Under Drake's Flag:

A Tale of the Spanish Mainby G A Henty. 

Contents

Chapter 1: The Wreck on the Devon Coast. Chapter 2: Friends and Foes. Chapter 3: On the Spanish Main. Chapter 4: An Unsuccessful Attack. Chapter 5: Cast Ashore. Chapter 6: In the Woods. Chapter 7: An Attack in Force. Chapter 8: The Forest Fastness. Chapter 9: Baffled. Chapter 10: Southward Ho!Chapter 11: The Marvel of Fire. Chapter 12: Across a Continent. Chapter 13: Through the Cordilleras. Chapter 14: On the Pacific Coast. Chapter 15: The Prison of the Inquisition. Chapter 16: The Rescue. Chapter 17: The Golden Hind. Chapter 18: San Francisco Bay. Chapter 19: South Sea Idols. Chapter 20: A Portuguese Settlement. Chapter 21: Wholesale Conversion. Chapter 22: Home. 

Chapter 1: The Wreck on the Devon Coast. 

It was a Stormy morning in the month of May, 1572; and thefishermen of the little village of Westport, situate about fivemiles from Plymouth, clustered in the public house of the place;and discussed, not the storm, for that was a common topic, but thefact that Master Francis Drake, whose ships lay now at Plymouth, was visiting the Squire of Treadwood, had passed through thevillage over night, and might go through it again, today. There wasnot one of the hardy fishermen there but would gladly have joinedDrake's expedition, for marvellous tales had been told of the greatbooty which he, and other well-known captains, had already obtainedfrom the Dons on the Spanish Main. The number, however, who couldgo was limited, and even of these the seafaring men were but asmall proportion; for in those days, although a certain number ofsailors were required to trim the sails and navigate the ship, thestrength of the company were the fighting men, who were soldiers bytrade, and fought on board ship as if on land. 

Captain Drake was accompanied by many men of good Devon blood, forthat county was then ahead of all England in its enterprise, andits seamanship; and no captain of name or repute ever had anydifficulty in getting together a band of adventurers, from thesturdy population of her shores. 

"I went over myself, last week, " said a finely-built young sailor, "and I prayed the captain, on my knees, to take me on board; but hesaid the tale had been full, long ago; and that so many were theapplicants that Master Drake and himself had sworn a great oath, that they would take none beyond those already engaged. "

"Aye! I would have gone myself, " said a grizzly, weatherbeaten oldsailor, "if they would have had me. There was Will Trelawney, whowent on such another expedition as this, and came back with morebags of Spanish dollars than he could carry. Truly they are a goldmine, these Western seas; but even better than getting gold is thethrashing of those haughty Spaniards, who seem to look uponthemselves as gods, and on all others as fit only to clean theirworships' boots. "

"They cannot fight neither, can they?" asked a young sailor. 

"They can fight, boy, and have fought as well as we could; but, somehow, they cannot stand against us, in those seas. Whether it isthat the curse of the poor natives, whom they kill, enslave, andill treat in every way, rises against them, and takes away theircourage and their nerve; but certain is it that, when our littlecraft lay alongside their big galleons, fight as they will, thebattle is as good as over. Nothing less than four to one, at thevery least, has any chance against our buccaneers. "

"They ill treat those that fall into their hands, do they not?"

"Ay, do they!" said the old sailor. "They tear off their flesh withhot pincers, wrench out their nails, and play all sorts of devil'sgames; and then, at last, they burn what is left of them in themarketplaces. I have heard tell of fearsome tales, lad; but theSpaniards outwit themselves. Were our men to have fair treatment asprisoners of war, it may be that the Spaniards would often be ableto hold their own against us; but the knowledge that, if we aretaken, this horrible fate is certain to be ours, makes our menfight with a desperate fury; and never to give in, as long as oneis left. This it is that accounts for the wonderful victories whichwe have gained there. He would be a coward, indeed, who would notfight with thumbscrews and a bonfire behind him. "

"It is said that the queen and her ministers favor, though notopenly, these adventures. "

"She cannot do it openly, " said the old man, "for here in Europe weare at peace with Spain--worse luck. "

"How is it, then, that if we are at peace here, we can be at war inthe Indian Seas?"

"That is more than I can tell thee, lad. I guess the queen's writruns not so far as that; and while her majesty's commands must beobeyed, and the Spanish flag suffered to pass unchallenged, onthese seas; on the Spanish main there are none to keep the peace, and the Don and the Englishman go at each other's throats, as athing of nature. "

"The storm is rising, methinks. It is not often I have heard thewind howl more loudly. It is well that the adventurers have not yetstarted. It would be bad for any craft caught in the Channel, today. "

As he spoke, he looked from the casement. Several people were seenhurrying towards the beach. 

"Something is the matter, lads; maybe a ship is driving on therocks, even now. "

Seizing their hats and cloaks, the party sallied out, and hurrieddown to the shore. There they saw a large ship, driving in beforethe wind into the bay. She was making every effort that seamanshipcould suggest, to beat clear of the head; but the sailors saw, atonce, that her case was hopeless. 

"She will go on the Black Shoal, to a certainty, " the old sailorsaid; "and then, may God have mercy on their souls. "

"Can we do nothing to help them?" a woman standing near asked. 

"No, no, " the sailor said; "we could not launch a boat, in theteeth of this tremendous sea. All we can do is to look out, andthrow a line to any who may be washed ashore, on a spar, when shegoes to pieces. "

Presently a group of men, whose dress belonged to the upper class, moved down through the street to the beach. 

"Aye! there is Mr. Trevelyan, " said the sailor, "and the gentlemanbeside him is Captain Drake, himself. "

The group moved on to where the fishermen were standing. 

"Is there no hope, " they asked, "of helping the ship?"

The seamen shook their heads. 

"You will see for yourself, Master Drake, that no boat could livein such a sea as this. "

"It could not put out from here, " the Captain said; "but if theycould lower one from the ship, it might live until it got into thebreakers. "

"Aye, aye, " said a sailor; "but there is no lowering a boat from aship which has begun to beat on the Black Shoal. "

"Another minute and she will strike, " the old sailor said. 

All gazed intently at the ship. The whole population of the villagewere now on the shore, and were eager to render any assistance, ifit were possible. In another minute or two, a general cry announcedthat the ship had struck. Rising high on a wave, she came down witha force which caused her mainmast at once to go over the side. Another lift on the next sea and then, high and fast, she wasjammed on the rocks of the Black Shoal. The distance from shore wasbut small, not more than three hundred yards, and the shouts of thesailors on board could be heard in the storm. 

"Why does not one of them jump over, with a rope?" Captain Drakesaid, impatiently. "Are the men all cowards, or can none of themswim? It would be easy to swim from that ship to the shore, whileit is next to impossible for anyone to make his way out, throughthese breakers. 

"Is there no one who can reach her from here?" he said, lookinground. 

"No one among us, your honor, " the old sailor said. "Few here cankeep themselves up in the water, in a calm sea; but if man or boycould swim through that surf, it is the lad who is just coming downfrom behind us. The Otter, as we call him, for he seems to be ableto live, in water, as well as on land. "

The lad of whom they were speaking was a bright-faced boy, of somefifteen years of age. He was squarely built, and his dress differeda little from that of the fisher lads standing on the beach. 

"Who is he?" asked Captain Drake. 

"He is the son of the schoolmaster here, a learned man, and they dosay one who was once wealthy. The lad himself would fain go to sea, but his father keeps him here. It is a pity, for he is a bold boy, and would make a fine sailor. "

The Otter, as he had been called, had now come down to the beach;and, with his hands shading his eyes from the spray, sheets ofwhich the wind carried along with blinding force, he gazed at theship and the sea, with a steady intentness. 

"I think I can get out to her, " he said, to the fishermen. 

"It is madness, boy, " Captain Drake said. "There are few men, indeed, so far as I know, in these climes--I talk not of theheathens of the Western Islands--who could swim through a breakingsea, like yonder. "

"I think I can do it, " the boy said, quietly. "I have been out inas heavy seas before, and if one does but choose one's time, andhumor them a bit, the waves are not much to be feared, after all. 

"Get me the light line, " he said, to the sailors, "and I will beoff, at once. "

So saying, he carelessly threw off his clothes. The fishermenbrought a light line. One end they fastened round his shouldersand, with a cheerful goodbye, he ran down to the water's edge. 

The sea was breaking with tremendous violence, and the chance ofthe lad's getting out, through the breakers, appeared slight, indeed. He watched, however, quietly for three or four minutes, when a wave larger than usual broke on the beach. Following it out, he stood knee deep, till the next great wave advanced; then, with aplunge, he dived in beneath it. It seemed an age before he wasagain seen, and Captain Drake expressed his fear that his head musthave been dashed against a rock, beneath the water. 

But the men said:

"He dives like a duck, sir, and has often frighted us by the timehe keeps under water. You will see, he will come up beyond thesecond line of waves. "

It seemed an age, to the watchers, before a black spot appearedsuddenly, beyond the foaming line of breakers. There was a generalshout of "There he is!" But they had scarce time to note theposition of the swimmer, when he again disappeared. Again and againhe came up, each time rapidly decreasing the distance betweenhimself and the shipwrecked vessel; and keeping his head above thewaves for a few seconds, only, at each appearance. 

The people in the vessel were watching the progress of the lad, with attention and interest even greater than was manifested bythose on shore; and as he approached the ship, which already showedsigns of breaking up, a line was thrown to him. He caught it, butinstead of holding on and being lifted to the ship, he fastened thelight rope which he had brought out to it, and made signs to themto haul. 

"Fasten a thicker rope to it, " he shouted, "and they will haul itin, from the shore. "

It would have been no easy matter to get on board the ship; so, having done his work, the lad turned to make his way back to theshore. 

A thick rope was fastened, at once, by those of the crew who stillremained on the deck of the vessel, to the lighter one; and thoseon shore began to pull it rapidly in; but, ere the knotted jointreached the shore, a cry from all gathered on the beach showed thatthe brave attempt of the Otter had been useless. A tremendous seahad struck the ship, and in a moment it broke up; and a number offloating fragments, alone, showed where a fine vessel had, a fewminutes before, floated on the sea. 

The lad paused in his course towards the shore and, looking round, endeavored to face the driving wind and spray; in hopes that hemight see, among the fragments of the wreck, some one to whom hisassistance might be of use. For a time, he could see no signs of ahuman being among the floating masses of wreck; and indeed, he wasobliged to use great caution in keeping away from these, as a blowfrom any of the larger spars might have been fatal. 

Presently, close to him, he heard a short muffled bark; and, looking round, saw a large dog with a child in its mouth. Theanimal, which was of the mastiff breed, appeared already exhausted. The Otter looked hastily round and, seeing a piece of wreck ofsuitable size, he seized it, and with some difficulty succeeded inbringing it close to the dog. Fortunately the spar was a portion ofone of the yards, and still had a quantity of rope connected to it. He now took hold of the child's clothes, the dog readily yieldingup the treasure he had carried, seeing that the newcomer was likelyto afford better assistance than himself. 

In a few moments the child was fastened to the spar, and the Otterbegan steadily to push it towards the shore; the dog swimmingalongside, evidently much relieved at getting rid of his burden. When he neared the line of breakers the lad waved his hand, as asign to them to prepare to rush forward, and lend a hand, when thespar approached. He then paddled forward quietly and, keeping justoutside the line of the breakers, waved to those on shore to throw, if possible, a rope. Several attempts were made to hurl a stone, fastened to the end of a light line, within his reach. 

After many failures, he at last caught the line. This he fastenedto the spar, and signaled to those on shore to pull it in; then, side by side with the dog, he followed. Looking round behind him, he watched a great breaker rolling in and, as before, dived as itpassed over his head, and rode forward on the swell towards theshore. 

Then there was a desperate struggle. At one moment his feet touchedthe ground, at another he was hauled back and tossed into thewhirling sea; sometimes almost losing his consciousness, but everkeeping his head cool, and striving steadily to make progress. Several times he was dashed against the beach with great force, andit was his knowledge that the only safe way of approaching shore, through a heavy surf, is to keep sideways to the waves, and allowthem to roll one over and over, that he escaped death--for, had headvanced straight towards the shore, the force of the waves wouldhave rolled him heels-over-head, and would almost certainly havebroken his neck. 

At last, just as consciousness was leaving him, and he thought thathe could struggle no more, a hand grasped his arm. The fishermen, joining hand in hand, had gone down into the surf; and after manyineffectual efforts, had at last seized him, as a retiring wave wascarrying him out again, for the fifth time. 

With the consciousness of rescue all feeling left him, and it wassome minutes before he recovered his senses. His first question wasfor the safety of the child on the spar, and he was glad to hearthat it had come to shore without hurt. The dog, too, had beenrolled up the beach, and seized before taken off again, but hadbroken one of its legs. 

The Otter was soon on his feet again and, saying, "I must make myway home, they will be alarmed about me, " was about to turn away, when a group of gentlemen standing near advanced. 

"You are a fine lad, " one of them said to him. "A fine lad, and anhonor to the south of Devonshire. My name is Francis Drake, and ifthere be aught that I can do for you, now or hereafter, I shall beglad, indeed, to do my utmost for so gallant a youth as yourself. "

"Oh, sir!" the boy exclaimed, his cheek flushing with excitement. "If you are Master Francis Drake, will you let me join your ship, for the voyage to the Indies?"

"Ah! my boy, " the gentleman said, "you have asked the only thing, perhaps, which I should feel obliged to refuse you. Already we havemore than our number, and to avoid the importunity of the many whowish to go, or of my powerful friends who desired to place sons orrelations in my charge, I have been obliged to swear that I wouldtake no other sailor, in addition to those already shipped. 

"You are, however, young, " he said, as he marked the change in theboy's face; "and I promise you that if I come back, and again sailon an expedition like that on which I now start, that you shall beone of my crew. What is your name, lad? I hear them call you Otter, and truly the beast is no better swimmer than you are. "

"My name, sir, is Ned Hearne. My father is the schoolmaster here. "

"Will he consent, think you, to your taking to a seafaring life?"

"Methinks he will, sir. He knows that my heart is set upon it, forhe hath often said if I loved my lessons with one-tenth of the loveI bear for the sea, I should make a good scholar, and be a creditto him. "

"I will not forget you, lad. Trust me, and when you hear of myreturn, fail not to send a reminder, and to claim a place in mynext adventure. "

Ned Hearne, delighted at the assurance, ran off at full speed tothe cottage where his father resided, at the end of the village. The dominie, who was an old man, wore the huge tortoise-shellrimmed spectacles of the time. 

"Wet again, " he said, as his son burst into the room in which hewas sitting, studying a Greek tome. "Truly thou earnest the name ofwhich thou art so proud, Otter, hardly. What tempted thee to gointo the water, on a day like this?"

Ned briefly explained what had taken place. The story was nounusual one, for this was the third time that he had swum out tovessels on the rocks between Westport and Plymouth. Then he relatedto his father how Captain Francis Drake had spoken to him, andpraised him, and how he had promised that, on his next trip to theWest Indies, he would take him with him. 

"I would not have you count too much upon that, " the dominie said, dryly. "It is like, indeed, that he may never come back from thishare-brain adventure; and if he brings home his skin safe, he will, methinks, have had enough of burning in the sun, and fighting theSpaniards. "

"But hath he not already made two or three voyages thither, Father?" the boy asked. 

"That is true enough, " said his father; "but from what I gather, these were mere trips to spy out the land. This affair on which hestarts now will be, I wot, a very different matter. "

"How is it, Father, " the boy said on the following morning, resuming the conversation from the point which they were at when hewent up to change his wet clothes, the day before, "that whenEngland is at peace with Spain, our sailors and the Spanish dofight bloodily, in the West Indies?"

"That, my son, is a point upon which the Roman law telleth usnothing. I have, in my shelves, some very learned treatises on war;but in none do I find mention of a state of things in which twopowers, at peace at home, do fight desperately at the extreme endof the earth. "

"But, Father, do you think it not lawful to kill the Spaniard, andto take the treasures which he robbeth from the poor heathen of theWest?"

"I know not about lawful, my son, but I see no warrant whatsoeverfor it; and as for heathen, indeed, it appears to me that theattacks upon him do touch, very closely, upon piracy upon the highseas. However, as the country in general appeareth to approve ofit, and as it is said that the queen's most gracious majesty dothgladly hear of the beating of the Spaniards, in those seas, itbecometh not me to question the rights of the case. "

"At any rate, Father, you would not object when the time comes forme to sail with Mr. Francis Drake?"

"No, my boy; thou hast never shown any aptitude whatever forlearning. Thou canst read and write, but beyond that thy knowledgerunneth not. Your mind seems to be set on the water, and when youare not in it you are on it. Therefore it appears, to me, to beflying in the face of Providence to try to keep you on shore. Hadyour poor mother lived, it would have been a different thing. Hermind was set upon your becoming a clerk; but there, one might aswell try to make a silk purse from the ear of a sow. But I tell youagain, count not too much upon this promise. It may be years beforeMr. Francis Drake may be in a position to keep it. "

Had Ned Hearne watched for Captain Drake's second voyage, he would, indeed, as his father had said, have waited long. Three days afterthe conversation, however, a horseman from Plymouth rode into thelittle village, and inquired for the house of Master Hearne. Beingdirected thither, he rode up in haste to the gate. 

"Here is a letter!" he cried, "for the son of the schoolmaster, whogoes by the name of the Otter. "

"I am he, " Ned cried. "What is it, and who can have written to me?"

"It is a letter from His Honor, the Worshipful Mr. Francis Drake. "

Seizing the letter, Ned broke the seal, read a few lines, threw hiscap into the air with a shout of joy, and rushed in to his father. 

"Father, " he said, "Captain Drake has written to acquaint me thatone of the boys in his ship has been taken ill, and cannot go; andthat it has pleased him to appoint me to go in his place; and thatI am to be at Plymouth in three days, at the utmost, bringing withme what gear I may require for the expedition. "

The schoolmaster was a little taken aback at this sudden prospectof departure, but he had always been wholly indulgent to his son, and it was not in his nature to refuse to allow him to availhimself of an opportunity which appeared to be an excellent one. The danger of these expeditions was, no doubt, very great; but thespoils were in proportion, and there was not a boy or man of theseafaring population of Devon who would not gladly have gone withthe adventurous captains. 

Chapter 2: Friends and Foes. 

Three days after the receipt of the letter, Ned Hearne stood withhis bundle on the quay at Plymouth. Near him lay a large rowboatfrom the ships, waiting to take off the last comers. A little waybehind, Captain Francis Drake and his brother, Captain John Drake, talked with the notable people of Plymouth, who had come down tobid them farewell; the more since this was a holiday, being WhitsunEve, the 24th May, and all in the town who could spare time hadmade their way down to the Hove to watch the departure of theexpedition; for none could say how famous this might become, or howgreat deeds would be accomplished by the two little craft lyingthere. Each looker on thought to himself that it might be that, tothe end of his life, he should tell his children and his children'schildren, with pride, "I saw Mr. Drake start for his great voyage. "

Small, indeed, did the fleet appear, in comparison to the workwhich it had to do. It was composed of but two vessels. The first, the Pacha, of seventy tons, carrying forty-seven men and boys, wascommanded by Captain Francis Drake himself. By her side was theSwanne, of twenty-five tons, carrying twenty-six men and boys, andcommanded by Captain John Drake. This was truly but a small affairto undertake so great a voyage. 

In those days the Spaniards were masters of the whole of SouthAmerica, and of the Isles of the West Indies. They had many verylarge towns full of troops, and great fleets armed to carry thetreasure which was collected there to Spain. It did seem almostlike an act of madness that two vessels, which by the side of thoseof the Spaniards were mere cockleshells, manned in all by less thaneighty men, should attempt to enter a region where they would beregarded, and rightly, as enemies, and where the hand of every manwould be against them. 

Captain Drake and his men thought little of these things. Thesuccess which had attended their predecessors had inspired theEnglish sailors with a belief in their own invincibility, whenopposed to the Spaniards. They looked, to a certain extent, upontheir mission as a crusade. In those days England had a horror ofPopery, and Spain was the mainstay and supporter of this religion. The escape which England had had of having Popery forced upon it, during the reign of Mary, by her spouse, Philip of Spain, had beena narrow one; and even now, it was by no means certain that Spainwould not, sooner or later, endeavor to carry out the pretensionsof the late queen's husband. Then, too, terrible tales had come ofthe sufferings of the Indians at the hands of the Spaniards; and itwas certain that the English sailors who had fallen into the handsof Spain had been put to death, with horrible cruelty. Thus, then, the English sailors regarded the Spaniards as the enemy of theircountry, as the enemy of their religion, and as the enemy ofhumanity. Besides which, it cannot be denied that they viewed themas rich men, well worth plundering; and although, when it came tofighting, it is probable that hatred overbore the thought of gain, it is certain that the desire for gold was, in itself, the mainincentive to those who sailed upon these expeditions. 

