepare for action forthwith, and to range up one on each
side of me."
Having given these orders, and seen that the men hastened to carry them
out, Cavendish turned to Harry and Roger, who were standing together
anxiously looking ahead at the five ships, which were growing larger and
more distinctly visible to the eye every moment.
"Well, young gentlemen," said he, "I mean to engage those five ships
that you see yonder, and so will you get your first taste of the
adventure you have come to seek. See that you bear yourselves bravely;
remember you are fighting for your queen and the honour and glory of
your country. This coming engagement is going to be no child's play,
you may take my word for it. They are five vessels to our three, and
are more heavily armed and of bigger tonnage than are we, by the look of
them. But fear not, young men; faint heart never won fair enterprise;
and if we should beat them--as I am certainly determined that we shall--
doubtless you will have a handsome booty to handle after the battle.
Yet will it be hard fighting; and I trust that not only you two, but
every man on board these good ships of mine will do his very utmost."
With these words Cavendish turned away, and went aft to give further
orders. Meanwhile the other two ships of his squadron, in answer to his
signal, had crowded on more sail, and were fast closing up, one on
either side of the flag-ship.
The hulls of the five Spaniards were now quite plainly to be seen, and
it was observed that they were all prepared and waiting to give battle,
having slightly altered their formation since sighting the English, in
order to secure what they thought was the best position for fighting
their opponents.
They were by this time about two miles distant, and had formed
themselves into two divisions, in the order now known as "column of line
ahead", and were evidently expecting the English ships to run in between
the two squadrons thus formed, trusting thus to be obliged to use only
one broadside of each ship, while the English would be compelled to use
both; the idea of the Spaniards being that with this formation the
English would pass between them one at a time, and while each English
ship would use both broadsides upon entering the lane between the two
Spanish squadrons, she would be thereafter exposed, with empty guns, to
the fire in succession of the five Spanish ships; that is to say, the
two ships in line ahead on the one side, and the three in the same
formation on the other.
But if they imagined that the English were going to walk open-eyed into
such a simple trap as that they were vastly mistaken.
Cavendish saw at once what tactics the enemy anticipated that he would
adopt, and immediately made up his mind to checkmate them by following a
totally different line of action; and accordingly he promptly signalled
for his other two captains to come on board. This they did forthwith,
and, taking them into the cabin of his ship, he briefly and hurriedly
explained to them the manoeuvre he intended to adopt to outwit the
Spaniards.
This explanation was soon made, and the two skippers immediately
returned to their respective ships.
The two squadrons had by this time arrived within gunshot of each other,
and Harry and Roger, eager though they were for the fight to commence,
were yet conscious of a peculiar feeling something akin to fright, in
extenuation of which it must be remembered that neither of the boys had
ever been in action before.
It was now half an hour after mid-day, and one bell sounded on the three
ships of the English fleet.
At almost the same moment, and before the sound of the bells had died
away, the first shot in the action was fired by the Spaniards.
Harry, who was watching the starboard line or division of the enemy, saw
a flash, and immediately afterwards heard a whizzing sound, followed
from somewhere over his head by a sharp crash. Then a shower of
splinters fell round him and Roger, who was standing close by; while
immediately following this, down the wind came the dull boom of the
explosion.
Roger looked aloft to see what damage had been done by the shot; it was
not very much: the fore topmast showed a white mark where a piece had
been neatly gouged out of it, and a few ropes were severed, but nothing
serious had happened.
In accordance with Cavendish's orders, no shot was fired in return by
the English fleet; and presently, as they were about half a mile from
the foremost Spanish vessels, a very hurricane of smoke and fire burst
from as many of them as could bring their guns to bear on the little
English squadron.
There was a crashing and crackling all round, and Roger and Harry
involuntarily winced as the round-shot came flying through the bulwarks,
and spars and splinters came tumbling and flying all around them. From
behind them there came a shriek, as some poor wretch met his
death-wound, and from across the water more shrieks were heard,
announcing that theirs was not the only ship that was struck.
"First blood to the enemy," shouted Harry to Roger through the turmoil
of crashing wood and the shrieks of wounded men.
"Yes," replied Roger; "but I wish they would give us orders to fire.
This plan of sailing along without making any reply to the enemy's guns
is unnerving me, and it seems to me that if we are fired upon much
longer without replying we shall have no men left in condition to fight
when we get alongside the enemy."
"Never fear, Roger," replied Harry. "Cavendish knows what he is about;
and I think I see, even now, what manoeuvre he means to execute."
The three English ships were now heading as though they indeed intended
passing between the two lines of the enemy's squadron, and had so far
fired not a single shot. Suddenly, however, when only separated by a
few hundred yards, the English changed their course two or three points
to port, and headed for the starboard side of the two ships which
constituted the right-hand line of the Spanish fleet.