Amid the cheers of the townsfolk the boats pushed off, Mr. FrancisDrake and his brother waving their plumed hats to the burghers ofPlymouth, and the sailors giving a hurrah, as they bent to theoars. Ned Hearne, who had received a kind word of greeting from Mr. Drake, had taken his place in the bow of one of the boats, lost inadmiration at the scene; and at the thought that he was one of thisband of heroes, who were going out to fight the Spaniards, and toreturn laden with countless treasure wrested from them. At thethought his eyes sparkled, his blood seemed to dance through hisveins. 

The western main, in those days, was a name almost of enchantment. Such strange tales had been brought home, by the voyagers who hadnavigated those seas, of the wonderful trees, the bright birds, thebeauties of nature, the gold and silver, and the abundance of allprecious things, that it was the dream of every youngster on theseaboard some day to penetrate to these charmed regions. A weeksince, and the realization of the dream had appeared beyond hiswildest hopes. Now, almost with the suddenness of a transformationscene, this had changed; and there was he on his way out to theSwanne, a part of the expedition itself. It was to the Swanne thathe had been allotted, for it was on board that ship that the boywhose place he was to take had been seized with illness. 

Although but twenty-five tons in burden, the Swanne made a fargreater show than would be made by a craft of that size in thepresent day. The ships of the time lay but lightly on the water, while their hulls were carried up to a prodigious height; and it isnot too much to say that the portion of the Swanne, above water, was fully as large as the hull which we see of a merchantman offour times her tonnage. Still, even so, it was but a tiny craft tocross the Atlantic, and former voyages had been generally made inlarger ships. 

Mr. Francis Drake, however, knew what he was about. He consideredthat large ships required large crews to be left behind to defendthem, that they drew more water, and were less handy; and heresolved, in this expedition, he would do no small part of his workwith pinnaces and rowboats; and of these he had three fine craft, now lying in pieces in his hold, ready to fit together on arrivingin the Indies. 

As they neared the ships the two boats separated, and Ned soonfound himself alongside of the Swanne. A ladder hung at her side, and up this Ned followed his captain; for in those days the strictetiquette that the highest goes last had not been instituted. 

"Master Holyoake, " said Mr. John Drake, to a big andpowerful-looking man standing near, "this is the new lad, whoseskill in swimming, and whose courage, I told you of yesternight. Hewill, I doubt not, be found as willing as he is brave; and I trustthat you will put him in the way of learning his business as asailor. It is his first voyage. He comes on board a green hand, butI doubt not that, ere the voyage be finished, he will have become asmart young sailor. "

"I will put him through, " John Holyoake, sailing master of theship, replied; for in those days the sailing master was thenavigator of the ship, and the captain was as often as not asoldier, who knew nothing whatever about seamanship. The one sailedthe ship, the other fought it; and the admirals were, in thosedays, more frequently known as generals, and held that position onshore. 

As Ned looked round the deck, he thought that he had never seen afiner set of sailors. All were picked men, hardy and experienced, and for the most part young. Some had made previous voyages to theWest Indies, but the greater portion were new to that country. Theylooked the men on whom a captain could rely, to the last. Tall andstalwart, bronzed with the sun, and with a reckless and fearlessexpression about them, which boded ill to any foes upon whom theymight fall. 

Although Ned had never been to sea on a long voyage, he had sailedtoo often in the fishing boats of his native village to have anyqualm of seasickness, or to feel in any degree like a new hand. Hewas, therefore, at once assigned to a place and duty. 

An hour later the admiral, as Mr. Francis Drake was called, fired agun, the two vessels hoisted their broad sails and turned theirheads from shore, and the crews of both ships gave a parting cheer, as they turned their faces to the south. 

As Ned was not in the slightest degree either homesick or seasick, he at once fell to work, laughing and joking with the other boys, of whom there were three on board. He found that their dutiesconsisted of bearing messages, of hauling any rope to which theywere told to fix themselves, and in receiving, with as good a faceas might be, the various orders, to say nothing of the variouskicks, which might be bestowed upon them by all on board. At thesame time their cheerful countenances showed that these thingswhich, when told, sounded a little terrible, were in truth in noway serious. 

Ned was first shown where he was to sling his hammock, and how;where he was to get his food; and under whose orders he wasspecially to consider himself; the master, for the present, takinghim under his own charge. For the next ten days, as the vesselsailed calmly along, with a favoring wind, Ned had learned all thenames of the ropes and sails, and their uses; could climb aloft, and do his share of the work of the ship; and if not yet a skilledsailor, was at least on the high road to become one. The master waspleased at his willingness and eagerness to oblige, and he soonbecame a great favorite of his. 

Between the four boys on the ship a good feeling existed. All hadbeen chosen as a special favor, upon the recommendation of one orother of those in authority. Each of them had made up his mindthat, one of these days, he, too, would command an expedition tothe West Indies. Each thought of the glory which he would attain;and although, in the hearts of many of the elder men in theexpedition, the substantial benefits to be reaped stood higher thanany ideas of glory or honor; to the lads, at least, pecuniary gainexercised no inducement whatever. They burned to see the strangecountry, and to gain some of the credit and glory which would, ifthe voyage was successful, attach to each member of the crew. Allwere full of fun, and took what came to them, in the way of work, so good temperedly and cheerfully, that the men soon ceased to givethem work for work's sake. 

They were, too, a strong and well-built group of boys. Ned was by afull year the youngest, and by nigh a head the shortest of them;but his broad shoulders and sturdy build, and the strength acquiredby long practice in swimming and rowing, made him their equal. 

There were, however, no quarrels among them, and their strengththey agreed to use in alliance, if need be, should any of the crewmake a dead set at one or other of them; for even in an expeditionlike this there must be some brutal, as well as many brave men. There were assuredly two or three, at least, of those on board theSwanne who might well be called brutal. They were for the most partold hands, who had lived on board ship half their lives, had takenpart in the slave traffic of Captain Hawkins, and in thebuccaneering exploits of the earlier commanders. To them the voyagewas one in which the lust of gold was the sole stimulant; and, accustomed to deeds of bloodshed, what feelings they ever had hadbecome utterly blunted, and they needed but the power to becomedespotic and brutal masters. 

The chief among these was Giles Taunton, the armorer He was aswarthy ruffian, who hid, beneath the guise of a jovial bonhomie, acruel and unfeeling nature. He was ever ready to cuff and beat theboys, on the smallest provocation. 

They soon gathered together, in a sort of defensive league, againsttheir common oppressors. All four were high-spirited lads. Theother three, indeed, were sons of men of substance in Devon, whosefathers had lent funds to Captain Drake for the carrying out of hisgreat enterprise. They therefore looked but ill on the kicks andcurses which, occasionally, fell to their lot. 

One day they gathered together round the bowsprit, and talked overwhat they should do. Gerald Summers, the eldest of the party, proposed that they should go in a body to Captain Drake, andcomplain of the tyranny to which they were subject. After sometalk, however, all agreed that such a course as this would lowerthem in the estimation of the men, and that it would be better toput up with the ill treatment than, to get the name of tell tales. 

Ned then said to the others:

"It seems to me that, if we do but hold together, we need not beafraid of this big bully. If we all declare to each other and swearthat, the first time he strikes one of us, we will all set uponhim; my faith on it, we shall be able to master him, big as he is. We are all of good size, and in two years will think ourselves men;therefore it would be shame, indeed, if the four of us could notmaster one, however big and sturdy he may be. "

After much consultation, it was agreed that this course should beadopted; and the next day, as Reuben Gale was passing by Giles, heturned round and struck him on the head with a broom. The boy gavea long whistle, and in a moment, to the astonishment of thearmorer, the other three lads rushed up, and at once assailed himwith fury. Astonished at such an attack, he struck out at them withmany strange oaths. Gerald he knocked down, but Ned leaped on hisback from behind, and the other two, closing with him, rolled himon to the deck; then, despite of his efforts, they pummeled himuntil his face was swollen and bruised, and his eyes nearly closed. 

Some of the men of his own sort, standing by, would fain haveinterfered; but the better disposed of the crew, who had seen, withdisgust, the conduct of the armorer and his mates to the boys, heldthem back, and said that none should come between. 

Just as the boys drew off, and allowed the furious armorer to riseto his feet, Captain John Drake, attracted by the unusual noise, came from his cabin. 

"What is this?" he asked. 

"These young wild cats have leapt upon me, " said Giles Tauntonfuriously, "and have beaten me nigh to death. But I will have myturn. They will see, and bitterly shall they have cause to regretwhat they have done. "

"We have been driven almost weary of our lives, sir, with the fouland rough conduct of this man, and of some of his mates, " Geraldsaid. "We did not like to come to tell you of it, and to gain thename of carry tales; but we had resolved among ourselves at lastthat, whoever struck one of us, the whole should set upon him. Today we have carried it out, and we have shown Giles Taunton thatwe are more than a match for one man, at any rate. "

"Four good-sized dogs, if they are well managed, " said Captain JohnDrake, "will pull down a lion; and the best thing that the lion cando is to leave them alone. 

"I am sorry to hear, Master Taunton, that you have chosen tomistreat these lads; who are, indeed, the sons of worthy men, andare not the common kind of ship boys. I am sure that my brotherwould not brook such conduct, and I warn you that, if any complaintagain on this head reaches me, I shall lay it before him. "

With angry mutterings, the armorer went below. 

"We have earned a bitter foe, " Ned said to his friends, "and we hadbest keep our eyes well open. There is very little of the lionabout Master Taunton. He is strong, indeed; but if it be true thatthe lion has a noble heart, and fights his foes openly, methinks heresembles rather the tiger, who is prone to leap suddenly upon hisenemies. "

"Yes, indeed, he looked dark enough, " Gerald said, "as he wentbelow; and if looks could have killed us, we should not be standinghere alive, at present. "

"It is not force that we need fear now, but that he will do us somefoul turn; at all events, we are now forewarned, and if he plays usa scurvy trick it will be our own faults. "

For several days the voyage went on quietly, and without adventure. They passed at a distance the Portuguese Isle of Madeira, lyinglike a cloud on the sea. The weather now had become warm and veryfair, a steady wind blew, and the two barks kept along at a goodpace. 

All sorts of creatures, strange to the boys, were to be seen in thesea. Sometimes there was a spout of a distant whale. Thousands offlying fish darted from the water, driven thence by the pursuit oftheir enemies beneath; while huge flocks of gulls and other birdshovered over the sea, chasing the flying fish, or pouncing downupon the shoals of small fry; whose splashings whitened the surfaceof the water, as if a sandbank had laid below it. 

Gradually, as the time went on, the heat increased. Many of thecrew found themselves unable to sleep below, for in those daysthere was but little thought of ventilation. The boys were amongthese, for the heat and the confinement were, to them, especiallyirksome. 

One day the wind had fallen almost to a calm, and the small boathad been lowered, to enable the carpenter to do some repair to theship's side, where a seam leaked somewhat, when the waves werehigh. When night came on, and all was quiet, Ned proposed to theothers that they should slip down the rope over the stern into theboat which was towing behind; where they could sleep undisturbed bythe tramp of the sentry, or the call to pull at ropes and trimsails. 

The idea was considered a capital one, and the boys slid down intothe boat; where, taking up their quarters as comfortably as theycould, they, after a short chat, curled themselves up and were soonsound asleep, intending to be on board again, with the earliestgleam of morn. 

When they awoke, however, it was with a start and a cry. The sunwas already high, but there were no signs whatever of the ship;they floated, alone, in the mid-ocean. With blank amazement theylooked at each other. 

"This is a stroke of misfortune, indeed, " Gerald said. "We havelost the ship, and I fear our lives, as well. 

"What do you say, Otter?"

For the lad's nickname had come on board ship with him, and he wasgenerally known by it. 

"It seems to me, " said Ned, "that our friend the armorer has doneus this bad turn. I am sure that the rope was well tied, for I wasthe first who slipped down it, and I looked at the knot well, before I went over the side and trusted my weight to it. He musthave seen us, and as soon as he thought we were fairly asleep musthave loosened the knot and cast us adrift. What on earth is to bedone, now?"

"I should think, " Gerald said, "that it will not be long before theship comes back for us. The boat is sure to be missed, in themorning, for the carpenter will be wanting it to go over the side. We, too, will be missed, for the captain will be wanting his flagonof wine, soon after the day has dawned. "

"But think you, " Tom Tressilis said, "that the captain will turnback on his voyage, for us?"

"Of that I think there is no doubt, " Gerald said; "the onlyquestion is as to the finding us, but I should say that of thatthere is little fear; the wind is light, the ship was not makingfast through the water, and will not be more than fifty miles, atmost, away, when she turns on her heel and comes to look for us. Iexpect that Master Taunton knew, well enough, that we should bepicked up again; but he guessed that the admiral would not bepleased at losing a day, by our freak, and that the matter is notlikely to improve the favor in which we may stand with him and hisbrother. "

"It is going to be a terrible hot day, " Ned said, "and with the sunabove our heads and no shade, and not so much as a drop of water, the sooner we are picked up the more pleasant it will be, even ifwe all get a touch of the rope's end for our exploit. "

All day the boys watched anxiously. Once they saw the two vesselssailing backward on their track, but the current had drifted theboat, and the ships passed fully eight miles away to windward ofthem, and thus without seeing them. This caused the boys, courageous as they were, almost to despair. 

"If, " argued Gerald, "they pass us in the daylight, our chance issmall, indeed, that they will find us at night. They will, doubtless, sail back till dusk; and then judge that they havemissed us, or that we have in some way sunk; then, putting theirheads to the west, they will continue their voyage. 

"If we had oars, or a sail, we might make a shift to pull the boatinto the track they are following, which would give us a chance ofbeing picked up when they again turn west; but as we have neitherone nor the other, we are helpless, indeed. "

"I do not think, " Ned said, "that Captain John or his brother arethe men to leave us, without a great effort; and methinks that, when they have sailed over the ground to the point where, at theutmost, we must have parted from them, they will lay by through thenight, and search back again, tomorrow. "

And so it proved. On the morrow, about midday, the boys beheld oneof the ships coming up, nearly in a line behind them; while theother, some six miles away to leeward, was keeping abreast of her. 

"They are quartering the ground, like hounds, " Gerald said; "and, thanks to their care and thoughtfulness, we are saved, this time. "

By the time that, three hours later, the ship, which was the Pacha, came alongside, the boys were suffering terribly from the heat andthirst; for thirty-six hours no drop of water had passed theirlips, and the sun had blazed down upon them with terrible force. Therefore when the vessel hauled her course, and laid by for a boatto be lowered to pick them up, their plight was so bad a one thatCaptain Francis, although sorely vexed at having lost near two daysof his voyage, yet felt that they had been amply punished for theirescapade. 

Chapter 3: On the Spanish Main. 

The four boys, upon gaining the Pacha's deck, were taken below; andafter drink and food had been given them, were called to thecaptain's cabin. He spoke to them gravely, and inquired how it wasthat they had all got adrift, together. They told him thecircumstances, and said that they thought there was no chance ofany mishap occurring; the knot was well fastened, the night wascalm, and though they regretted much the pains and trouble whichthey had given, and the delay to which they had put the fleet, yetit did not appear to them, they said frankly, that they had been sovery much to blame, as they could hardly have believed that theboat would have broken afloat; and indeed, Ned said plainly, theybelieved that it was not the result of chance, but that an enemyhad done them an evil turn. 

"Why think you so?" Captain Drake said sharply. "How can boys likeyou have an enemy?"

Gerald then detailed the account of their trouble with MasterTaunton. 

"He is a rough man, " Captain Drake said, "and a violent man, maybe, but he is useful and brave. However, I will have reason with him. Of course it is a mere suspicion, but I will speak to my brother. "

When the boat had first come in sight, the Pacha had made thesignal to the Swanne that the boys were found, and that she was tokeep her course, drawing gradually alongside. Before dark thevessels were within hailing distance, and Captain Drake, lowering aboat, went himself on board the Swanne with the four lads. CaptainJohn was at the top of the ladder, and was about to rate themsoundly. 

Captain Francis said, "Let us talk together, John, first;" and herepaired with him to his cabin, while the crew swarmed round theboys, to gather an account of how they got adrift. 

Then Captain John appeared at the door of his cabin, and called forMaster Taunton, who went in and remained, for some time, inconverse with the two captains. Then he came out, looking surly andblack, and Captain Francis soon after issued out with his brother, walked round the ship, said a few cheery words to all the crew;and, with a parting laugh and word of advice to the boys, to bemore careful where they slept in future, descended the side andwent off to his ship again. 

Opinions were much mingled, on board the Swanne, as to whether theslipping of the knot had been the effect of accident or of an evilturn; however, the boys said little about it, and endeavored, sofar as might be, to let it pass as an accident. They felt that thematter between themselves and Master Taunton had already gone toofar for their safety and comfort. They doubted not that he had beenreprimanded by the admiral, as well as by Captain John, and thatthey had earned his hatred; which, although it might slumber for awhile, was likely to show itself again, when a chance might occur. 

Not wishing to inflame farther his fury against them, theyabstained from giving such a complexion to their tale as might seemto cast a suspicion upon him. Nevertheless there was a strongfeeling, amongst many of the crew, that Master Taunton must havehad a hand in the casting adrift of the boys; or that if he did nothimself do it, it had been done by one of the party who alwaysworked with him. 

Whatever the feelings of Giles Taunton might be, he kept them tohimself. He now never interfered with the boys, by word or deed, working sullenly and quietly at his craft as armorer The boys felttheir lives much lightened thereby, and now thoroughly enjoyed thevoyage. 

Although as boys it was not a part of their duty to go aloft, whichwas done by the regular sailors who were hired for the purpose, yetthey spent no small part of their time, when not engaged--and theirduties truly were but nominal--in going aloft, sliding down theropes, and learning to be thoroughly at home among the sails. 

Every day, too, there would be practices with arms. It was of theutmost importance that each man should be able to use sword and axewith the greatest skill; and on board each ship those who were bestskilled would exercise and give lessons to those who were lesspracticed with their arms; and, using wooden clubs in place ofboarding axes, they would much belabor each other, to the amusementof the lookers on. The boys were most assiduous at this kind ofwork. It was their highest ambition to become good swordsmen, andto have a chance of distinguishing themselves against theSpaniards; and so they practiced diligently, with point and edge. The knowledge of singlestick and quarterstaff still lingered, inthe country parts of England. They had all already some skill withthese, and picked up fast the use of the heavier, and more manlyarms. 

It was the end of July before they sighted land. Great was thedelight of all; for, cooped up in what were after all but narrowquarters, they longed for a sight of the green and beautifulforests, of which they had heard so much. They were still far fromthe destination which the admiral had marked as his base ofoperations. They cruised along for days, with the land often insight, but keeping for the most part a long distance out; for theyfeared that the knowledge of their coming might be carried, by thenatives, to the Spaniards in the towns; and that such preparationsmight be made as would render their journey fruitless. 

Near, however, to some of the smaller islands, which were known tobe uninhabited by Spaniards, the vessels went closely, and one daydropped anchor in a bay. They observed some natives on the shore, but the white men had so bad a name, caused by the cruelty of theSpaniards, that these withdrew hastily from sight. The captain, however, had a boat lowered; which, pulling towards shore, andwaving a white flag in token of amity, met with no resistance. There were on board some who could speak Spanish, and one of theseshouted aloud to the Indians to have no fear, for that they werefriends, and haters of the Spaniards; whereupon the natives cameout from the woods, and greeted them. 

They were a fine race of men, but gentle and timid in theirdemeanor They were copper in color, and wore headdresses of brightfeathers, but the men had but little other clothing; of which, indeed, in such a climate, there is but slight necessity. 

In exchange for some trifles from the ship they brought manybaskets of fruits, such as none of those who had fresh come fromEngland had ever before seen. Great was the joy on board ship, especially among the four boys, at the profusion of strange fruits;and they were seen, seated together, eating pineapples, bananas, and many other things of which they knew not so much as the name, but which they found delicious, indeed, after so long a voyage uponsalted food. 

Then, sailing on, they dropped anchor in the bay which CaptainDrake had himself christened, during his last voyage, PortPheasant; for they had killed many of this kind of bird there. Herethe admiral purposed waiting for a while, to refresh the crews andto put the pinnaces together. Accordingly the anchors were put out, and all was made snug. 

A boat's crew was sent on shore to see that all was safe, for therewas no saying where the Spaniards might be lurking. They returnedwith a great plate of lead, which they had found fastened to atree, close to the water's edge. Upon it were these words:

"Captain Drake, if it is your fortune to come into this part, makehaste away; for the Spaniards which were with you here, last year, have betrayed the place; and taken away all that you left here. Ideparted hence on this present 7th July, 1572. Your very lovingfriend, John Garrett. "

"I would I had been here a few days earlier, " Captain Drake said, when he read this notice, "for John Garrett would assuredly havejoined us, and his aid would have been no slight assistance in thematter in which we are about to engage. However, it will not do todespise his caution; therefore, lest we be attacked while on shoreby the Spaniards, we will even make a fort; and we shall be able tounload our stores, and put our pinnaces together, without fear ofinterruption. "

The crew were now landed; and set to work, with hatchet and bill, to clear a plot of ground. Three quarters of an acre was, afterthree days' work, cleared; and the trees were cast outwards, andpiled together in such form as to make a sort of wall, 30 feethigh, round it. This hard work done, most of the crew were alloweda little liberty; the carpenters, and experienced artificers, beingengaged in putting the three pinnaces together. 

The boys, in pairs, for all could never obtain leave together, rambled in the woods, full of admiration for the beauties ofnature. Huge butterflies flitted about upon the brilliant flowers. Long trailing creepers, rich with blossom, hung on the trees. Hereand there, as they passed along, snakes slipped away among theundergrowth; and these, in truth, the boys were as ready to leavealone as the reptiles were to avoid them, for they were told thatit was certain death to be bitten by these creatures. Most of allthe boys admired the little birds, which indeed it was hard forthem to believe not to be butterflies, so small were they, so rapidtheir movements, and so brilliant their color. 

On the 7th day from landing the pinnaces were finished; and, thevessels being anchored near the shore, the crews went on board forthe last time, preparatory to making their start the next day. 

There was one tall and bright-faced sailor with whom the boys hadstruck up a great friendship. He had sailed before with CaptainDrake; and as the evening was cool, and there was naught to do, they begged him to tell them of his former visits in the CaribbeanSeas. 

"My first, " he said, "was the worst, and might well have been mylast. Captain John Hawkins was our captain, a bold man and a goodsailor; but not gentle as well as brave, as is our good CaptainFrancis. Our fleet was a strong one. The admiral's ship, the Jesus, of Lubeck, was 700 tons. Then there were the smaller craft; theMinion, Captain Hampton, in which I myself sailed; the William andJohn of Captain Boulton; the Judith with Captain Francis Drake; andtwo little ships, besides. We sailed later in the year. It was the2nd October, five years back; that is, 1567. We started badly, fora storm struck us off Finisterre, the ships separated, and someboats were lost. 

"We came together at Cape de Verde, and there we tried to getslaves; for it was part of the object of our voyage to buy slaveson the coast of Africa, and sell them to the Spaniards, here. Itwas a traffic for which I myself had but little mind; for though itbe true that these black fellows are a pernicious race, given tomurder, and to fightings of all kinds among themselves, yet arethey human beings; and it is, methinks, cruel to send them beyondthe seas into slavery, so far from their homes and people. But itwas not for me, a simple mariner, to argue the question with ouradmirals and captains; and I have heard many worshipful merchantsare engaged in the traffic. 

"However that be, methinks that our good Captain Francis did, likewise, turn himself against this kind of traffic in human flesh;for although he has been three times, since, in these regions, hehas never again taken a hand in it. 

"With much to do at Cape de Verde, we succeeded in getting ahundred and fifty men; but not without much resistance from thenatives, who shot their arrows at us, and wounded many; and most ofthose who were wounded did die of lock-jaw, for the arrows had beensmeared in some poisonous stuff. Then we went farther down thecoast, and took in two hundred more. 

"Coasting still farther down, to Saint Jorge de Mina, we landed;and Captain Hawkins found that the negro king there was at war withan enemy, a little farther inland. He besought our assistance, andpromised us plenty of slaves, if we would go there and storm theplace with him. Captain Hawkins agreed, cheerfully enough; and setoff, with a portion of his crews, to assist the king. 

"The enemy fought well, and it was only after a very hard fight onour part, and a loss of many men, that we took the town. Methinksthe two hundred and fifty slaves which we took there were dearlypaid for; and there was much grumbling, among the ships, at thereckless way in which our admiral had risked our lives, for meagergain. It is true that these slaves would sell at a high price, yetnone of us looked upon money, gained in that way, quite as we doupon treasure taken in fair fight. In the one case we traffic withthe Spaniards, who are our natural enemies; and it is repugnant, toa Christian man, to hand over even these poor negroes to suchwillful masters as these; in the other we are fighting for ourqueen and country. The Spaniards are the natural enemies of allgood Protestants, and every ship we see, and every treasure bag wecapture, does something to pare the nails of that fierce andhaughty power. 

"Having filled up our hold with the slaves which we had captured atSaint Jorge de Mina, we turned our back upon the African coast, andsailed to the West Indies. At Rio de Hacha, the first port at whichwe touched, the people did not wish to trade with us; but theadmiral was not the man to allow people to indulge in fancies ofthis kind. We soon forced them to buy, or to sell, that which wechose; and not what they had a fancy for. 

"Sailing along, we were caught in a storm; and in searching for theport of Saint Juan d'Ulloa, where we hoped to refit, we capturedthree ships. In the port we found twelve other small craft, butthese we released; and sent some of them to Mexico, to ask thatvictuals and stores might be sent. 

"The next day thirteen great ships appeared off the harbor In themwas the Viceroy of Mexico. We had then only the Jesus, the Minionof 100 tons, and the Judith of 50 tons, and this big fleet waslarge enough to have eaten us; but Captain Hawkins put a good faceon it, and sailed out to meet them, waiting at the mouth of theharbor Here he told them haughtily that he should not allow theirfleet to enter, save on his terms. I doubt not that Hawkins wouldhave been glad enough to have made off, if he could have done so;for what with the sale of the slaves, and the vessels we hadcaptured, we had now 1, 800, 000 pounds, in silver and gold, on boardof the ships. The Spanish admiral accepted the terms which CaptainHawkins laid down, and most solemnly swore to observe them. 

"So with colors flying, both fleets sailed into the harbortogether. It is true, however, that the man who places faith in aSpaniard is a fool, and so it proved to us. No sooner had theyreached the port than they began to plot, secretly amongthemselves, how to fall upon us. Even then, though they hadthirteen big ships, the smallest of which was larger than theJesus, they feared to attack us openly. 

"Numbers of men were set to work by them on the shore, secretly, toget up batteries by which they might fire into us; while a greatship, having 500 men on board, was moored close alongside theMinion. 

"I remember well talking the matter over with Jack Boscowan, whowas boatswain on board; and we agreed that this time we had runinto an ugly trap, and that we did not see our way out of it. Englishmen can, as all the world knows, lick the Spaniards whenthey are but as one to five; but when there are twenty of the Donsto one of us, it is clear that the task is a hard one. 

"What made it worse was that we were in harbor At sea, ourquickness in handling our ships would have made us a match for theSpanish fleet; but at anchor, and with the guns of the portcommanding us, we did not truly see how we were to get out of it. 

"The fight began by the Spaniards letting their big ship driftalongside the Minion; when, suddenly, 500 men leapt out on ourdecks. We were beaten below in no time, for we were scarce preparedfor so sudden an onslaught. There, however, we defended ourselvesstoutly, firing into the hull of the ship alongside, and defendingour ports and entrances from the Spaniards. 

"For a while our case seemed desperate. The Jesus was hard at work, too; and when she had sunk the ship of the Spanish admiral, shecame up, and gave a broadside into the ship alongside of us. Hercrew ran swiftly back to her; and we, with much rejoicing, pouredon deck again, and began to pay them hotly for their sudden attackupon us. 

"It was a great fight, and one that would have done your heartgood, to see the three English ships, two of them so small as to belittle more than boats, surrounded by a whole fleet of Spaniards, while from on shore the guns of the forts played upon us. Had itnot been for those forts, I verily believe that we should havedestroyed the Spanish fleet. Already another large vessel hadfollowed the example of their admiral's ship, and had gone to thebottom. Over 540 of their sailors we had, as they have themselvesadmitted, slain outright. 

"We were faring well, and had begun to hope that we might get tofind our way out of the toils, when a cry came from the lookout, who said that the Jesus was hoisting signals of distress, and thathe feared she was sinking. 

"Close as she was lying to a battery, and surrounded by enemies, our bold captain did not hesitate a minute; but sailed the Minion, through a crowd of enemies, close to the Jesus. You should haveheard the cheer that the two crews gave each other. It rose aboveall the noise of the battle, and would assuredly have done yourheart good. The Jesus was sinking fast, and it was as much as theycould do to tumble into the boats, and to row hastily to our side. We should have saved them all, but the Spaniards, who dared not layus aboard, and who were in no slight degree troubled by the braverywith which we had fought, set two of their great ships on fire, andlaunched them down upon us, preferring to lose two of their ownships for the sake of capturing or destroying our little bark. Thesight of the ships coming down, in flames, shook the hearts of ourmen more than all the fury of the Spaniards had been able to do;and without waiting for orders, they turned the ship's head for themouth of the port. 

"The admiral, who had just come on board, cursed and shouted whenhe saw what was being done; but the panic of the fire ships got thebetter of the men, and we made off, firing broadsides at theSpaniards' fleet as we passed through them; and aided by the littleJudith, which stuck to us through the whole of the fight. 

"When we cooled down and came to think of it, we were in no slightdegree ashamed of our desertion of our comrades in the Jesus. Fortunately the number so left behind was not large; but we knewthat, according to their custom, the Spaniards would put all todeath, and so indeed it afterwards turned out, many of them beingdispatched with horrible tortures. 

"This terrible treatment of the prisoners caused, when it wasknown, great indignation; and although Queen Elizabeth did notdeclare war with Spain, from that time she gave every countenanceshe could to the adventurers who waged war, on their own account, against her. 

"The Minion suffered severely, packed close as she was with all herown crew, and a great part of that of the Jesus, vast numbers ofwhom were wounded. However, at length a hundred were, at their ownrequest, landed and left to shift for themselves, preferring to runthe risk of Indians, or even of Spaniards, to continue any longeramid the horrors on board the ship. I myself, boys, was not one ofthat number, and came back to England in her. 

"Truly it was the worst voyage that I ever made, for though fortunewas for a time good to us, and we collected much money; yet in theend we lost all, and hardly escaped with our lives. It has seemedto me that this bad fortune was sent as a punishment upon us, forcarrying off the negroes into slavery. Many others thought thesame, and methinks that that was also the opinion of our presentgood admiral. "

"Did you come out with him, in his further voyages here?" Nedasked. 

"I was with him in the Dragon, two years ago, when with the Swanneshe came here. Last year I sailed with him in the Swanne, alone. "

"You did not have any very stirring adventures?"

"No, we were mainly bent on exploring; but for all that we carriedoff many prizes, and might, had we been pilgrims, have bought farmsin Devonshire, and settled down on our share of the prize money;but there, that is not the way with sailors. Quick come, quick go, and not one in a hundred that I have ever heard of, however much hemay have taken as his share of prizes, has ever kept it, orprospered greatly therefrom. "

It was now evening, and many of the men had betaken themselves tothe water, for a swim. The heat had been great all day, and as itwas their last, they had been pressed at work to get the stores, which had been landed, again on board ship; and to finish all up, ready for the division of the party, next day. 

"I do not care for bathing here, " Ned said, in reply to a sailor, who asked him why he too did not join in the sport. "I confess thatI have a dread of those horrible sharks, of which we have heard somuch, and whose black fins we see from time to time. "

"I should have thought, " said the harsh, sneering voice of GilesTaunton, "that an Otter would have been a match for a shark. Theswimmers of the South Isles, and indeed the natives here, attackthe sharks without fear. I should have thought that anyone whoprides himself, as you do, upon swimming, would have been equallywilling to encounter them. "

"I do not know that I do pride myself on my swimming, GilesTaunton, " Ned said composedly; "at any rate, no one has ever heardme speak of such abilities as I may have in that way. As to thenatives, they have seen each other fight with sharks, and know howthe matter is gone about. If I were to be present a few times, whensuch strife takes place, it may be that I should not shirk fromjoining in the sport; but knowing nothing whatever of the methodpursued, or of the manner of attack, I should be worse than a fool, were I to propose to venture my life in such a sport. "

Many sailors who were standing round approved of what Ned said. 

"Aye, aye, lad, " one said, "no one would think of making his firstjump across the spot where he might be dashed to pieces. Let a manlearn to jump on level ground; and then, when he knows his powers, he may go across a deep chasm. "

By this time a good many of the men were out of the water, whensuddenly there arose the cry of, "Shark!" from the lookout on thepoop. There was a great rush for the ship, and the excitement onboard was nearly as great as that in the water. Ned quietly droppedoff his jacket and his shoes and, seizing a short boarding pike, waited to see what would come of it. 

It chanced that his friends, the other boys, were farther out thanthe men; having, with the ardor of youth, engaged themselves inraces, regardless of the admonition that had frequently been giventhem to keep near the ship; for the terror of these water beastswas very great. 

The men all gained the ship in safety, but the shark, which hadcome up from a direction in which it would cut them off, wasclearly likely to arrive before the boys could gain the side. Atfirst it seemed, indeed, that their fate was sealed; but the shark, who in many respects resembles a cat with a mouse, and seems toprefer to trifle with its victim to the last, allowed them to getclose to the ship; although, by rapid swimming, it could easilyhave seized them before. 

The nearest to it, as it approached the ship, was Tom Tressilis, who was not so good a swimmer as the others; but he had swumlustily, and with good heart, though his white face showed howgreat the effect of the danger was upon him. He had not spoken aword, since the shark first made its appearance. As he struckdespairingly to gain the ship, from which the sailors were alreadycasting him ropes, his eye caught that of Ned, who cried to himcheerily:

"Keep up your spirits, Tom. I will be with you. "

As the huge fish swept along, at a distance of some four yards fromthe side of the ship, and was already turning on its back, openingits huge mouth to seize its victim, Ned dived head foremost fromthe ship onto him. So great was the force and impetus with which hestruck the creature, that it was fairly driven sideways from itscourse, missing by the nearest shave the leg of Tom Tressilis. Nedhimself was half stunned by the force with which his head hadstruck the fish, for a shark is not so soft a creature to jumpagainst as he had imagined; however, he retained consciousnessenough to grasp at the fin of the shark, to which he held on forhalf a minute. 

By this time the shark was recovering from the effects of thesudden blow, and Ned was beginning to be able to reflect. In amoment he plunged the half pike deep into the creature's stomach. Again and again he repeated the stroke; until the shark, rollingover in his agony, and striking furiously with his tail, shook Nedfrom his hold. He instantly dived beneath the water, and came up ata short distance. The shark was still striking the water furiously, the sailors on board were throwing down upon him shot, pieces ofiron, and all sorts of missiles, and some of the best archers werehastily bringing their bows to the side. 

The shark caught sight of his opponent, and instantly rushed athim. Ned again dived, just before the creature reached him; and, rising under him, inflicted some more stabs with the pike; then heagain swam off, for he was in no slight fear that he might bestruck by his friends on board ship, of whose missiles, indeed, hewas more in dread than of the shark himself. 

When he rose, at a short distance from the shark, he was againprepared for a rush on the part of his enemy; but the great fishhad now had enough of it. He was still striking the water, but hismovements were becoming slower, for he was weakened by the loss ofblood from the stabs he had received from below, and from thearrows, many of which were now buried to the goose quill in him. Ina minute or two he gradually turned on one side, and floated, withhis white belly in the air. 

A shout broke from the crew of the Swanne, and also of the Pacha, who had been attracted to the side by the cries. When he saw thatthe battle was over, and that the enemy had been vanquished withoutloss of life, or hurt to any, Ned speedily seized one of the ropes, and climbed up the side of the ship; where he was, you may be sure, received with great cheering, and shouts of joy and approval. 

"You are a fine lad, " Captain John Drake said, "and your name ofOtter has indeed been well bestowed. You have saved the life ofyour comrade; and I know that my old friend, Mr. Frank Tressilis, his father, will feel indebted indeed to you, when he comes tolearn how gallantly you risked your life to preserve that of hisson. "

Ned said that he saw no credit in the action, and that he wasmightily glad to have had an opportunity of learning to do thatwhich the negroes thought nothing of; for that it shamed him tothink that these heathens would venture their lives boldly againstsharks, while he, an English boy, although a good swimmer, and not, he hoped, wanting in courage, was yet afraid to encounter thesefierce brutes. 

This incident acted, as might be expected, as a fresh bond betweenthe boys; and as it also secured for Ned the cordial goodwill ofthe sailors, they were, in future, free from any persecution at thehands of Master Taunton, or of his fellows. 

Chapter 4: An Unsuccessful Attack. 

It should have been said, in its proper place, that upon the dayafter the arrival of the Pacha and Swanne in Pheasant Bay, a barquenamed the Isle of Wight, commanded by James Rause, with thirty menon board, many of whom had sailed with Captain Drake upon hisprevious voyages, came into the port; and there was great greetingbetween the crews of the various ships. Captain Rause brought withhim a Spanish caravel, captured the day before; and a shallop also, which he had taken at Cape Blanco. This was a welcome reinforcement, for the crews of the two ships were but small for the purpose whichthey had in hand, especially as it would be necessary to leave aparty to take charge of the vessels. Captain Drake made some proposalsto Captain Rause, which the latter accepted, and it was arranged thathe and his crew would be, for a time, under the command of Captain Drake. 

When the division of the crews was made, it was decided that JamesRause should remain in command of the four ships at Pheasant Bay;and that Captain Drake, with fifty-three of his own men and twentyof Rause's, should start in the three pinnaces and the shallop forNombre de Dios. 

The first point at which they stopped was the Isle of Pines, on the22nd July. Here they put in to water the boats and, as the crewshad been cramped from their stay therein, Captain Drake decided togive them a day on shore. Ned and Reuben Gale were of the party, the other two being, to their great discontent, left behind in theship. 

After the barriques had been filled with water, the fires lit forcooking, and the labors of the day over, Ned and Reuben started fora ramble in the island, which was of a goodly extent. When they hadproceeded some distance in the wood, picking fruit as they went, and looking at the butterflies and bright birds, they were suddenlyseized and thrown upon the ground by some men, who sprang out fromthe underwood through which they had passed. They were toosurprised at this sudden attack to utter even a cry; and, beingsafely gagged and bound, they were lifted by their captors, andcarried away into the interior of the island. 

After an hour's passage they were put down in the heart of a thickgrove of trees and, looking round, saw they were surrounded by alarge number of natives. One of these, a person evidently inauthority, spoke to them in a language which they did notunderstand. They shook their heads, and after several timesattempting to make them comprehend, Ned caught the words Espanolos. 

To this he vehemently shook his head in denial, which caused quitean excitement among his hearers. One of the latter then said"English, " to which Ned and his companion nodded. 

The news evidently filled the natives with great joy. The bandswere taken off the boys, and the Indians endeavored, by gestures, to express the sorrow that they felt for having carried them off. It was clear that they had taken them for Spaniards, and that theyhad been watched as they wandered inland, and captured for thepurpose of learning the objects and force of the expedition. Now, however, that their captors understood that the ships were English, with great signs of pleasure they started with them for theseashore. 

It had already darkened when they arrived there, and the crews ofthe boats jumped hastily to their feet, at the sight of so manypersons approaching. Ned, however, called to them just as they wereabout to betake themselves to their arms, and shouted that thenatives were perfectly friendly, and well disposed. Captain Drakehimself now advanced, and entered into conversation with the leaderof the natives, in Spanish. It seemed that they had met before, andthat many, indeed, of the natives were acquainted with his person. These were a party of Simeroons, as they were then called; i. E. , of natives who had been made slaves by the Spaniards, and who hadnow fled. They afterwards came to be called Cameroons, and aremostly so spoken of in the books of English buccaneers. These menwere greatly pleased at the arrival of Captain Drake and his boats, for their own had been destroyed, and they feared taking to the seain such as they could build. 

After much talk, Captain Drake arranged to put them on shore, sothat they would go on to the Isthmus of Darien, where there weremore of them in the forests; and they promised to prepare these toassist Captain Drake, when he should come there. The natives, somethirty in number, were soon packed in the boats, and were ready tocross to the mainland; and the party then going forward, enteredthe port of Nombre de Dios at three in the morning. 

As they sailed in, being yet a good way from the city, they cameupon a barque of some 60 tons. It was all unprepared for attack, and the boats got alongside, and the crews climbed on to the deckbefore their presence was discovered, or dreamt of. No resistancewhatever was offered by the Spaniards against the English. Allwere, indeed, asleep below. 

A search was made, and it was found that the ship was laden withCanary wine, a circumstance which gave great pleasure to theEnglish, who looked forward to a long bout of good drinking. Whilethey were searching the ship, they had paid but little attention tothe Spanish crew. Presently, however, they heard the sound of oarsat some little distance from the ship. 

"What is that?" said Captain Drake. 

Ned ran to the stern of the vessel. 