Thus the three English vessels were for a few minutes opposed to only
two Spanish ships, the three others being unable to fire except through
their consorts.
This manoeuvre compelled the other three ships to leave their present
berths and run before the wind, afterwards tacking before they could
range up on the opposite side of the English fleet and so bring their
guns to bear.
But during the time occupied by this movement, the English ships were by
no means idle.
Upon ranging up alongside the two Spanish vessels, the sails of the
English ships collapsed as if by magic, the halliards being let go and
the clewlines manned; and, as the craft lost way, grapnels were thrown,
and the ships were secured alongside two of the Spaniards.
At that period the Spanish war-vessels were built with "flush" decks,
that is, their decks were level fore and aft, and without bulwarks, and
were of much greater length than the English vessels, which were short,
and therefore more easy to manoeuvre than the Spaniards. Likewise there
were raised constructions at bow and stern, something like small forts,
called forecastles and aftercastles; the former word still remaining
under our modern term forecastle.
The English vessels were then, as mentioned above, shorter by a good
deal than those of their opponents, and so the total length of the three
English ships was covered by that of the two Spanish vessels, which fact
preserved them for the moment from the fire of the other three ships of
the enemy. Roger now saw the reason why Cavendish had reserved his
fire. Immediately his ships came alongside those of the enemy, the
broadsides of all three were simultaneously discharged, with fearful
effect, for amid the crash of falling spars and rending timbers could be
heard the cries and shrieks of the wounded, and the moans of the dying.
A dense cloud of smoke spread over the decks and concealed the
combatants from one another, but the din was terrific; while orders and
shouts, hoarse words of command, and fierce oaths mingled with the
cheers of the English.
The sternmost vessel of the enemy, which was the one that had received
the concentrated broadsides of two of the English ships, was now on fire
somewhere on her lower-deck; three or four of her ports were blown into
one big opening, and her decks were a very shambles of dead and wounded.
The fire below made very rapid headway, and effectually prevented her
men from working the lower-deck guns; it thus happened that with one
discharge from the English guns one of the two Spanish ships engaged was
seriously crippled.
The two craft, however, responded gallantly from their upper decks with
what cannon they were still able to serve, and a perfect hail of arrows
and arquebus bullets swept the English decks, mowing down men in all
directions.
The English had quietly reloaded those of their broadside guns that were
on the side of the enemy, the guns of the port broadside being still
undischarged.
"Now, lads," roared Cavendish above the clamour and din of rending
timber and falling spars, "give them another broadside; and let the
musketeers on the upper decks and the bowmen in the fore and after
castles follow it up with a volley, in order to clear their decks.
Immediately after the discharges the boarders are to follow me!"
At the commencement of the engagement Roger and Harry, seeing what was
likely to happen, had laid aside their light rapiers and armed
themselves with a pair of pistols apiece and the more formidable English
hanger as used by the ordinary seamen; and shoulder to shoulder they
stood by the starboard bulwarks, ready to spring as soon as Cavendish
should give his order to board.
Meanwhile the three other Spaniards, seeing the manoeuvre of the English
and the danger of their consorts, had made all sail as quickly as
possible, and were now running away before the wind in order to go about
and stand up on the starboard tack to engage the English vessels and
relieve their companions, which were in a somewhat parlous state.
The guns of the English ships' starboard broadsides now once more opened
fire with a simultaneous crash, which was immediately followed by a
discharge of musketry and arrows which laid low on the Spaniard's deck
nearly every living soul who had not taken what cover the deck
structures afforded.
"Now, boarders," roared Cavendish, his voice ringing high above the
turmoil, "away with you, and do not leave their decks until their flag
comes down!"
With a wild cheer the seamen, headed by Cavendish--who was closely
supported by Roger and Harry, who were respectively second and third on
the enemy's decks,--dashed at the Spaniards.
One of the two Spanish ships was now blazing fiercely, having been set
on fire by the discharges of the English guns, and her crew were
beginning to think that the time had arrived for them to leave her. In
this opinion they were confirmed by the English, who were gradually
driving them from their own decks to those of their consort. They were
thus, as it were, between two fires, and were badly hampered by the
necessity to climb from the one vessel to the other. Those of them who
could not gain the deck of the other ship were driven overboard, and
very few of them survived to reach their goal.
"Quickly, lads," shouted Roger; "drive these fellows off the deck, and
let us regain our own ship while we can. The other Spaniards are
drawing up, and will be on us before we are ready for them if we do not
look sharp."
The seamen, animated by his voice, and seeing the necessity for doing as
he said, redoubled their efforts, and, with hearty cheers, massed
themselves together and charged along the reeking and slippery decks.
The Spaniards, unable to resist the weight of the charge, scattered,
and, finding no other way of escape, dashed below; but they could not so
easily avoid the victorious English, who followed and hunted them out of
their hiding-places.
As Roger and Harry, having dashed below in pursuit, were running down
one of the narrow alleyways, searching for hidden Spaniards, a man
sprang from behind a curtain and aimed a heavy blow with his sword at
Roger, who was foremost, cutting him down.
With a faint groan Roger fell, and Harry stumbled over his body, thus
enabling the Spaniard to effect his escape.
Half-stunned from the force of his fall, Harry raised himself and bent
over Roger.
"Roger, Roger," he exclaimed, "are you much hurt? Speak to me, lad."
But Roger made no reply, lying perfectly still, with a stream of red
slowly spreading from under his head and staining the white planking.
Suddenly, from above sounded a harsh cry.
"Back, back, every man of you, and cut the ships adrift; the Spaniards
are firing the magazines; back, for your lives!" Loud and imperative
rang out the voice of Cavendish. "Quick, lads, for your lives, or we
shall be all blown up together!"
"Roger, Roger, wake, lad," cried Harry; "the ship has been set on fire,
and will blow up directly. Heavens, what can I do?"
But Roger never stirred; so, as there was nothing else to be done, Harry
took his body under the arms and began to drag him along toward the
nearest hatchway.
At this moment the broadsides of the English again rang out, showing
that the other three Spaniards were drawing up, and were within gunshot.
Meanwhile, on board the Spanish ship no sound was to be heard save the
roar and crackle of the flames, as Harry, putting out all his strength,
lifted the inanimate body of his friend to his shoulder, and plunged
along the passage through the blinding and suffocating smoke.
He was dashing forward, holding his breath as much as possible, with his
eyes smarting with smoke, and feeling as though they would burst from
their sockets, when he crashed up against some obstacle, dropping the
body of Roger from the force of the contact. A puff of fresh air now
blew the smoke aside for a moment, and Harry saw what was the cause of
his stoppage. His way was blocked by a stout oaken door, that had
evidently been closed by some seaman when he retreated upon hearing the
alarm that the magazine was in danger of being fired.
Harry dragged frantically at the handle and turned it wildly, but in
vain; the door was secured on the other side by some kind of spring
latch, and escape seemed impossible.
The smoke meanwhile was momentarily becoming more and more dense, and it
was now an agony to breathe, while every second of delay meant awful
danger; and Roger seemed to be rapidly bleeding to death for want of
attention to his wound.
Harry looked round for some instrument with which to force the door, and
his eye fell upon a handspike, probably dropped by some flying foe.
Seizing this, he smashed madly at the door, till at length the panel
splintered under his frantic blows; then, putting his hand through the
opening, he felt for the latch, found it, and the door opened at his
touch.
Once again raising Roger in his arms, he staggered blindly along; and at
last, bleeding from contact with splinters, and his hands almost raw
with wielding the handspike, he reached the foot of the companion-ladder
and dashed up it with his still inanimate burden in his arms.
On reaching the deck he saw that the grapnels had been cut, the three
English vessels had drifted some hundreds of yards away, and were even
then engaging the three other Spanish ships which had come up; and the
air was again full of the roar of cannon, the crashing of timbers,
falling of masts, shrieks, groans, cries, orders, and imprecations.
The Spanish ship which had been in company with the craft that caught
fire had vanished, and only a few timbers and fragments were floating on
the surface; she had evidently been sunk by the terrible fire of the
English guns.
The ship on which they now were, the _Maria Dolorosa_, was by this time
a spouting fountain of flame, from her bows as far aft as her mainmast.
Her guns were exploding one after another as the fire reached them, and
added their thunder to the already awful din.
Harry raised his voice, and shouted over the water with all the power of
his lungs to the English ships, but the continued roar of the cannon,
mingled with the rattling crash of musketry volleys, the shouted
commands of the officers, the hoarse outcries of toiling and fighting
men, and the crash of rending wood as the broadsides tore their way into
the vitals of the reeling ships effectually drowned his outcries; while
everybody was far too busily engaged to notice his critical situation.
"Ah, Roger!" said he, apostrophising the inanimate figure that lay at
his feet as he stood at the extreme edge of the poop, in order to be as
far away from the furnace heat as possible,--"Ah, Roger, I fear, dear
lad, that our lives are coming to an end even before we are fairly
launched on our adventures! Oh, why cannot they--!"
At this moment there was a roar as if all earth and heaven were
dissolving in chaos, and Harry, feeling as if he were being whirled
downward into everlasting night, knew no more.
The fire had at last reached the magazine!