"I think, sir, " he said, "that one or two of the Spaniards have gotoff, with their boat. I saw it towing to the stern, when weboarded. "

Captain Drake leant over the side, and at once gave orders to oneof the boats whose crew had not boarded the vessel, and was lyingalongside, to pursue; and to strain every nerve to catch the boat, before she came near the town. The sailors leapt to the oars, andpulled with a will, for they knew as well as their captain howserious a matter it would be, were the town alarmed; and indeed, that all their toil and pains would be thrown away, as it was onlyby surprise that so small a handful of men could possibly expect totake a large and important town like Nombre de Dios. 

Fortunately the boat overtook the fugitives before they were withinhailing distance of the town, and rapidly towed them back to theship. All then took their places in the pinnaces, and pushed offwithout further delay. It was not yet light, and steered by one whoknew the town well, they rowed up alongside a battery, whichdefended it, without the alarm being given. As they climbed up overthe wall the sentry fired his piece, and the artillerymen, who, there having been some rumors of the arrival of Drake's fleet inthose waters, were sleeping by the side of their guns, sprang totheir feet and fled, as the English leapt down into the battery. There were six large guns in the place, and many small, andbombards. 

"Now, my lads, " Captain Drake said, "you must lose no time. In fiveminutes, yonder artillerymen will have alarmed the whole town, andwe must be there before the Spaniards have managed to get theirsleepy eyes open. 

"Advance in three parties, and meet in the marketplace. It is goodthat we should make as much show as possible. There can be no moreconcealment and, therefore, we must endeavor to make the Spaniardsbelieve that we are a far stronger force than, in truth, we are. "

It was not until the three parties met in the marketplace that anyreal resistance on the part of the Spaniards began, althoughwindows had been opened, and shots fired here and there. The alarmbells were now ringing, shouts and screams were heard through thetown, and the whole population was becoming fairly aroused. As theyentered the marketplace, however, a heavy fire was opened witharquebuses and guns. The English had taken with them no firearms, but each man carried his bow and arrows, and with these they shotfast and hard at the Spaniards, and silenced their fire. 

At this moment, however, it happened, sadly for the success of theenterprise, that a ball struck Captain Drake, and inflicted aserious wound. Ned was standing near him, and observed him stagger. 

"Are you hit, sir?" he asked anxiously. 

"Tush, my boy, " he replied, "it is a scratch; say nothing of it. 

"Now, forward to the Treasury. The town is in your hands, my lads. It only remains to you to sack as much treasure as you can carry;but remember, do not lose your discipline, and keep together. If westraggle, we are lost. 

"Now, light at once the torches which you have brought with you, and shout aloud to the inhabitants, you that can speak Spanish, that if any more resistance is offered, we will burn the whole townto the ground. "

This threat mightily alarmed the inhabitants, and the firing ceasedaltogether; for as these were not regular soldiers, and knew thatthe object of the English attack was to plunder the publictreasuries, rather than private property, the townsmen readilydeemed it to their interest to hold aloof, rather than to bringupon their city and themselves so grievous a calamity as thatthreatened by the English. 

In the advance, two or three Spaniards had fallen into the hands ofthe men and, these being threatened with instant death if theyhesitated, at once led the way to the governor's house, where thesilver, brought down on mules from Panama, was stored. A party wereplaced at the door of this building, and Captain Drake, with therest, entered. 

The governor had fled, with his attendants. The house was richlyfurnished; full of silk hangings, of vessels of gold and silver, and of all kinds of beautiful things. These, however, attractedlittle attention from the English, although Ned and his youngcomrades marveled much. Never had they seen, in England, anythingapproaching to the wealth and beauty of this furnishing. It seemedto them, indeed, as if they had entered one of the houses of themagicians and enchanters, of whom they had read in books duringtheir childhood. 

Captain Drake, however, passed through these gorgeous rooms withscarce a glance and, led by the Spaniards, descended some stepsinto a vast cellar. 

A cry of astonishment and admiration burst from the whole party, asthey entered this treasury. Here, piled up twelve feet high, lay amighty mass of bars of silver, carefully packed. This heap was noless than 70 feet long and 10 feet wide, and the bars each weighedfrom 35 to 40 pounds. 

"My lads, " Captain Drake said, "here is money enough to make us allrich for our lives; but we must leave it for the present, and makefor the Treasury House, which is as full of gold and of preciousstones as this is of silver. "

The men followed Captain Drake and his brother, feeling quiteastonished, and almost stupefied at the sight of this pile ofsilver; but they felt, moreover, the impossibility of theircarrying off so vast a weight, unless the town were completely intheir hands. 

This, indeed, was very far from being the case, for the whole townwas now rising. The troops, who had at the first panic fled, werenow being brought forward; and as the day lightened, the Spaniards, sorely ashamed that so small a body of men should have madethemselves masters of so great and rich a city, were plucking upheart and preparing to attack them. 

Ill was it, then, for the success of the adventure, that CaptainFrancis had suffered so heavy a wound in the marketplace. Up tothis time he had kept bravely on, and none except Ned, all beingfull of the prospect of vast plunder, had noticed his pale face, orseen the blood which streamed down from him, and marked everyfootstep as he went; but nature could now do no more and, with hisbody well nigh drained of all its blood, he suddenly fell downfainting. 

Great was the cry that rose from the men, as they saw the admiralthus fall. Hastily gathering round him, they lifted his body fromthe ground, and shuddered at seeing how great a pool of blood wasgathered where he had been standing. It seemed almost as if, withthe fall of their captain, the courage which had animated thesemen, and would animate them again in fighting against ever so greatodds, had for the moment deserted them. 

In spite of the orders of Captain John, that four or five shouldcarry his brother to the boats; and that the rest should seize, without delay, the treasures of gold and diamonds in the Treasury, and carry off as great a weight as they might bear, none paidattention. They gathered round the body of Captain Francis and, lifting him on their shoulders, they hurried to the boats, carelessof the promised treasures, and thinking only to escape, and bearwith them their beloved commander from the forces of the Spaniards;who, as they saw the party fall back, with great shouting fell uponthem, shooting hotly. 

The swoon of the admiral had lasted but a few moments. As cordialwas poured down his throat he opened his eyes and, seeing what themen were minded to do, protested with all his force against theirretreat. His words, however, had no weight with them and, in spiteof his resistance, they carried him down to the battery; and there, placing him in a pinnace, the whole took to their boats, and rowedon board ship. 

Wonderful to relate, although many were wounded, but one man, andhe Giles Taunton the armorer, was killed in this attack upon thegreat city, in which they only missed making themselves masters ofone of the greatest treasures upon earth by the accident of theircommander fainting, at a critical moment, and to the men beingseized by an unaccountable panic. Some of the crew had, indeed, carried off certain plunder, which they had snatched in passingthrough the governor's house, and in such short searches as theyhad been able to make in private dwellings; but the men, ingeneral, had been so struck with amazement and sorrow at the sightof their general's wound, that although this wealth was virtuallyat their mercy, they put off with him without casting a thoughtupon what they were leaving behind. 

The boats now rowed without pausing to the isle, which they calledthe Isle of Victuals; and there they stayed two days, nursing theirwounds, and supporting themselves with poultry, of which there wasa great abundance found in the island, and with vegetables andfruits from the gardens. There was great joy among them when it wasfound that Captain Drake's wound, although severe enough, was yetnot likely to imperil his life; and that it was loss of blood, alone, which had caused him to faint. At this news the men all tookheart, and rejoiced so exceedingly that a stranger would havesupposed that they had attained some great victory, rather thanhave come out unsuccessful from an adventure which promised to makeeach man wealthy. 

Upon the second day after their arrival at the Isle of Victuals, they saw a boat rowing out from the direction of Nombre de Dios. Asthey knew that there was no fleet in that harbor which wouldventure to attack them, the English had no fear of the approachingboat; although, indeed, they wondered much what message could havebeen sent them. On board the boat was an hidalgo, or Spanish noble, who was rowed by four negroes. He said that he had come from themainland to make inquiries as to the gallant men who had performedso great a feat, and that he cherished no malice, whatever, againstthem. He wished to know whether the Captain Drake who commandedthem was the same who had been there before, and especially did heinquire whether the arrows used by the English were poisoned; for, he said, great fear and alarm reigned in the town, many believingthat all who had been struck by the English shafts would certainlydie. 

Upon this head he was soon reassured; and the English were, indeed, mightily indignant at its being supposed that they would use suchcowardly weapons as poisoned arrows. 

Then the hidalgo inquired why the English had so suddenly retreatedfrom the town, when it was in their hands, and why they hadabstained from carrying off the three hundred and sixty tons ofsilver which lay at the governor's house, and the still greatervalue of gold in the treasure house--the gold, indeed, being farmore valuable than the silver, insomuch as it was more portable. The answers to all these questions were freely given, for in thosedays there was a curious mixture of peace and war, of desperateviolence and of great courtesy, between combatants; and whereas, now, an enemy arriving with a view merely to obtain informationwould be roughly treated, in those days he was courteouslyentertained, and his questions as freely answered as if he had beena friend and ally. 

When he heard of the wound of Captain Drake he expressed greatsorrow; and, after many compliments were exchanged, he returned toNombre de Dios; while, the next day, Captain Drake and the Englishrowed away to the Isle of Pines, where Captain Rause was remainingin charge of the ships. He was mightily glad to see them return, aswere their comrades who had remained; for their long absence hadcaused great fear and anxiety, as it was thought that Captain Drakemust have fallen into some ambuscade, and that ill had come to theparty. 

Although there was some regret at the thought that the chance ofgaining such vast booty had been missed, yet the joy at the safereturn overpowered this feeling; and, for a day or two, the crewsfeasted merrily and held festival. Captain Rause then determined tocontinue the adventure no further, but to separate with his shipand men from Captain Drake. He was of opinion, firmly, that now theSpaniards had discovered their presence in the island, suchmeasures of defense would be taken, at every port, as to placethese beyond the hazard of attack by so small a body as thosecarried by the three ships. He therefore, receiving fullsatisfaction for the use of his men and for guarding the ships, sailed away on the 7th August, leaving the Swanne and the Pacha toproceed upon the adventure, alone. 

Captain Drake sent his brother and Ellis Hickson to examine theriver Chagres; and on their return Captain Drake, with his twoships and three pinnaces, sailed for Carthagena, where he arrivedon the 13th day of August. While on the voyage thither he capturedtwo Spanish ships, each of 240 tons, with rich cargoes, neither ofthem striking so much as a blow in resistance. 

At evening he anchored between the Island of Cara and SaintBernardo, and the three pinnaces entered the harbor of Carthagena. 

Lying at the entrance they found a frigate, which in those daysmeant a very small craft, not much larger than a rowing boat. Shehad but one old man on board, who said that the rest of the companyhad gone ashore, to fight a duel about a quarrel which they had hadovernight. He said, too, what was much more important to theEnglish--that, an hour before nightfall, a pinnace had passed him, and that the man who was steering had shouted out that the Englishwere at hand, and that he had better up anchor and go into theport. He said, moreover, that when the pinnace reached Carthagenaguns were fired, and he could see that all the shipping hauled inunder shelter of the castle. 

This was bad news indeed, and there was much hard language amongthe sailors, when they heard it. It was clear that the castle ofCarthagena, if prepared, was not to be carried by some thirty orforty men, however gallant and determined they might be. There was, too, but little hope that the old man had spoken falsely, for theyhad themselves heard guns, shortly before their arrival there. Withmuch bitterness, it was determined to abandon the plan of attack;and thus Carthagena, as well as Nombre de Dios, escaped from thehands of the English. 

They did not, however, go out empty handed; for they succeeded incapturing, by boarding, four pinnaces, each laden with cargo; andas they turned their heads to go out to sea, a great ship ofSeville came sailing in. Her they laid alongside and capturedeasily, she having just arrived from Spain, having no thoughts ofmeeting a foe, just as she reached her port of destination. 

This lightened the hearts of the crew, and with their prizes intow, they sailed out in good spirits. The ship contained largestores of goods from Spain, with sherries, and merchandise of everykind. They went back to the Isle of Pines, their usual rendezvous, and on adding up the goods that they had taken from various prizes, found that, even now, they had made no bad thing of their voyage. 

They were now much reduced in fighting strength by illness, andCaptain Drake determined in his mind that the crews were no longerstrong enough for the manning of two ships, and that it would bebetter to take to one, alone. He knew, however, that even hisauthority would not suffice to persuade the sailors to abandon oneof the vessels, for sailors have a great love for their ships. Hetherefore determined to do it by a sudden stroke, and that knownonly to himself and another. Therefore he called to him ThomasMoore, the carpenter of the Swanne; and, taking him aside, told himto make auger holes in the bottom of that ship. Moore, who was agood sailor, made a great resistance to the orders; but upon theadmiral assuring him that it was necessary, for the success of theenterprise, that one of the ships should be destroyed, he veryreluctantly undertook the task. 

Previous to this Captain Drake had ordered all the booty, and aconsiderable portion of the stores of both ships, to be hauled onshore; so that they might lose nothing of value to them. 

The next morning, Ned and his friends were sitting on the bulwarkof the vessel, watching the fish playing about in the depths of theclear blue water. 

"We seem to be lower in the water than usual, " Ned said. "Does notit seem to you that we are not so high above the sea as we are wontto be?"

The others agreed that the vessel had that appearance; but as itseemed clearly impossible that it should be so, especially when shewas lighter than usual, they thought that they must be mistaken, and the subject was put aside. Half an hour later Captain Drakehimself, rowing alongside, called to his brother, who came to theside. 

"I am going to fish, " he said; "are you disposed to come, also?"

Captain John expressed his willingness to do so. 

"I will wait for you, " his brother said. 

Captain John was turning to go into his cabin to get his cap andcloak, when Captain Francis cried out:

"Is not your ship very low in the water this morning?"

"The same as usual, I suppose, " Captain John said, laughing; butlooking over the side himself, he said, "Methinks she does lie deepin the water;" and, calling the carpenter, he bade him sound thewell. 

The latter, after doing so, cried out loudly that there were fourfeet of water in the ship. 

A great astonishment seized upon both officers and crew, at thisunexpected news. All hands were at once set to work, the pumps wererigged and, with buckets and all sorts of gear, they strovemanfully and hard to get rid of the water. It soon, however, becameplain that it entered faster than they could pump it forth, andthat the vessel must have sprung a bad leak. 

When it was clear that the Swanne could not be saved, the boats ofthe Pacha were brought alongside, and all the goods that remainedin her were removed, together with the arms and ammunition. Thenthe crew, taking to the boats, lay by, until in a few minutes theSwanne sank, among the tears of many of her crew, who had madethree voyages in her, and loved her well. 

It was not, for a long time afterwards, known that the loss of thisship was the effect of the orders of the admiral; who, indeed, acted with his usual wisdom in keeping the matter secret; forassuredly, although the men would have obeyed his orders, he wouldhave lost much favor and popularity among them, had the truth beenat that time known. 

The next day the news was spread, among the men, that it wasdetermined to fill the Pacha with all the stores that were onshore; and, leaving a party there with her, to embark the crews inthe pinnaces, for service in the river Chagres and along the coast;until, at any rate, they could capture another ship to replace theSwanne. Next day they rowed on into the Gulf of Darien. There theship was laid up in a good place, and they remained quiet forfifteen days, amusing and refreshing themselves. By this means theyhoped to throw all the Spaniards off their guard, and to cause areport to be spread that they had left the island. 

The Simeroons living near had been warned, by those who had beenlanded from the Isle of Pines, of their coming; and received themwith good cheer, and promised all aid that could be required. Thenthe pinnaces were sent out, to catch any passing ships which mightbe cruising along the coast. 

It happened, one day, that two of them had set off in pursuit of agreat ship, which they saw passing in the distance. The wind waslight, and they had little doubt that they should overhaul her. Ned, who was one of those who remained behind, was much angered atmissing so good an enterprise; but some four hours afterwardsanother ship was seen to pass along. 

The remaining pinnace was at once manned, Captain John Drake takingthe command; and, with fourteen men, she set out to take theSpanish galleon. Gallant as are the exploits which have beenperformed in modern times by British tars, in their attacks uponslavers, yet in none of these cases does the disparity of force atall approach that which often existed between the English boats andthe Spanish galleons; indeed, the only possible reason that can begiven, for the success of the English, is the fear that their enemyentertained for them. Both the Spanish captains and crews had cometo look upon them as utterly invincible, and they seemed, whenattacked by the English buccaneers, altogether paralyzed. 

As the boat rowed up towards the great ship, her size becamegradually more apparent, and her deck could be seen crowded withmen; even Ned, who was not greatly given to reflection, could notbut feel a passing doubt as to the possibility of one small boat, with fourteen men, attacking a floating castle like this. 

Presently the boom of a cannon from the forecastle of the vesselwas heard, and a ball whizzed over their heads; then shot aftershot was fired, and soon a rattle of small arms broke out, and thewater all round was cut up by bullets and balls. The rough seamencared little for this demonstration. With a cheer they bent theirbacks to the oars and, although some were wounded, they rowed up tothe side of the ship without hesitation or doubt. Then from above ashower of missiles were hurled upon them--darts, stones, hot water, and even boiling tar. 

It would have gone hard with the English, had not the Spanishcarelessly left a porthole open near the water level; through thisthe English clambered, eager to get at their foe, and many of themraging with the pain caused by the boiling materials. As theyrushed on to the deck, the Spaniards were ranged, in two ranks, oneither side of the hatchway; and fell upon them at once; but sogreat was the fury of the English that, facing either way, with aroar like beasts springing on their prey, they fell with axe andsword upon the Spaniards. 

It was the wild rage with which the English buccaneers fought thatwas the secret of their success. The Spaniards are a people givento ceremony, and even in matters of battle are somewhat formal andpedantic. The combat, then, between them and the English, was onewhich presented no familiar conditions to their minds. These roughsailors, hardened by exposure, skilled in the use of arms, were nodoubt formidable enough, individually; but this alone would nothave intimidated the Spaniards, or have gone any great distancetowards equalizing the tremendous odds between them. 

It was the fury with which they fought that was the secret of theirsuccess. It was as when a cat, furious with passion, flies at a dogmany times larger and heavier than itself. The latter may be asbrave, in many matters, as the cat; and ready to face a creaturemuch larger even than itself, under ordinary circumstances. It isthe fury of the cat which appalls, and turns it into a very coward. 

Thus, when the band of English fell upon the Spaniards in thegalleon--who were some six times as numerous as themselves--nakedto the waist, with hair streaming back, with all their faces wildwith pain, brandishing their heavy axes, and with a shout rushedupon their foes drawn up in regular order; the latter, after amoment or two of resistance, began rapidly to fall back. Theirofficers, in vain, shouted to them to stand firm. In vain theytaunted them with falling back before a handful of men. In vaineven turned their swords against their own soldiers. 

It was useless. Those in front, unable indeed to retreat, were cutdown by the heavy axes. Those behind recoiled, and after but a fewminutes' fighting, some began to leap down the hatchways; andalthough the fight continued for a short time, isolated groups hereand there making resistance, the battle was virtually won in fiveminutes after the English appeared on deck. The captain and his twoprincipal officers were killed, fighting bravely; and had theirefforts been in any way backed by those of their men, they wouldhave made short work of the assailants. 

Captain Drake's voice was heard, high above the din, as soon as theresistance ceased. He ordered the prisoners to be all brought upondeck, and disarmed, and at once forced into their own boats, andobliged to row away from the vessel; for he knew that, were his menonce to begin to plunder, and to fall upon the liquors, theSpaniards, even if unarmed, would be able to rise and overpowerthem. 

No sooner was the last Spaniard out of the ship, than the menscattered to look for plunder. Ned was standing on the poop, watching the boats rowing away, and thinking to himself that, socrowded were they, if a breeze were to spring up there would not bemuch chance of their reaching Nombre de Dios. Suddenly he heardbelow him a scream, followed by a splash; looking over, he saw thehead of a woman appear above the water, and without hesitationdived at once from the side. For a moment the girl, for she waslittle more, struggled with him as if she would have sunk; but Ned, grasping her firmly, in a few strokes swam with her alongside theship to the boat; and two or three sailors, running down, assistedhim to pull her into it. Then, dripping wet, she was taken to thedeck, where the captain, in kind tones, assured her that she wouldreceive the most courteous treatment, and that she need be under nofear, whatever. 

She was the daughter of a wealthy Spaniard, at Nombre de Dios, andwas now coming out from Spain to join him. Frightened by the noiseof the fighting, and by the terrible reputation of the Englishbuccaneers, she had, when the sailors rushed into the cabin withloud shouts, been so alarmed that she had jumped from the sternwindows into the sea. 

Captain Drake assured her courteously that, rough as his men mightbe, they would, none of them, lay a finger upon a woman. He thenhoisted a flag and fired a gun, as a signal to the Spanish boats, which were yet within a quarter of a mile, to return. For a momentthey rowed on, but a ball, sent skimming across their bows, was ahint which they could not disregard; for, full as they were of men, they could not have hoped to avoid the English pinnace, should ithave put off after them. 

When the boats came alongside, some of those on board were orderedto ascend the side of the ship; and, plenty of accommodation havingbeen made, the young Spanish lady and her maid, who had remained inthe cabin, descended into the largest boat; handed down by CaptainDrake, with a courtesy equal to that which a Spanish hidalgohimself would have shown. 

Before she went, the young lady turned to Ned, who was standingnear, and expressed to him her deep thanks for the manner in whichhe had leapt over for her. Ned himself could understand only a fewwords, for although many of the sailors spoke Spanish, andsometimes used it among themselves, he had not yet made any greatprogress with it, although he had tried to pick up as many wordsand phrases as he could. The captain, however, translated the wordsto him; and he said to her, in reply, that there was nothing forher to feel herself under any obligation to him for, for that anydog would have jumped out and done the business, just as well. 

The young lady, however, undid a bracelet of gold on her arm, andinsisted upon herself fastening it round Ned's wrist, an actionwhich caused blushes of confusion to crimson his face. 

In a few minutes the Spanish boats were again off. The captainadded, to that in which the young lady was placed, some food, somebottles of liqueur, and other matters which might render her voyageeasy and pleasant. He promised that the Spaniards who had beentransferred again to the ship should be landed, at the earliestopportunity. 

The vessel was now searched, regularly, and was found to containmuch treasure in goods; but as she was on her way from Europe, shehad, of course, none of the gold and silver which was the mainobject of their search. However, they consoled themselves with thethought that the ship which had been chased by their comrades, earlier in the day, was homewards bound; and they hoped, therefore, that a rich cargo would there be secured. 

They were not mistaken, for when the ship sailed up to therendezvous they found another alongside, and the cheers of theircomrades told them that the prize had been a handsome one. Theyfound that they had secured nearly half a million in gold andsilver; and, transferring the cargo of the one ship into the other, they set the first on fire, and sailed back to the spot where theircamp was formed, on the isthmus. 

Several other ships fell into their hands in this way, but afterthis they hindered no more vessels on their way from Europe. Theyhad ample stores and, indeed, far more than enough to supply themwith every luxury; for on board the Pacha the richest wines, themost delicate conserves, the richest garments of all kinds werealready in such abundance as to become common to them all. Down tothe common sailor, all feasted on the best, and drank wines that anemperor might have approved. Captain Drake, in this way, gave hismen when on shore much license; insisting, however, that theyshould abstain from drunkenness. For, as he said, not only wouldthey be at the mercy of any small body of the enemy which mightfind them, but drunkenness breeds quarrels and disputes, and asbetween comrades would be fatal, indeed. Thus, although enough ofgood liquor was given to each man to make him merry, none wereallowed to drink beyond this point. 

The reason why the ships coming from Europe were allowed to pass, unmolested, was that Drake wished not that, each day, some freshtale of capture should be brought to Panama by the crews set freein the boats; for it was certain that the tale so told would, atlast, stir up such fear and indignation at the ravages committed byso small a body, that the governors of the Spanish towns wouldcombine their forces, and would march against them with a veritablearmy. While only the ships starting from Darien were overhauled, and lightened of their contents, the tale was not brought back toDarien; for the crews were allowed to sail on with their ships toEurope, as Drake had already more vessels than he knew what to dowith; and as for prisoners, they were, to him, quite useless. 

Captain John did, indeed, at one time propose to him that he shouldtake out of each ship all the principal men, so as to hold them ashostages, in case of any misfortune happening to the English; butthe admiral said to him, that so great was the enmity and fear ofthem, that did they fall into the hands of the Spaniards, thesewould not exchange them and let them go, even if as many kings wereset free in return. 

In all, five vessels were seized and plundered while lying atDarien. All was not, however, going well; for while they lay there, a terrible sickness broke out among them. Whether this was from thechange of life, or from any noxious thing which they ate, or merelyfrom the heat, none could say; but, very shortly, the illness madegreat ravages among them. First died Charles Clift, one of thequartermasters. 

Then one day, when the pinnace in which Ned always sailed returned, they were met with the sad news that Captain John Drake was alsodead. He had fallen, however, not by the fever, but by the ball ofthe Spaniards. He had gone out with one of the pinnaces, and hadengaged a great Spanish ship; but the latter had shot more straightand faster than usual, and the captain himself and Richard Allen, one of his men, had been slain in an unsuccessful attempt tocapture the ship. His sad end was not the result of any rashness onhis part; for he, indeed, had told the men that the vessel carriedmany guns, and that it was too rash an enterprise. The sailors, however, had by this time become so accustomed to victory as todespise the Dons altogether, and insisted upon going forward. 

It was with bitter lamentation and regret that they returned, bringing the body of the admiral's brother. They were now at theend of the year, and in this week no less than six of the companydied, among whom was Joseph Drake, another of the admiral'sbrothers. These losses saddened the crew greatly, and even thetreasures which they had amassed now seemed to them small, and oflittle account. Even those who did not take the fever were muchcast down, and Captain Drake determined, without any further loss, to attempt the expedition on which he had set his mind. 

On February 3rd, being Shrove Tuesday, he started with eighteenEnglish and thirteen Simeroons for Panama. He had now, since hesailed, lost no less than twenty-eight of the party which set outfrom Plymouth. 

In a few days they reached Venta Cruz, but one of the men, who hadtaken too much strong liquor, made a noise; and the alarm beinggiven, much of the treasure was carried out of the place, beforethey could effect a landing. They followed, however, one of thetreasure parties out of the town, and pursued them for somedistance. On their way they came across another large convoy, withgold. This they easily took and, having sent the Spaniards away, unloaded the mules and buried the gold, desiring to press onfurther. 

As they went, one of the chief Simeroons took the admiral apartfrom the road they were traversing, and led him to the foot of alofty tree. Upon this steps had been cut, and the Indian told theadmiral to ascend, and see what he could observe from the top. Uponreaching the summit, the admiral gave a shout of joy andastonishment. From that point he could see the Pacific Ocean, andby turning his head the Atlantic, which they had just left. 

This was a joyful moment for the great sailor, and when hedescended, one by one most of the men climbed to the top of thetree, to see the two oceans. 

Drake was the first Englishman who had seen this sight. To theSpaniards it was, of course, familiar; indeed, Vasco Nunez hadstood upon the spot and had seen the Pacific, and taken possessionof it, in the name of Spain, in the year 1513. 

They now retraced their steps; for, with the force at theirdisposal, Captain Drake thought it would be madness to cross theisthmus, with any view of attacking the Spaniards on the otherside. He had now accomplished his purpose, and had learned thenature and geography of the place; and proposed, on some futureoccasion, to return with a force sufficient to carry out the greatenterprises on which he had set his mind. 

On their return, they were sorely disappointed at finding that theSpaniards, having captured one of the party, had extorted from himthe hiding place of the gold, and had lifted and carried it off. They now prepared to re-embark in their pinnace. Reaching theseashore, however, they were surprised, and in some way dismayed, at seeing seven Spanish vessels nearing the coast. The Spaniardshad at last determined to make an effort, and had arrived at a timemore unfortunate for the English than could have been supposed. Thepinnace, after landing the party, had sailed away, in order toprevent the Spaniards seizing upon those on board; and when CaptainDrake reached the shore she was not in sight, having indeed hauledher wind, and made off, on the approach of the Spanish fleet. 

The situation seemed bad, indeed, for it was certain that theSpaniards would land their troops and search the shore; and it wasof the highest importance that the pinnace should be discoveredfirst. 

There was a counsel held, and the men were well-nigh despairing. Captain Drake, however, bade them keep up their courage, andpointed out to them the four lads, all of whom had escaped theeffect of fever and disease, their constitution, no doubt, beingstrengthened by the fact that none of them indulged in too muchliquor; indeed, seldom touching any. 

"Look, " said Captain Drake, "at these four lads. Their courage isunshaken, and they look cheerful and hopeful on all occasions. Takeexample from them, and keep up your hopes. I propose to make a raftupon which I myself will embark, and by making out from this bayinto the open sea, may succeed in catching sight of the pinnace, and bringing it hither to your rescue. "

The proposal seemed a desperate one, for it was far more likelythat the Spaniards' ships would come along, and descry the raft, than that the latter should meet with the pinnace. However, thereseemed no other resource. The materials for the raft were scantyand weak; and when Captain Francis, with three companions, gotfairly out of the bay, the raft sank so deeply in the water thatthey were completely standing in the sea. 

For some hours they beat about; and then, to their great joy, theydescried the pinnace in the distance, making for land. The wind hadnow risen, and it was blowing hard, and their position on the raftwas dangerous enough. They found that it would be impossible forthem to keep at sea, and still more impossible to place themselvesin the track of the pinnaces, which were making for a bay behind aprojecting headland. 

Painfully paddling the raft to the shore, Captain Francis landed;and they made their way, with much toil and fatigue, over the hillwhich divided them from that bay; and, towards morning, got down tothe pinnace, where they were received with much joy. Then they atonce launched the boat, and made for the spot where they had lefttheir comrades. These received them as if risen from the dead, forthey had all made up their minds that their admiral, and hiscompanions, had been lost upon the frail raft on which they hadembarked. 

They now put to sea, and had the good fortune to escape the ken ofthe Spaniards, who had sailed further up the coast. So, thankingGod for their escape, they sailed back to the bay where the Pachaand her prizes lay, and then all hands began to make greatpreparation for return home. 

Chapter 5: Cast Ashore. 

It was time, indeed, for the little band of adventurers to beturning their faces towards England. Their original strength, ofeighty men, was reduced to fifty; and of these, many were sick andweak. They had gained a vast store of wealth, although they hadmissed the plunder of Nombre de Dios and of Carthagena. Theirdoings had caused such consternation and alarm that it was certainthat the Spaniards would, ere long, make a great and united effortto crush them; and fifty men, however valiant, could not battlewith a fleet. The men were longing for home, looking forward to thedelight of spending the great share of prize money which would fallto each. The sudden death which had stricken many of their comradeshad, too, cast a chill on the expedition, and made all long moreeagerly to be away from those beautiful, but deadly, shores. 

When, therefore, on the day after the return of Captain Francis, the word was given to prepare for the homeward voyage, the mostlively joy prevailed. The stores were embarked; the Simeroons, whohad done them good service, dismissed with rich presents; and allembarked, with much joy and thankfulness that their labors anddangers were overpast. 

They were, however, extremely shorthanded, and were scattered amongthe three or four prizes which were the best among the ships whichthey had taken. Ned and Gerald, being now able to give goodassistance, in case of need, to the sailors, were put on board oneof the prizes with four seamen. Captain Drake had determined tokeep, for a time, the prizes with him; for as it might well be thatthey should meet, upon their way, a great Spanish fleet, he thoughtthat by keeping together, with the flag of Saint George flying onall the ships, the Spaniards would believe that the Pacha had beenjoined by ships from England, and so would assuredly let her andher consorts pass at large. At the last land at which they touchedCaptain Drake intended to dismiss all but one of the prizes, and tosail across the Atlantic with her and the Pacha. 

This, however, was not to be. 

One day, shortly after their departure, Ned said to Gerald:

"I do not like the look of the sky. It reminds me of the sky thatwe had before that terrible hurricane, when we were moored off theIsle of Pines; and with our scanty crew we should be in a mightilyunfavorable position, should the wind come on to blow. "

In that wise the sailors shared Ned's apprehensions, and in thespeediest possible time all sail was lowered, and the ship preparedto meet the gale. It was not long before the whole sky was coveredwith black clouds. Captain Drake signaled to the vessels that eachwas to do its best; and, if separated, was to rendezvous at thespot before agreed upon. Then, all having been done that could bethought of, they waited the bursting of the storm. 

It came at last, with the suddenness and almost the force of anexplosion. A faint rumbling noise was first heard, a white line offoam was seen in the distance; and then, with a roar and a crash, the hurricane was upon them. The vessel reeled over so far underthe blow that, for a time, all on board thought that she wouldcapsize. The two sailors at the helm, however, held on sturdily;and at last her head drifted off on the wind, and she flew alongbefore its force. 

The sea rose as if by magic. Where, for weeks, scarcely a ripplehad ruffled the surface of the water; now great waves, with crestedtops, tore along. The air was full of blinding foam, swept from thetops of the waves; and it was difficult for those on board even tobreathe, when facing the force of the wind. 

"This is tremendous, " Ned shouted in Gerald's ears, "and as thereseem to be islands all over these seas, if we go on at the rate weare doing now, methinks that it will not be long before we land onone or another. We are, as I reckon, near Hispaniola, but there isno saying which way we may drift; for these storms are almostalways changeable, and while we are running south at present, anhour hence we may be going in the opposite direction. "

For twenty-four hours the storm continued, with unabated fury. Attimes it seemed impossible that the vessel could live, sotremendous were the seas which struck and buffeted her. However, being light in the water, and buoyant, she floated over it. Duringthe next night the wind sensibly abated, and although still blowingwith tremendous force, there was evidence, to the accustomed eyesof the sailors, that the storm was well-nigh blowing itself out. The sea, too, sensibly went down, although still tremendous; andall began to hope that they would weather the gale, when one of thesailors, who had crawled forward to the bow, shouted:

"Breakers ahead!"

It was now, fortunately, morning; although the darkness had been sointense, since the storm began, that the difference between nightand day was faint, indeed. Still it was better, if danger were tobe met with, that there should be as much light as possible. 

All hands looked out over the bows and saw, before them, a steepcoast rising both to the right and left. 

"It is all over with the ship, " Gerald said to Ned, "and I do notthink that there is a chance, even for you. The surf on those rocksis terrible. "

"We must do our best, " said Ned, "and trust in God. You keep closeto me, Gerald, and when you want aid I will assist you as far as Ican. You swim fairly, but scarce well enough, unaided, to getthrough that surf yonder. "

The men, seeing that what appeared to be certain destruction staredthem in the face, now shook hands all round; and then, commendingtheir souls to God, sat down and waited for the shock. 

When it came, it was tremendous. The masts snapped at the board, like rotten sticks. The vessel shivered from stem to stern and, drawing back for an instant, was again cast down with terribleforce; and, as if struck by lightning, parted amidships, and thenseemed to fall all to pieces, like a house of cards. 

Ned and Gerald were standing, hand in hand, when the vessel struck;and as she went to pieces, and they were precipitated into thewater, Ned still kept close to his friend, swimming side by sidewith him. They soon neared the edge of the line where the wavesbroke upon the rocks. Then Ned shouted to Gerald to coast along, outside the broken water; for that there was no landing there, withlife. For upwards of an hour they swam on, outside the line ofsurf. The sea, although tremendously high, did not break till ittouched a certain point, and the lads rose and fell over the greatbillows. They had stripped off the greater portion of theirclothing, before the ship struck; and in the warm water had nosensation of chill, and had nothing to fight against, but fatigue. 

When they were in the hollow of the waves their position was easyenough, and they could make each other hear, by shouting loudly. When, however, they were on the crest of one of the mountainouswaves, it was a hard struggle for life. The wind blew with suchfury, taking the top of the water off in sheets, and scattering itin fine spray, that the boys were nearly drowned; although theykept their back to the wind, and held their breath as if diving, except when necessary to make a gasp for air. 

Gerald became weak and tired, at the end of the hour; but Ned keptup his courage, and aided him by swimming by his side, and lettingGerald put his hand upon his shoulder, every time that they were inthe hollows of the waves, so that he got a complete rest at theseperiods. 

At last, Ned thought he saw a passage between two of the big rocks, through which it might be possible, he thought, that they mightswim, and so avoid the certain death which seemed to await them atevery other spot. 

The passage was about 40 feet wide, and it was no easy matter tocalculate upon striking this, in so wild a sea. Side by side withGerald, Ned made for the spot, and at last swam to the edge of thesurf. Then a great wave came rolling in, and the boys, dizzy andconfused, half smothered and choking, were hurled with tremendousforce, through the great rocks, into comparatively calm waterbeyond. Ned now seized Gerald's hair, for his friend was nearlygone; and, turning aside from the direct line of the entrance, found himself speedily in calm water, behind the line of rocks. Afew minutes' further struggle and the two boys lay on the beach, well-nigh insensible after their great exertions. 

After a while they recovered their strength and, with staggeringfeet, made their way further inland. 

"I owe you my life, Ned, " Gerald said. "I never could havestruggled ashore; nor, indeed, kept myself up for half that time, had it not been for your aid. "

"I am glad to have been able to help you, " Ned said simply. "We maythank heaven that the storm had abated a little, in its force, before the vessel struck; for had it been blowing as it wasyesterday, we could not have swum five minutes. It was just thelowering of the wind that enabled us to swim without being drownedby the spray. It was bad enough, as it was, on the top of thewaves; but, yesterday, it would have been impossible. "

One of the first thoughts of the boys, upon fairly recoveringthemselves, was to kneel down and thank God for having preservedtheir lives; and then, having rested for upwards of an hour, torecover themselves, they made their way inland. 

"Our dangers are by no means over, Gerald, " Ned said. "If thisisland is, as I believe, a thickly cultivated one, and in the handsof the Spaniards, it will go hard with us, if they find us, afterall the damage to their commerce which we have been inflicting, forthe last year. "

Upon getting to some rising ground, they saw, to their surprise, alarge town lying on a bay in front of them. Instinctively theypaused at the sight, and both sat down, so as to be out of view ofany casual lookers on. 

"What are we to do, Ned?" Gerald said. "If we stay here, we shallbe starved. If we go into the town, we shall have our throats cut. Which think you is the best?"

"I do not like either alternative, " Ned said. "See, inland thereare many high mountains, and even close to the town there appear tobe thickets and woods. There are houses, here and there, and nodoubt plantations. It seems to me that if we get round to that sidewe may conceal ourselves; and it is hard, in a country like this, if we cannot, at any rate, find fruit enough to keep us for sometime. And we had better wait till dark. Our white shoulders will beseen at too far a distance, by this light. "

Creeping into a thicket, the lads lay down and were soon soundasleep; and it was night before they awoke, and looked out. Allsigns of the storm had passed. The moon was shining calmly, thestars were brilliant, and seemed to hang like lamps in the sky, aneffect which is only seen in tropical climes. 

There were lights in the town, and these served as a sort of guideto them. Skirting along at the top of the basin in which the townlay, they passed through cultivated estates, picking some ears ofmaize; thus satisfying their hunger, which was, when they started, ravenous; for, during the storm, they had been unable to open thehatchways, and had been supported only by a little biscuit, whichhappened to be in the caboose on deck. 

Towards morning they chose a spot in a thick plantation of trees, about a mile and a half from the town; and here they agreed towait, for a while, until they could come to some decision as totheir course. 

Three days passed without any change. Each night they stole out andpicked maize, pineapple, and melons in the plantations for theirsubsistence; and as morning returned, went back to their hidingplace. Close to it a road ran along to a noble house, which stoodin some grounds at about a quarter of a mile from their grove. Every morning they saw the owner of this house, apparently a man ofdistinction, riding towards the town; and they concluded that hewas one of the great merchants of the place. 

One day he came accompanied by a young lady, carried in a litter byfour slaves. The boys, who were weary of their solitude, pressed tothe edge of the thicket to obtain a clear view of this littleprocession, which broke the monotony of their day. 

"Gerald, " Ned exclaimed, grasping him by the arm, "do you know, Ibelieve that the lady is the girl I picked out of the water, theday we took that ship three months ago. "

"Do you think so?" Gerald said. "It is too far, surely, to see. "

"I do not know for certain, " Ned answered, "but methinks that Icannot be mistaken. "

"Perhaps she would help us, or intercede for us, " Gerald suggested. 

"Perhaps so, " Ned said. "At any rate, we will try. Tonight we willmake a move into the gardens of the house she came from, and willhide there till we see her alone in the garden. Then I will sallyforth, and see how she takes it. "

Accordingly, that night, after obtaining their supply of fruit, theboys entered the enclosure When morning broke there was speedily astir, negroes and negresses went out to the fields, servants movedhither and thither in the veranda outside the house, gardeners cameout and set to work at their vocations. 

It was evident that the owner or his family was fond of gardening, for everything was kept with beautiful order and regularity. Mixedwith the cactus, and other gaudy-flowering plants of Mexico andSouth America, were many European plants, brought out andacclimatized. Here fountains threw up dancing waters in the air, cool shady paths and bowers afforded protection from the heat ofthe day; and so carefully was it clipped, and kept, that a fallenleaf would have destroyed its perfection. 

The point which the boys had chosen was remote from the house, forit was of importance that there should be no witnesses of themeeting. Here, in a spacious arbor, were chairs, couches, and othersigns that some of the family were in the habit of taking theirseats there; and although the boys knew that it might be daysbefore they succeeded in carrying out their object, yet theydetermined to wait, and watch patiently, however long it might be. 

Their success, however, surpassed their expectations; for it wasbut an hour or two after they had taken up their post, and soonafter the sun had risen, that they saw, walking along the path, theyoung lady whom they so desired to meet. She was not alone, for ablack girl walked a little behind her, chatting constantly to her, and carrying some books, a shawl, and various other articles. Whenthey reached the arbor the attendant placed the things there, andthen, as she took her seat, the young lady said to the girl:

"Go in and fetch me my coffee here. Say I shall not come in untilbreakfast time, and that if any orders are required, they must comehere for them. "

"Will you want me to read to you?"

"No, " the young lady said. "It is not hot. I shall take a turnround the garden, first, and then read to myself. "

The black girl went off at a trot towards the house, and the younglady strolled round and round that portion of the garden, until herblack attendant returned, with a tray containing coffee, lemonade, and fruits. This she placed on the table, and then in answer to the"You need not wait, " of the lady, again retired. 

Now was the time for the boys, who had watched these operationswith keen interest, and anxiety. It was uncertain whether she wouldkeep the black attendant by her side, and all depended upon that. 

As soon as she was alone, Ned advanced from their hiding place. Theboys had agreed that it was better, at first, that he shouldapproach alone; lest the sudden appearance of the two, especiallyas Gerald was nearly as tall as a man, might have caused alarm; andshe might have flown away, before she had identified Ned as the ladwho had jumped into the water to save her. 

Ned approached the arbor with hesitating steps, and felt that hisappearance was, indeed, sorely against him. He had no covering tohis head, had nothing on, indeed, but a pair of trousers. He wasshoeless and stockingless, and presented the appearance of a beggarboy, rather than the smart young sailor whom she had seen on boardthe ship. 

The lady started up, with a short exclamation, on seeing a white, ragged boy standing before her. 

"Who are you?" she exclaimed, "and by what right do you enter thesegardens? A white boy, and in rags, how comes this?"

"Our ship has been wrecked, " Ned said, using his best Spanish. "Doyou not remember me? I am the boy who picked you up when you felloverboard, on the day when the English captured the ship you cameout in, some four months ago. "

"Are you, indeed?" the young lady said, in surprise. "Yes, and nowthat I look close at you, I recognize your face. Poor boy, how haveyou got into a strait like this?"

Ned understood but little of what she said, as he only knew a fewwords in Spanish. It was with difficulty that he could understandit, even when spoken slowly; while, spoken as a native would do, hescarce gathered a word. He saw, however, from her attitude, thather meaning was kind, and that she was disposed to do what shecould for him. 

He therefore, in his broken Spanish, told her how a ship, on whichhe and five of his comrades were embarked, had been driven ashorein the hurricane; and all lost, with the exception of another boy, and himself. 

"It is lucky, indeed, " the girl said to herself, when he hadfinished, "that I found that my father had left Nombre de Dios, andhad come down to his house here; for, assuredly, the people wouldhave made short work of these poor lads, had I not been here to aidthem. But, after all, what can I do? My father would, I know, doanything for my sake; and I have told him how this lad jumpedoverboard, to save my life; but there is one here greater than he, that terrible Inquisition. These boys are heretics, and it will beimpossible to conceal, for any time, from the priests that they arehere. Still, at any rate, for a time we might hide them; and ingratitude only, I would do all in my power for them. "

Ned watched her face, as these thoughts passed through her mind. Hesaw at once that she was willing to do all in her power, but sawalso that there were difficulties in the way. 

"Poor boy, " she said, looking at him kindly; "you must be hungry, indeed, " and, taking an ivory mallet, she struck a gong which hungin the arbor, and made signs to Ned to retire for the present. 

The little black girl came running out. 

"I have changed my mind, " her mistress said. "Let my breakfast besent out here to me, instead of indoors. And I am hungry. Tell thecook to be sure and let it be a good one, and as soon as possible. "

Much surprised by these orders, the black girl again left her. 

"My father has gone to town, " she said to the boys, when theyjoined her. "When he comes back, I will ask him what can be done. It will not be easy to hide you, for these negroes chatter like somany parrots; and the news will spread all over the town that someEnglish boys are here, and in that case they will take you away, and my father would be powerless as I to help you. "

The black cook was, indeed, astonished at the demolition of thebreakfast effected by her young mistress; but she put it down tothe fact that she must have given a large portion of it to herdogs, of which one or more were generally her companions, in thegarden. 

Fortunately, on the present occasion, the great bloodhound Zereshad gone down into the town with his master. Of this, however, thecook knew nothing; and muttered to herself somewhat angrily, as shesaw the empty dishes which were brought back to her, "that it was asin to give, to that creature, a meal which was sufficient for fivenoblemen. "

When Senor Sagasta returned to his beautiful villa, in theafternoon, his daughter at once confided to him what had happened. He entered warmly into her scheme for the aid and protection of thelads, and expressed himself willing to do anything that she couldsuggest. 

"But, " he said, "you know as well as I do that, if the news getsabout that two boys of Captain Drake's band are here, nothing willsave them from the rage of the population; and indeed, if thepeople and the military authorities were disposed to let themalone, the Inquisition would be too strong for them, and wouldclaim its own; and against the Inquisition even governors arepowerless. Therefore if they are to stop, and stop they must, atleast for a time, it must be done in perfect secrecy. 

"There is no possibility of disguising two English boys to looklike negroes. The only plan I can suggest is that they should havethat gardeners' hut. I can remove the man who lives there atpresent, and will send him up the country to look after my placethere. Then you must take old David into our confidence. He and hiswife Floey are perfectly faithful, and can be trusted to the death. It is lucky that she is cook, for she will be able to prepare foodfor them. The hut must be kept, of course, locked up at all times;but as it is close to the fence, and the window indeed looks intothe garden, you can go there of a day and speak to them, and takethem books, and lighten their captivity. 

"When it gets dark I will go with you down the garden, and will seethese brave lads. In the meantime, old David shall get some shirts, and shoes, and other necessaries for them. We have a plentifulstore of things in the magazine, and he can rig them up there, perfectly. I will at once get the gardener out of the house, andwill give David instructions to carry the things there, as soon asit is empty. "

That evening after it was dark the boys, who had been anxiouslylistening for every movement, saw in the dim light the white figureof the girl advancing, with her father beside her. When she came tothe arbor, she raised her voice. 

"Are you here?" she cried. "You can come out without fear. "

And, as they advanced, "My father will do all in his power toprotect the savior of his daughter. "

The merchant shook the hands of the boys, with the stately ceremonyof the Spaniard, and assured them that he was their servant, indeed, for their treatment of his daughter; and that his house, and all that it contained, was at their disposal. Ned and Geraldunderstood little enough of what he was saying, but his manner andgestures were sufficient, and they thanked him heartily for hiskindness. 

He now led the way, along many winding paths, till they reached alow fence forming the border of the garden, and distant a long wayfrom the house. A light was already burning in it, and a blackservant was at work within. There was a break in the fence, bywhich they passed through without difficulty; and on entering thehut, they found everything prepared for them. 

On a table stood a dainty supper. The rooms were swept, and freshfurniture had been placed in them. In these countries furniture isof the slightest kind. A hammock, to swing in by day or sleep in bynight; a couple of cane chairs; and a mat, of beautifully wovenstraw, for the floor. This is nearly all the furniture which isrequired, in the tropics. 

First the negro beckoned the boys into an inner room, and there, totheir intense delight, they saw a large tub full of water, and twopiles of clothes lying beside it. 

Don Sagasta and his daughter, after a few more words, left them;assuring them that they would be safe from observation there, butthat they must not stir out, during the day; and must keep the doorsecurely fastened, and must give no answer to anyone who might comeand knock, or call, unless to themselves, to the black who was nowwith them, or his wife, who would accompany him, perhaps, the nextevening. Donna Anna herself promised that she would come and seethem the next morning, and that she hoped to find that they werecomfortable. 

When left alone, the boys luxuriated in the bath; and then, havingput on fresh suits, they felt clean and comfortable once again. Theclothes were those used by the upper class of slaves, employed asoverseers. Don Sagasta had determined to get them some clothes of asuperior class; but he felt that it was better that, so long asthey were in hiding, they should be dressed in a costume whichwould, should anyone perchance get a distant look at them, exciteno curiosity or surprise. 

The boys ate a hearty supper; and then, throwing themselves intothe swinging hammocks, were soon fast asleep. They were up withdawn, next morning, tidied up their room, and made all ready forthe visit of Donna Anna. 

She soon appeared, having got rid of her little black maid, as uponthe morning before. She brought them a store of books, and amongthem a Spanish dictionary and grammar. She told them that shethought it would be of assistance, to pass away their time; and beof the greatest use, for them to learn to speak as much Spanish aspossible; and that she was willing, when she could spare time, unobserved, to teach them the language. Very gratefully the boysaccepted her offer; and, day by day for the next month, the younglady came every morning, and for an hour taught them the meaningand pronunciation of the words, which during the day they learnt byheart. 

They found that the island upon which they had been cast ashore wasPorto Rico, an island of considerable size, not far fromHispaniola. 

Chapter 6: In the Woods. 

In the evening Senor Sagasta visited the lads, and had longconversations with them. He promised them that, upon the very firstopportunity which should occur, he would aid them to escape; butpointed out that, at present, there was no possibility of theirgetting away. 

"Captain Drake, " he said, "has left the seas and, until he comesback again, or some other of your English filibusters, I see nochance of your escape. As soon as I hear of an English ship inthese waters I will have a small boat, well fitted up with sailsand all necessaries, conveyed to a creek on the coast. To this youshall be taken down, and make your way to the point where we hearthat the vessel is accustomed to rendezvous. "

This appeared to the boys to be the only possible plan, and theywarmly expressed their gratitude to their host for his thoughtfulkindness. 

Another month passed; and then, one evening, Don Sagasta came tothe hut with a certain anxiety in his face. 

"Is there anything the matter?" Ned, who now began to speak Spanishwith some fluency, asked. 

"I am much disturbed. Since you have been here, I am sure that noone has got a sight of you; and I can rely so implicitly uponDavid, and Flora, that I am sure the secret has not leaked outthere. But from what I hear, it seems that you must have been seen, during the time that you were wrecked, and before you came here. Ihear in the town today that a rumor is current, among the people, that two white men were seen, near the sea, upon the day after thegreat storm. Someone else, too, seems to have said that he caughtsight of two white men, not far from this house, just beforedaybreak, two days afterwards. This report has, it seems, beengoing from mouth to mouth; and has at last reached the ears of thegovernor. The portions of a wreck, which were driven ashore, seemto confirm the story; and unfortunately, the board with the name ofthe ship was washed ashore, and it is known to be that of one ofthose captured by Captain Drake. Putting the two things together, it is supposed that misfortune overtook a portion of his fleet, andthat two of his men managed to save their lives, and are nowlurking somewhere about the neighborhood I hear that the governorhas ordered a strict search to be set on foot, and that a largereward is to be offered for the discovery of any signs of thefugitives. "

The next day, the boys heard that the persons to whom the story hadbeen traced had been taken before the governor, and strictlyexamined, and that he was fully convinced of the truth of thestory. Three days afterwards, Don Sagasta brought them a copy of anotice which had been placed in the marketplace, offering a rewardof 1000 dollars for any news which would lead to the capture of theEnglish pirates, and announcing the severest punishment upon anywho should dare to conceal, or to assist them. 

Gerald at once said that, rather than be a cause of anxiety totheir kind host and his daughter, they would give themselves up. This offer was, however, indignantly refused by Don Sagasta. 

"No, no, " he said; "this must not be. I might take you into thehouse, but I fear that with so many servants, some of whom are asbigoted as any of us whites, you would be sure to be discovered;and they would either reveal in confession, or disclose to theauthorities, the fact of your concealment. The only plan whichpromises to offer safety, that I can suggest, is that you shalltake to the mountains. There are many runaways there, and althoughsometimes they are hunted down and slain; yet they have caverns, and other places of concealment, where you might remain for years. I will speak to David about it, at once. "

David, on being questioned, said that there was an old nativewoman, living at a hut a little way off, who had the reputation ofhaving the evil eye, and who was certainly acquainted with thedoings of the runaways. If any slave wished to send a message, toone of his friends who had taken to the hills, the old woman would, for a present, always convey, or get it conveyed, to the man forwhom it was intended. He thought that it would be absolutelynecessary that some such means should be taken of introducing theboys to the runaways; otherwise, hunted as these were, they wouldeither fly when they saw two whites approaching, or would surroundand destroy them. 

Don Sagasta at once accepted the suggestion, and David wasdispatched to the old woman, with offers of a handsome present, ifshe would give a guide to the boys, to the mountains. David wasinstructed, especially, to tell her that they were English, and thenatural enemies of the Spaniards; that they had done them much harmat sea; and that, if caught by the Spaniards, they would be killed. 

He returned an hour later, with news that the old Indian woman had, at once upon hearing these facts, promised to get them passed up tothe hiding places of the natives. 

"You think, " Don Sagasta said, "that there is no fear of hermentioning the fact that she has seen my friends, to any of thesearchers?"

"Oh, no, " David said. "She is as close as wax. Over and over again, when she has been suspected of assisting in the evasion of a slave, she has been beaten and put to torture; but nothing was everextracted from her lips, and it is certain that she would die, rather than reveal a secret. "

Donna Anna was much moved, when she said adieu to the lads. Sheregarded Ned as the preserver of her life; and both had, during thetwo months of daily intercourse, much endeared themselves to her. Don Sagasta brought to them a handsome pair of pistols, each, and asword; and then, giving them a basket of provisions and a pursecontaining money, which he thought might be useful even amongrunaway slaves, he and his daughter bade adieu to them, with manyexpressions of kindness and gratitude, on both sides. 

"Do not hesitate, " Don Sagasta said, "to let me know if I can, atany time, do or send anything for you. Should it be possible, Iwill send a message to you, by the old woman, if any expedition ona grand scale is being got up against the runaways; and this maymake your position more comfortable among them. "

Under the guidance of David, they then started for the Indianwoman's hut; while Flora set to work to carry away and obliterateall signs, from the hut, of its late residents. After a fewminutes' walking, the boys arrived at the Indian hut. It wasconstructed simply, of boughs of trees thickly worked together. 

On hearing their footsteps an old woman--the boys thought they hadnever seen anyone so old--with long white hair, and a face wrinkledtill it hardly seemed like the face of a human being, came to thedoor, with a torch made of resinous wood held aloft. She peeredunder her hand at the boys, and said a few words to David, which hetranslated to the boys to be:

"And these are English, the people of whom the Spaniards are asafraid as my people are of them? Two Spaniards can drive fiftyIndians before them, but I hear that a dozen of these Englishmencan take a ship with a hundred Spaniards on board. It is wonderful. They look something like our oppressors, but they are fairer, andtheir eyes are blue; and they look honest, and have not that air ofpride, and arrogance, which the Spaniard never lays aside. 

"I have a boy here. "

And as she spoke an Indian boy, of some thirteen years of age, slipped out from behind her. 

"He will show them to the refuge places of the last of my race. There they will be well received, for I have sent by him a messageto their chiefs; and it may be that these lads, knowing the ways ofwhite warfare, will be able to assist my countrymen, and to enablethem to resist these dogs of Spaniards. 

"The blessing of an old woman be upon you. I have seen manychanges. I have seen my people possessors of this island, save asmall settlement which they had, even then, the folly to allow theSpaniards to possess. I have seen them swept away by the oppressor, my husband tortured and killed, my brothers burned alive, all thatI loved slain by the Spaniards. Now, it does my old eyes good tosee two of the race who will, in the future, drive those dogs fromthese fair lands, as they have driven my people. "

So saying, she returned into the hut. 

The boy prepared at once to start, and the lads, wringing the handof the black who had been so kind to them, at once followed theirguide into the darkness. For some hours they walked withoutintermission, sometimes going at a sling trot, and then easing downagain. Dark as was the night, their guide trod the paths withouthesitation or pause. The boys could scarce see the ground uponwhich they trod, but the eyes of the native were keener thantheirs, and to him the way seemed as clear as in broad daylight. 

After traversing for some miles a flat, level country, they beganto mount; and for about two hours ascended a mountain, thicklycovered with forest. Then the guide stopped, and motioned to themthat he could now go no further, and must rest for the present. 

The boys were surprised at this sudden stop, for their guide hadgone along so quickly and easily that he taxed, to the utmost, their powers of progression; while he, himself, never breathed anyharder than when walking upon the level ground. They had, however, no means of interrogating him, for he spoke no language which theyunderstood. 

Without a word, the lad threw himself down at full length, anexample which they followed without hesitation. 

"I wonder, " Ned said, "why he stopped. "

"Because he is tired, I expect, " Gerald replied; "or that he doesnot know the exact spot upon which he is likely to meet the band;and that he has taken us, so far, along the one path which wascertain to lead in the right direction, but for the precise spot hemust wait, till morning. "

It was not many minutes before the three lads were fast asleep, butwith the first gleam of daylight the Indian boy awoke. Touching hiscompanions, he sprang to his feet, and without hesitation turnedoff to the right, and climbed an even steeper path than any whichthey had followed in the darkness. The trees grew thinner as theyadvanced, and they were soon climbing over bare rock. 

They saw now that they were near the extreme summit of one of thehills. The boy, as they passed through the trees, had gathered somedry sticks, and a handful or two of green leaves. Upon reaching thetop he placed these down upon the ground, and looked towards theeast. 

The sun would not be up for another half hour, yet. The boy at oncebegan, with steady earnestness, to rub two pieces of sticktogether, according to their way of kindling a fire. It was aquarter of an hour before the sparks began to drop from the wood. These, with some very dry leaves and tiny chips of wood, the Indianboy rapidly blew into life; and then, with a very small fire of drywood, he sat patiently watching the east. 

At the moment that the sun showed above the sea, he placed thelittle fire in the heart of the pile of wood which he hadcollected, threw the green leaves upon it, and blew vigorouslyuntil the whole caught fire, and a wreath of smoke ascended abovethem. For five minutes only he allowed the fire to burn, and thenat once extinguished it carefully, knocking the fire from eachindividual brand. When the last curl of white smoke had ceased toascend, he stood up and eagerly looked round the country. 

It was a glorious view. On the one hand, the wood-clad hills slopedto the foot of the plain, covered with plantations, dotted here andthere with the villages of the slaves, and the white houses of theoverseers. At a distance could be faintly seen the towers of acity; while beyond, the sea stretched like a blue wall, far as theeye could see. 

Inland the country was broken and mountainous; the hills being, inall cases, thickly covered with trees. From two points, in theheart of these hills, white smoke curled up, as soon as the smokeof their fire died away. These, too, in a short time also ceased torise; and the boys knew that they were signal fires, in response tothat which their guide had made. The boy hesitated, for a minute ortwo, as to the direction which he should take. 

As, however, one of the fires appeared a good deal nearer than theother, this probably decided him in its favor; and he started, in astraight line, towards the spot where the smoke had curled up. Another two hours' walking, and they entered an open glade; whereten or twelve natives, and two or three negroes were gathered. Theywere greatly surprised at seeing two white men, but the presence ofthe native guide apparently vouched for these visitors; andalthough one or two of the men sprang up and, at a rapid pace, proceeded in the direction from which the newcomers had arrived, the rest simply rose to their feet and, grasping the spears, bowsand arrows, and clubs which they carried, waited silently to hearwhat the Indian boy had to tell them. 

He poured forth an animated strain of words, for a few minutes, andthe faces of the Indians lit up with pleasure. The one among themwho appeared to be the chief of the party advanced at once to theboys, and made every sign of welcome. One of the negroes alsoapproached, and in broken Spanish asked them if they could speak inthat language. 

The boys were able, now, to reply in the affirmative; and quicklysupplemented the account of them, which had been given by theirguide, by their own description of the manner of their comingthere. The negro, after explaining to the rest what the boys hadsaid, then assured them, in the name of the chief, that everywelcome was theirs; and that they hailed among them, as a happyincident, the arrival of two of the famous race who were the deadlyenemies of the Spaniards. 

The boys, on their part, assured them that they would endeavor torepay the hospitality with which they were received by theirassistance, should the Spaniards make any attacks upon the tribeduring the time they were there; that the English, everywhere, werethe friends of those who were oppressed by the Spaniards; and thattheir countrymen were moved, with horror and indignation, at theaccounts which had reached them of the diabolical treatment towhich the Indians were exposed. 

The party now pressed still further into the forest and, turning upa ravine, followed its windings for some distance; and then, passing through an exceedingly narrow gorge, reached a charminglittle valley; in which were some rough huts, showing that theresidence of at least a portion of the runaways had been reached. 

Here, for some time, life passed uneventfully with the boys. Theirfirst care was to study sufficient of the language of the nativesto enable them to hold converse with them, for it was clear to themthat they might have to stop there for some considerable time. Their food consisted of roots, of wild fruit, and of yams; whichthe natives cultivated in small, scattered plots of ground. Manybirds, too, were brought in, the natives bringing them down withsmall darts. They were able to throw their light spears withextreme precision, and often pierced the larger kinds of birds, asthey sat upon the boughs of trees, with these weapons, before theycould open their wings for flight. With bows and arrows, too, theywere able to shoot with great accuracy; and the boys felt surethat, if properly led, they would be able to make a stoutresistance to the Spaniards. 

They heard, several times during the first three weeks of theirsojourn there, of raids made by small parties of the Spaniards; butin none of these cases were the searchers successful in findingtraces of the fugitive slaves, nor did they come into the part ofthe wood in which was the village which served as headquarters ofthe negroes. 

At the end of three weeks, the boys accompanied a party of theirfriends to other points at which the fugitives were gathered. Altogether they found that, in that part of the island, there weresome hundreds of natives, with about forty or fifty runawaynegroes. Through the latter, the boys explained to the natives thatthey ought to build strong places to which, in case of necessity, they could retreat, and where they could offer a desperateresistance to the enemy. The extreme roughness of the ground, thedeep ravines and precipices, were all favorable for defense; andalthough they could not hope to make a permanent resistance to alarge armed force, yet they might easily resist small parties, andthen make good their retreat before large reinforcements couldarrive. 

The negroes expressed their approval of the plans, but the Indiansshook their heads over the proposition. 

"These men have no courage, " the blacks said to the boys. "Theirheart is broken. They fly at the sound of a Spaniard's voice. Whatgood do you expect from them? But if the Spaniards come, we fight. Our people are brave, and we do not fear death. If the Spaniardscome we fight with you, and die rather than be taken back asslaves. "

One morning, on rising, the boys heard some exclamations amongtheir allies. 

"What is it?" they asked. 

The negroes pointed to films of smoke, rising from the summits oftwo hills, at a short distance from each other. 

"What is that a sign of?" they asked. 

"It is a sign that the Spaniards are coming. No doubt in pursuit ofa runaway; perhaps with those terrible dogs. The Spaniards could donothing among these mountains without them. They follow their gamethrough the thickest woods. "

"But, " said Ned, "why on earth do not the negroes take to thetrees? Surely there could be no difficulty in getting from tree totree by the branches, for a certain distance, so as to throw thehounds off the scent. "

"Many do escape in that way, " the negro said; "but the pursuit isoften so hot, and the dogs so close upon the trail, that there islittle time for maneuvers of this sort; beside which, many of thefugitives are half mad with fear. I know, myself, that the bayingof those horrible dogs seems to freeze the blood; and in my case, Ionly escaped by luckily striking a rivulet. Then my hopes roseagain; and after following it, for a time, I had the happy thoughtof climbing into a tree which overhung it, and then dropping downat some little distance off, and so completely throwing the dogsoff the trail. "

"Why do they not shoot the dogs?" Ned asked. "I do not mean the menwhom they are scenting, but their friends. "

"We might shoot them, " the negro said, "if they were allowed to runfree; but here in the woods they are usually kept on the chain, sothat their masters are close to them. 

"Listen, " he said, "do you not hear the distant baying?"

Listening attentively, however, the boys could hear nothing. Theirears were not trained so well as that of the negro, and it was someminutes before they heard a distant, faint sound of the deep barkof a dog. A few minutes later a negro, panting for breath, bathedin perspiration, and completely exhausted, staggered into the gladewhere they were standing. The other negroes gave a slight cry ofalarm, at the proximity of so dangerous a comrade. 

"Save me, " the man cried. "I am pursued. "

"How many men are after you?" Ned asked. 

The negro started in astonishment, at seeing a white face and beingquestioned in Spanish. Seeing, however, that his comrades were ongood terms with his questioner, he answered at once:

"There are some twenty of them, with two dogs. "

"Let us give them a sharp lesson, " Ned said to the negroes standinground. "We have made preparations, and it is time that we began toshow our teeth. If they find that they cannot come with impunityinto our woods, they will not be so anxious to pursue single men;and will leave us alone, except they bring all the force of theisland against us. "

The negroes looked doubtful as to the wisdom of taking theinitiative, so great was their fear of the Spaniards. However, thecheerfulness with which the two English boys proposed resistanceanimated them; and, with sharp whistles, they called the whole oftheir comrades to the place. 

Ned briefly explained their intentions. 

"There is no time to be lost. We must take our places on the upperground of that narrow valley, and tell the man to run straightthrough. We have plenty of stones piled there, and may give theSpaniards a warmer reception than they expect. We could not have abetter opportunity; for, with such small numbers as they have, theycertainly would not be able to attack us, with any hope of success, up so steep a hillside. "

The valley which Ned indicated was not one of those which led inthe direction of their stronghold; but it was a very steep gorge, which they had remarked as being particularly well fitted forchecking a pursuing party; and for that end had prepared piles ofstones on the upper heights. The negroes, taking with them thesharpened poles which they used as spears, and their bows andarrows, started, under Ned and Gerald, to the indicated spot. Gerald had arranged to go with a party to one side of the gorge, Ned to the other; but they decided that it was better that theyshould keep together, the more to encourage the natives; and whilea few negroes were sent to one side of the gorge, the main body, under the two English lads, kept together on the other. Thefugitive had already gone ahead, with one of the negroes to showhim the way. 

Scarcely had they taken their places, at the top of the gorge; whenthe baying of the hounds, which had been increasing every minute involume, became so loud that the Spaniards were clearly close athand. In another three or four minutes there issued from the wood aparty of some twenty men, leading two dogs by chains. The creaturesstruggled to get forward, and their eyes seemed almost starting outof their heads with their eagerness to reach the object of theirpursuit. Their speed was, however, moderated by the fact that theband, who were all on horseback, had to pick their way through thegreat boulders. The wood itself was difficult for horsemen, buthere and there were spaces, and they had been able to ride at afair pace. 

On entering the mouth of the gorge, however, they were obliged tofall into an order of two abreast, and sometimes even to go inIndian file. Huge boulders strewed the bottom of the chasm; whereindeed a stream, in winter, poured through. The sides were by nomeans perpendicular, but were exceedingly precipitous. 

When the Spaniards had fairly got into the gorge Ned gave thesignal, and a shower of great stones came leaping down the sides ofthe rocks upon the astonished foes. Several were struck from theirhorses; many of the horses, themselves, were knocked down; and ascene of confusion at once took place. The Spaniards, however, wereaccustomed to fighting; and the person in command, giving a feworders, led ten of his men up the rocks upon the side where theassailants were in strongest force; while the rest of the party, seizing the horses' heads, drove the frightened animals backthrough the ravine to the mouth. 

The instant that the Spaniards commenced their ascent, long habitsof fear told upon some of the slaves, and these took to their heelsat once. Many others stood more firmly, but were evidentlywavering. Ned and Gerald, however, kept them at work hurling stonesdown, and more than one of the Spaniards was carried off his feetby these missiles. 

Still they bravely ascended. Then Ned, taking a deliberate aim withhis pistol, brought down one of the leaders; and this greatlysurprised and checked the advance. The pistol shot was followed bythat of Gerald, and the Spaniards wavered at this unexpectedaddition to the forces of the natives. Then Ned in English shouted:

"Now, my brave Britons, show these Spaniards you can fight as well, on land, as at sea. "

The words were probably not understood by any of the Spaniards, butthey knew that the language was not Spanish or Indian; and thethought that a number of English were there completely paralyzedthem. They hesitated, and then began slowly to fall back. 

This was all that was needed to encourage the negroes. With ashout, these now advanced to the attack, shooting their arrows andhurling stones, and the retreat of the enemy was rapidly convertedinto a flight. 

Their blood once thoroughly up, the negroes were ready foranything. Throwing aside their bows and arrows, they charged uponthe Spaniards; and in spite of the superior arms and gallantdefense of the latter, many of them were beaten down, and killed, by the heavy clubs and pointed starves of the negroes. 

More, indeed, would have perished; and indeed, all might havefallen had not, at this moment, a formidable reinforcement ofstrength reached them. The men from below, having got the horsesfairly out of the gorge, left but two of their number with them, and advanced to the assistance of their friends, bringing with themthe two bloodhounds. 

"Never fear the hounds, " Ned shouted. "We can beat them to death, as easily as if they were pigs. Keep a bold front and attack them, and I warrant you they are no more formidable than their masters. "

Had these reinforcements arrived earlier, they might have changedthe fight; but the Spaniards who survived were anxious only to beoff, and the negroes' blood was so thoroughly up that, under theleadership of the boys, they were prepared to face even theseterrible dogs. 

These threw themselves into the fray, with all the ferocity oftheir savage nature. Springing at the throats of two of thenegroes, they brought them to the ground. One of the dogs wasinstantly disposed of by Gerald; who, placing his pistol to itsear, blew out its brains. Ned fell upon the other with his swordand, the negroes joining him, speedily beat it down and slew it. 

The diversion, however, had enabled the Spaniards to get upon theirhorses; and they now galloped off, at full speed, among the trees. 

Chapter 7: An Attack in Force. 

The negroes were delighted at the success of the conflict; as werethe Indians, who soon joined them. But ten of the Spaniards hadescaped, the rest having fallen; either in the gorge, killed by therocks, or in the subsequent fight. 

Ned and Gerald, who were now looked upon as the leaders of theparty, told the negroes to collect the arms of the fallen men, andto give a hasty burial to their bodies. The boys knew, too well, the savage nature of the war which raged, between the black and thewhite, to ask whether any of the Spaniards were only wounded. Theyknew that an instant death had awaited all who fell into the handsof their late slaves. 

"Now, " Ned said, "my friends, you must not suppose that yourfighting is over. The Spaniards will take the news back to thetown, and it is likely enough that we shall have a large force uponus, in the course of a few days. I do not suspect that they willcome before that time. Indeed, it may be far longer, for they knowthat it will require a very large force to search these woods; andthat, now our blood is up, it will be no trifle to overcome us inour stronghold. If we are to succeed at last, labor, discipline, and courage will all be required. "

The negroes now besought the boys formally to take the command, andpromised to obey their orders, implicitly. 

"Well, " Ned said, "if you promise this, we will lead you. My friendis older than I; and he shall be captain, and I will be firstlieutenant. "

"No, no, " Gerald said. "This must not be, Ned. I am the oldest, itis true, by a few months; but you are far more active and quickthan I, and you have been the leader, ever since we left the ship. I certainly will not take the command from you. "

"Well, we will be joint generals, " Ned said, laughing; "and I donot think that our orders will clash. "

He then explained, to the negroes and natives, the course which hethought that they ought to pursue. First, every point at which theenemy could be harassed should be provided with missiles. In thesecond place, all signs of footsteps and paths leading to theiraccustomed dwelling places should be obliterated. Thirdly, theyshould fight as little as possible; it being their object to fightwhen pursued and interfered with by small parties of Spaniards, butto avoid conflict with large bodies. 

"Our object, " he said, "is to live free and unmolested here; and ifthe Spanish find that, when they come in large numbers, they cannotovertake us; and that, when they come in small ones, they aredefeated with loss; they will take to leaving us alone. "

All agreed to this policy; and it was arranged that the women, children, and most feeble of the natives should retire to almostinaccessible hiding places, far in the mountains; and that the moreactive spirits, with the negroes, and divided into five or sixbands, acting to some extent independently of each other, but yetin accordance with a general plan, should remain to oppose thepassage of the enemy. 

This, their first success over the Spaniards, caused a wildexultation among the negroes and natives; and Ned and Gerald wereviewed as heroes. The lads took advantage of their popularity toimpress upon the negroes the necessity of organizing themselves, and undergoing certain drill and discipline; without it, as theytold them, although occasionally they might succeed in driving backthe Spaniards, yet in the long run they must be defeated. It wasonly by fighting with regularity, like trained soldiers, that theywould make themselves respected by the Spaniards; and the latter, instead of viewing them as wild beasts to be hunted, would regardthem with respect. 

The negroes, fresh from a success gained by irregular means, wereat first loath to undertake the trouble and pains which the boysdesired; but the latter pointed out that it was not always that theenemy were to be caught napping, and that after such a check as hadbeen put upon them, the Spaniards would be sure to come in greaternumbers, and to be far more cautious how they trusted themselvesinto places where they might be caught in a trap. 

The weapons thrown away or left upon the ground, by the Spaniards, were divided among the negroes; and these and the natives were nowformed into companies, natives and negroes being mixed in eachcompany, so that the latter might animate the former by theirexample. Four companies, of forty men, each were formed; and forthe next fortnight incessant drill went on, by which time theforest fugitives began to have a fair notion of the rudimentaryelements of drill. When the boys were not engaged upon this, incompany with one of the native chiefs they examined the mountains, and at last fixed upon a place which should serve as the laststronghold, should they be driven to bay by the enemy. 

It was three weeks before there were any signs of the Spaniards. Atthe end of that time a great smoke, rising from the signal hill, proclaimed that a large body of the enemy were approaching theforest. This was expected; for, two days before, three negrorunaways had taken shelter with them. 

The negroes had been armed with long pikes of tough wood, sharpenedin the fire, and capable of inflicting fully as deadly a wound asthose carried by the Spaniards. Each carried a club, the leadersbeing armed with the swords taken from the Spaniards; while therewere also eight arquebuses, which had been gained from the samesource. All the natives bore bows and arrows, with which they wereable to shoot with great accuracy. The negroes were not skilledwith these weapons; but were more useful, from their greaterstrength, for hurling down rocks and missiles upon the Spaniards, when below. 

A consultation had been previously held, as to the course to betaken in case of the approach of the enemy. It was determined asfar as possible to avoid fighting, to allow the Spaniards to trampfrom place to place, and then to harass them by falling upon themin the night, disturbing their sleep, cutting down sentries; andharassing them until they were forced, by pure exhaustion, to leavethe forest. 

These tactics were admirably adapted to the nature of the contest. The only thing which threatened to render them nugatory was thepresence of the fierce dogs of the Spaniards. Preparations hadalready been made for checking the bloodhounds in pursuit offugitive slaves. In a narrow place, in one of the valleys at theentrance of the forest, a somewhat heavy gallery had been erected. This was made of wood heaped with great stones, and was so arrangedthat any animal running through it would push aside a stick, whichacted as a trigger. This would release a lever, and the heavy logsabove would fall, crushing to death anything beneath it. A lookoutwas always placed to intercept any fugitive slaves who might enterthe forest, and to guide them through this trap; which was, ofcourse, not set until after they had passed. This had been done inthe case of the two negroes who had arrived the previous day, andthe boys felt that any pursuit of them by bloodhounds would at oncebe cut short, and the Spaniards left to their own devices. 

This anticipation proved correct. The scouts reported that theycould hear, in the distance, the baying of dogs; and that, undoubtedly, the enemy were proceeding on the track of the slaves. 

The four companies were each told off, to positions considerablyapart from each other; while Ned and Gerald, with the cacique, orchief, of the Indians, one negro, and four or five fleet-footedyoung men, remained to watch the success of the trap. 

This was all that they had hoped. The Spaniards were seen coming upthe glade, a troop two hundred strong. The leaders were onhorseback, some fifteen in number; and after them marched thepikemen, in steady array, having men moving at a distance on eachflank, to prevent surprise. 

"This, " said Ned, "is a regular military enterprise. The last was amere pursuing party, gathered at random. It will not be so easy todeal with cautious men, like these. "

Three hounds ran ahead of the leaders, with their noses on theground, giving now and then the deep bay peculiar to their kind. They reached the trap, and rushed into the gallery, which was sometwelve feet in length, and of sufficient height to enable a man onfoot to march through. 

The leaders, on seeing the trap, drew in their horses, in doubtwhat this structure could mean, and shouted to the hounds to stop. But the latter, having the scent strong in their nostrils, ran onwithout pausing. As the last hound disappeared in the gallery, acrash was heard, and the whole erection collapsed, crushing thehounds beneath it. 

A cry of consternation and surprise burst from the Spaniards. Theartifice was a new one, and showed that the fugitives were assistedby men with intellect far in advance of their own. The pursuit wassummarily checked, for the guides of the Spaniards were now gone. 

The enemy paused, and a consultation took place among the leaders. It was apparently determined to pursue their way alone, takingevery precaution, in hopes that the natives would attack them asthey had done the previous expedition; when they hoped to inflict adecisive blow upon them. That they would, themselves, be able tofind the run-away negroes in the forest they had but small hope;but they thought it possible that these would again take theinitiative. 

First, under the guidance of one who had evidently been in the lastexpedition, they took their way to the valley where the fight hadtaken place. Here all was still. There were no signs of their foes. They found, in the gorge, a great cairn of stones; with a woodencross placed over it, and the words in Spanish cut upon it:

"Here lie the bodies of ten Spaniards, who sought to attackharmless men in these woods. Let their fate be a lesson to thosewho may follow their example. "

This inscription caused great surprise among the Spaniards, whogathered round the mound and conversed earnestly upon it; lookinground at the deep and silent woods, which might, for ought theyknew, contain foes who had proved themselves formidable. It wasevident that the soldiers, brave as they were, yet felt misgivingsas to the task upon which they had entered. They knew that twoEnglishmen, a portion of the body which, under Drake, had renderedthemselves so feared, were leaders of these men; and so great wasthe respect in which the English were at that time held, that this, alone, vastly added to the difficulties and dangers which theSpaniards saw awaiting them. 

However, after a few minutes' consultation the party moved forward. It was now formed in two bodies, about equally strong; one going aquarter of a mile ahead, the other following it. 

"What have these men divided their forces for?" the negro askedNed. 

"It seems to me, " he answered, "that they hope we shall fall uponthe first body, thinking that there are no more behind; and thatthe others, coming up in the midst of the fight, will take us bysurprise. However, we will let them march. 

"Send word, to the company which lies somewhat in the line whichthey have taken, of their approach; and let them at once retire. Tell them to make circuits in the hills, but to leave behind themsufficient traces for the Spaniards to follow. This will encouragethem to keep on, and by nightfall they will be thoroughly tiredout. 

"Whenever they get in valleys, or other places where advantage maybe taken of them, two of the companies shall accompany them, at agood distance on their flanks; and pour in volleys of arrows, orroll stones down upon them. I will take command of one of thesecompanies, Gerald of the other. 

"Do you, " he said to the negro, "follow with the last. Keep out oftheir reach; but occasionally, after they have passed, fire arrowsamong the rear guard. 

"Do you, cacique, make your way to the leading column. See thatthey choose the most difficult gorges; and give, as far aspossible, the appearance of hurry to their flight, so as toencourage the Spaniards to follow. "

These tactics were faithfully carried out. All day the Spaniardsfollowed, as they believed, close upon the footsteps of the flyingfoe; but from time to time, from strong advantage spots, arrowswere rained upon them, great rocks thundered down, and wild yellsrang through the forest. Before, however, they could ascend theslopes and get hand to hand with their enemy, these had retreated, and all was silent as the grave in the woods. 

Perplexed, harassed, and somewhat awe-struck by these new andinexplicable tactics; and having lost many men, by the arrows andstones of the enemy, the two troops gathered at nightfall in anopen glade. Here a bivouac was formed, branches of the trees cutdown, and the provisions which each had brought with him produced. A rivulet ran through the glade, and the weary troops were soonlying on the grass, a strong line of sentries having been placedround. 

Already the appearance of the troop was greatly changed from thatof the body which had entered the wood. Then all were eager for thefray; confident in the extreme of their power to crush, with ease, these unarmed negroes and natives, who had hitherto, except on thelast occasion, fled like hunted deer at their approach. Now, however, this feeling was checked. They had learned that the enemywere well commanded, and prepared; and that so far, while theythemselves had lost several men, not a native had been so much asseen by them. 

At nightfall the air became alive with mysterious noises; cries asof animals, occasionally Indian whoops, shouts from one voice toanother were heard all around. The Spaniards stood to their arms, and gazed anxiously into the darkness. 

Soon the shouts of the sentries told that flights of arrows werebeing discharged at them, by invisible foes. Volley after volleywere fired, from the musketoons and arquebuses, into the wood. These were answered by bursts of taunting laughter, and mockingyells, while the rain of arrows continued. 

The Spanish troops, whose position and figures could be seen by theblaze of the lighted fires, while a dense darkness reigned withinthe forest, began to suffer severely from the arrows of theseunseen foes. Bodies, fifty strong, advanced into the dark forest tosearch out their enemies; but they searched in vain. The Indians, better accustomed to the darkness, and knowing the forest well, easily retreated as they advanced; and the Spaniards dared notventure far from their fires, for they feared being lost in theforest. 

The officer commanding, an old and experienced soldier, soon ceasedthese useless sorties. Calling his men into the center of theglade; he ordered them to stand in readiness to repel an assault, extinguished every fire, and allowed half the troop at once to liedown, to endeavor to snatch some sleep. This, however, wasimpossible; for although the Indians did not venture upon anattack, the chorus of shouts and yells was so terrible andcontinuous, and the flights of arrows at times fell so fast, thatnot one of the troop ventured to close an eye. 

From time to time volleys were fired into the darkness; and once ortwice a loud cry told that some, at least, of the balls had takeneffect; but the opponents, sheltered each behind the trunk of atree, suffered comparatively slightly, while many of the Spaniardswere struck by their missiles. 

Morning dawned upon a worn-out and dispirited band, but withdaylight their hopes revived. Vigorous sorties were made into thewood; and though these discovered, in a few places, marks of bloodwhere some of their enemies had fallen, and signs of a party beingcarried away, the woods were now as deserted as they had appearedto be on the previous evening, when they first halted. 

There was a consultation among the leaders, and it was determinedto abandon the pursuit of these invisible foes, as it was agreedthat nothing, short of a great effort by the whole available forceof the island, would be sufficient to cope with a foe whose tacticswere so bewildering and formidable. 

Upon their march out from the wood, the troop was pursued with thesame persistence with which it had been dogged on the precedingday; and when at length it emerged, and the captain counted thenumbers of his men, it was found that there were no less thanthirty wounded, and that twenty had been left behind, dead. 

The dwellers of the wood were overjoyed with their success, andfelt that a new existence had opened before them. Hitherto they hadbeen fugitives only, and no thought of resistance to the Spaniardshad ever entered their minds. They felt now that, so long as theyremained in the woods, and maintained their drill and discipline, and persisted in the tactics which they had adopted, they coulddefy the Spaniards; unless, indeed, the latter came in overwhelmingstrength. 

Some time elapsed before any fresh effort was made by theSpaniards. The affair caused intense excitement in the city, and itis difficult to say whether alarm, or rage, most predominated. Itwas felt that a great effort must be made, to crush the men of theforest; for unless this were done, a vast number of the negroslaves would escape and join them, and the movement would becomemore formidable, every day. 

Upon the part of those in the forest, great consultations tookplace. Some of the negroes were for sending messages to the slavesto rise and join them, but Ned and Gerald strongly opposed thiscourse. There were, as they pointed out, no means whatever in theforest for supporting a larger body of men than those gatheredthere. The tree-clad hills which constituted their stronghold weresome thirty miles in diameter; and the supply of fruits, of roots, and of birds were sufficient for their wants; but it would be verydifferent, were their numbers largely increased. Then they would beforced to make raids upon the cultivated ground beyond; and here, however strong, they would be no match for the Spaniards, whosesuperior arms and discipline would be certain to give them victory. 

The Indians strongly supported the reasoning of the boys, and thenegroes, when they fully understood the difficulties which wouldarise, finally acquiesced in their arguments. 

Schemes were broached for making sallies from the forest, at night, and falling upon the plantations of the Spaniards. This offeredgreater chances of success, but the boys foresaw that all sorts ofatrocities would be sure to take place, and that no quarter wouldbe given to Spaniards of either age or sex. They therefore combatedvigorously this proposal, also. They pointed out that, so long asthey remained quiet in the forest, and were not joined by largenumbers of fugitive negroes, the Spaniards might be content to letthem remain unmolested; but upon the contrary, were they to adoptoffensive tactics, not only would every Spaniard in the island takeup arms against them, but if necessary they would send for help tothe neighboring islands, and would assemble a force sufficientthoroughly to search the woods, and to annihilate them. 

The only case in which the boys considered that an attack upon theSpaniards would be lawful, would be in the event of freshexpeditions being organized. In that case, they were of opinionthat it would be useful to destroy one or two large mansions andplantations, as near as possible to the town; sending at the sametime a message to the Spaniards that, if they persisted indisturbing them in the forest, a similar fate would befall everySpanish plantation situated beyond the town. 

It was not long before these tactics were called into play. One ofthe negroes had, as was their custom, gone down to the town, topurchase such articles as were indispensable. Upon these occasions, as usual, he went down to the hut of the old woman who acted astheir intermediary; and remained concealed there, during the day, while she went into the town, to buy cotton for dresses, and otherthings. This she could only do in small quantities at a time, usingvarious shops for the purpose; returning each time, with herparcel, to the hut. 

The suspicion of the Spaniards had, however, been aroused; andorders had been given to watch her closely. The consequence wasthat, after purchasing a few articles, she was followed; and a bandof soldiers surrounded the hut, after she had entered. The fugitivewas there found concealed, and he and the old woman were at oncefastened in the hut. This was then set alight, and they were burnedto death, upon the spot. 

When the news reached the mountains, Ned at once determined upon areprisal. The negroes and natives were alike ready to follow him, and the next night the whole party, a hundred and fifty strong, marched down from the forest. The object of their attack was ahandsome palace, belonging to the military governor of the island, situated at a short distance from the town. 

Passing through the cultivated country, noiselessly and withoutdetection, they reached the mansion and surrounded it. There were, here, a guard of some thirty soldiers, and sentries were placed atthe entrance. 

At the signal, given by the blowing of a conch shell, the attackcommenced on all sides. The sentries were at once shot down, andthe negroes and their allies speedily penetrated into the building. The Spanish guard fought with great bravery, but they wereoverpowered by the infuriated negroes. Yells, shrieks, and shoutsof all kinds resounded through the palace. 

Before starting on their adventure, Ned and Gerald had exacted asolemn oath, from each of the men who were to take part in it, thaton no account would he lift his hand against a defenseless person;and also that he spare everybody who surrendered. The negroes weregreatly loath to take this promise, and had Ned urged them to do sopurely for the sake of humanity, the oath would unquestionably havebeen refused; for in those days of savage warfare, there was littleor no mercy shown on either side. It was only on the ground ofexpediency, and the extreme necessity of not irritating theSpaniards beyond a certain point, that he succeeded in obtainingtheir promise. 

In the principal room of the palace they found the governor, himself. His sword was in his hand, and he was prepared to defendhis life to the last. The boys, however, rushed forward; and criedto him to throw his sword down, as the only plan by which his lifecould be saved. The brave officer refused, answering by a vigorousthrust. 

In a moment the two lads had sprung upon him, one from each side, and wrested his sword from his hand. The negroes, with yells oftriumph, were rushing upon him with drawn swords; but the boyssternly motioned them back, keeping well in front of theirprisoner. 

"You have sworn, " they said, "and the first man who breaks his oathwe will shoot through the head. "

Then, turning to the governor they said:

"Sir, you see what these men, whom you have so long hunted as wildbeasts, can do. Take warning from this, and let all in the townknow the determination to which we have arrived. If we are letalone, we will let others alone. We promise that no seriousdepredations, of any kind, shall be performed by any of our partyin the forest; but if we are molested, or if any of our band whomay fall into your hands are ill treated, we swear that, for eachdrop of blood slain, we will ravage a plantation and destroy ahouse. 

"On this occasion, as you see, the negroes have abstained fromshedding blood; but our influence over them may not avail, infuture. Now that you see that we too can attack, you may think fitto leave us alone. In case of serious interference with us, we willlay waste the land, up to the houses of the city; and destroy everyplantation, and hacienda. "

Then they hurried the governor to a back entrance, gave him hissword again and, having seen him in safety, fairly beyond the reachof any of their party who might be wandering about, dismissed him. 

Returning to the palace, they had to exert themselves to the utmostto prevail on the negroes to spare all who were there. Indeed, oneman, who refused to obey Ned's orders and to lower his club, heshot down at once. 

This vigorous act excited, for a moment, yells of indignation amongthe rest; but the firm bearing of the two young Englishmen, and theknowledge that they were acting as they themselves had given themleave to act, should any of the party break their oaths, subduedthem into silence. 

The palace was now stripped of all portable and useful articles. Ned would not permit anything to be carried away of a merelyornamental or valuable character; but only such as kitchenutensils, crockery, stoves, arms, hangings, and articles of adescription that would be useful to them, in their wild life in theforest. The quantity of arms taken was considerable as, in additionto those belonging to the guard, there were a considerable numberpiled in the armory, in readiness for any occasion when they mightbe required. 

When all that could be useful to them was removed, lights wereapplied to the hangings and wooden lattice work; and, before theyretired, they saw the flames take sufficient possession of thebuilding to ensure its destruction. 

Many of the negroes had at first laden themselves with wine, butthis Ned peremptorily refused to allow them to carry away. He knewthat it was of the most supreme necessity that good fellowship, andamity, should run between the members of the bands; and that, werewine to be introduced, quarrels might arise which would, in theend, prove fatal to all. He allowed, however, sufficient to betaken away to furnish a reasonable share for each man, at the feastwhich it was only natural they would wish to hold, in commemorationof their victory. 

Chapter 8: The Forest Fastness. 

It was with a feeling of triumph, indeed, that the negroes, aftergaining their own fastness, looked back at the sky, lighted by thedistant conflagration. They had now, for the first time, inflictedsuch a lesson upon their oppressors as would make a deep mark. Theyfelt themselves to be really free; and knew that they, in theirturn, had struck terror into the hearts of the Spaniards. 

Retiring to the depths of the forest, great fires were made. Sheep, fowls, and other articles of provision, which had been broughtback, were killed and prepared. Huge bonfires were lit, and theparty, secure that, for twenty-four hours at least, the Spaniardscould attempt no retributive measures, sat down to enjoy thebanquet. 

They had driven with them a few small bullocks, and also somescores of sheep. These, however, were not destined for the spit. They were to be placed in the heart of their country; so that, unless disturbed by the Spaniards, they might prove a source offuture sustenance to them. 

There was wild feasting that night, with dances, and songs oftriumph in the negro and native dialects; and Ned and Gerald werelauded and praised, as the authors of the change which had takenplace in the condition of the fugitives. Even the stern severity ofNed's act was thoroughly approved; and it was agreed, again, thatanyone refusing to obey the orders of the white chiefs shouldforfeit his life. 

The blow which the negroes had struck caused intense consternationthroughout Hispaniola. The younger, and more warlike spirits werein favor of organizing an instant crusade, for sending to the otherislands for more troops, for surrounding the forest country, andfor putting the last of the negroes to the sword. More peacefulcounsels, however, prevailed; for it was felt that the whole opencountry was, as Ned had told the governor, at their mercy; that thedamage which could be inflicted would be enormous; and thesatisfaction of putting the fugitives to death, even if they werefinally conquered, would be but a poor recompense for the blowwhich might be given to the prosperity and wealth of the island. All sorts of schemes were mooted, by which the runaways could bebeguiled into laying down their arms, but no practicable plan couldbe hit upon. 

In the meantime, in the mountains, the bands improved in drill anddiscipline. They had now gained some confidence in themselves, andgave themselves up heartily to the work. Portions of land, too, were turned up; and yams and other fruits, on a larger scale thanhad hitherto been attempted, were planted. A good supply of goatswas obtained, huts were erected, and the lads determined that, atleast as long as the Spaniards allowed it, their lives should bemade as comfortable as possible. 

Fugitive slaves from time to time joined the party; but Nedstrongly discouraged any increase, at present, from this cause. Hewas sure that, were the Spaniards to find that their runaways weresheltered there, and that a general desertion of their slaves mighttake place; they would be obliged, in self defense, to root outthis formidable organization in their midst. Therefore, emissarieswere sent out among the negroes, stating that none would bereceived, in the mountains, save those who had previously askedpermission; this being only accorded in cases where such extremebrutality and cruelty had been exercised, by the masters, as wouldwholly justify the flight of the slave. 

For some months, a sort of truce was maintained between theSpaniards and this little army in the woods. The blacks observedthe promises, which Ned had made, with great fidelity. The plantersfound that no depredations took place, and that the desertionsamong their slaves were no more numerous than before; and had itdepended solely upon them, no further measures would have beentaken. 

The case, however, was different among the military party in theisland. To them, the failure of the expedition into the forest, andthe burning of the governor's house, were matters which seriouslyaffected their pride. Defeat by English buccaneers they wereaccustomed to; and regarding the English, at sea, as a species ofdemon against whom human bravery availed little. They were slightlytouched by it; but that they should be defied by a set of runawayslaves; and of natives, whom they had formerly regarded withcontempt; was a blow to their pride. 

Quietly, and without ostentation, troops were drafted into theisland from the neighboring posts, until a formidable force hadbeen gathered there. The foresters had now plenty of means ofcommunication with the negroes, who regarded them as saviors, towhom they could look for rescue and shelter, in case of theirmasters' cruelty; and were always ready to send messengers up intothe forest, with news of every occurrence which took place undertheir observation. The grown-up slaves, of course, could not leavethe plantation; but there were numbers of fleet-footed lads who, after nightfall, could be dispatched from the huts into themountains, and return before daylight; while, even should theyremain until the next night, they would attract no attention bytheir absence. 

Thus, then, Ned and Gerald learned that a formidable body ofSpaniards were being collected, quietly, in the town; and everyeffort was made to meet the coming storm. The various gorges wereblocked with high barricades; difficult parts of the mountain were, with great labor, scarped so as to render the advance of an armedforce difficult in the extreme; great piles of stones werecollected, to roll down into the ravines; and provisions of yams, sweet potatoes, and other food were stored up. 

The last stronghold had, after a great debate, been fixed upon at apoint in the heart of one of the hills. This was singularly welladapted for defense The hill itself was extremely precipitous onall sides. On one side, it fell sheer down. A goat track ran alongthe face of this precipice, to a point where the hill fell back, forming a sort of semicircular arena on the very face of theprecipice. This plateau was some two acres in extent. Herequantities of forage were heaped up in readiness, for the food ofsuch animals as might be driven in there. The track itself was, with great labor, widened; platforms of wood being placed at thenarrow points; and steps were cut in the hill behind the plateau toenable them, should their stronghold be stormed, to escape at thelast moment up to the hilltop above. In most places the cliffbehind the plateau rose so steeply as to almost overhang the foot;and in these were many gaps and crevices, in which a considerablenumber of people could take shelter, so as to avoid stones andother missiles hurled down from above. 

At one point in particular the precipice overhung, and under this astrong erection of the trunks of trees was made. This was for theanimals to be placed in. The heavy roof was amply sufficient tokeep out any bullet shots; while, from its position, no masses ofrock could be dropped upon it. 

It was not thought probable that the Spaniards would harass themmuch from above, for the ascent to the summit was everywhereextremely difficult; and the hillside was perfectly bare, andsloped so sharply upward, from the edge of the precipitous cliff, that it would be a difficult and dangerous task to descend, so asto fire down into the arena; and, although every precaution hadbeen taken, it was felt that there was little fear of any attackfrom above. 

At last all was in readiness, as far as the efforts of those in theforest could avail. A message was then sent in to the governor, tothe effect that the men of the forest desired to know for whatpurpose so many soldiers were being assembled in the island; andthat, on a given day, unless some of these were embarked and sentoff, they would consider that a war was being prepared againstthem, and that the agreement that the outlying settlements shouldbe left intact was therefore invalid. 

As the boys had anticipated, the Spaniards answered this missive byan instant movement forward; and some four hundred men werereported as moving out towards the hills. This the boys wereprepared for, and simultaneously with the movement the wholeband--divided into parties of six, each of which had its fixeddestination and instructions, all being alike solemnly pledged totake no life in cold blood, and to abstain from all unnecessarycruelties--started quickly from the forest. 

That night the Spanish force halted near the edge of the forest;but at midnight a general consternation seized the camp when, fromfifty different points, flames were seen suddenly to rise on theplain. Furious at this misfortune, the general in command put hiscavalry in motion, and scoured the country; only to find, however, that the whole of the haciendas of the Spanish proprietors were inflames, and that fire had been applied to all the standing crops. Everywhere he heard the same tale; that those who had resisted hadbeen killed, but that no harm had been inflicted upon defenselesspersons. 

This was so new a feature, in troubles with the negroes, that theSpaniards could not but be surprised, and filled with admiration atconduct so different to that to which they were accustomed. Thesight of the tremendous destruction of property, however, rousedthem to fury; and this was still further heightened when, towardsmorning, a great burst of flame in the city proclaimed that thenegroes had fallen upon the town, while the greater portion of itsdefenders were withdrawn. 

This was, indeed, a masterly stroke on the part of the boys. Theyknew that, even deducting those who had set forth, there wouldstill be an amply sufficient force in the city to defeat and crushtheir band; but they thought that, by a quick stroke, they mightsucceed in inflicting a heavy blow upon them. Each of the bandstherefore had instructions, after doing its allotted share ofincendiarism, to make for the town, and to meet at a certain pointoutside it. Then, quietly and noiselessly, they had entered. Oneparty fell upon the armory, and another attacked with fury thegovernor's house. The guards there were, as had happened with hisresidence in the country, cut down. Fire was applied in a dozenplaces and, before the astonished troops and inhabitants couldrally, from the different parts of the town, the negroes were againin the country; having fulfilled their object, and carried off withthem a large additional stock of arms. 

Before the cavalry from the front could arrive, they were again farin the country; and, making a long detour, gained their fastness, having struck a terrible blow, with the cost to themselves of onlysome eight or ten lives. 

It was a singular sight, as they looked out in the morning fromtheir hilltops. Great masses of smoke extended over the wholecountry; for although most of the dwellings were, by this time, leveled to the ground--for, built of the lightest construction, they offered but little resistance to the flames--from the fieldsof maize and cane, clouds of smoke were still rising, as theconflagration spread; and at one stroke the whole agriculturalwealth of the island was destroyed. The boys regretted that thisshould necessarily be the case; but they felt that it was now war, to the knife, between the Spaniards and them, and that such adefeat would be beneficial. 

This, indeed, was the case; for the commander drew back his troopsto the town, in order to make fresh arrangements, before venturingupon an attack on foes who showed themselves possessed of suchdesperate determination. 

Another six weeks elapsed, indeed, before a forward movement wasagain commenced; and in that time considerable acquisitions offorce were obtained. Strong as the bands felt themselves, theycould not but be alarmed at the thought of the tremendous stormgathering to burst over their heads. The women had long since beensent away, to small native villages existing on the other side ofthe island, and living at peace with their neighbors Thither Nedalso dispatched several of the party whom he believed to be eitherwanting in courage, or whose constancy he somewhat doubted. Atraitor now would be the destruction of the party; and it wascertain that any negro deserting to the enemy, and offering to actas their guide to the various strongholds of the defenders, wouldreceive immense rewards. Thus it was imperative that every man, ofwhose fidelity and constancy the least doubt was entertained, should be carefully sent out of the way of temptation. All the bandwere, indeed, pledged by a most solemn oath; and death, by torture, was the penalty awarded for any act of treachery. 

The greater portion of the force were now provided with Europeanarms. The negroes had musketoons or arquebuses, the natives stillretained the bow, while all had pikes and spears. They wereundefended by protective amour, and in this respect the Spaniardshad a great advantage in the fight; but, as the boys pointed out, this advantage was more than counterbalanced by the extra facilityof movement, on the part of the natives, who could scale rocks andclimb hills absolutely inaccessible to their heavily armed andweighty opponents. 

The scouts, who had been stationed on the lookout at the edge ofthe forest, brought word that the Spaniards, nigh 1500 strong, haddivided in six bodies; and were marching so as to enter the forestfrom six different, and nearly equidistant, points. Each band wasaccompanied by bloodhounds, and a large number of other fierce dogsof the wolfhound breed, which the Spaniards had imported for thepurpose of attacking negroes in their hiding places. Of theseanimals the negroes had the greatest dread; and even the bravest, who were ready to match themselves against armed Spaniards, yettrembled at the thought of the encounter with these ferociousanimals. 

It was clear that no repetition of the tactics formerly pursuedwould be possible; for if any attempt at night attacks were made, the dogs would rush out and attack them; and not only proveformidable enemies themselves, but guide the Spaniards to theplaces where they were stationed. Ned and Gerald would fain havepersuaded the natives that dogs, after all, however formidable theymight appear, were easily mastered by well-armed men; and that anydog rushing to attack them would be pierced with spears and arrows, to say nothing of being shot by the arquebuses, before he couldseize any of them. The negroes, however, had known so many cases inwhich fugitives had been horribly torn, and indeed, frequentlykilled, by these ferocious animals, that the dread of them was toogreat for them to listen to the boys' explanations. The latter, seeing that it would be useless to attempt to overcome their fears, on this ground, abstained from the attempt. 

It had been agreed that, in the event of the Spaniards advancingfrom different quarters, one column only should be selected for amain attack; and that, while the others should be harassed by smallparties, who should cast down rocks upon them while passing throughthe gorges, and so inflict as much damage as possible, no attemptwould be made to strike any serious blow upon them. The columnselected for attack was, naturally, that whose path led through thepoints which had been most strongly prepared and fortified. Thisband mustered about three hundred; and was clearly too strong to beattacked, in open fight, by the forest bands. Gerald and Ned hadalready talked the matter over in every light, and decided that apurely defensive fight must be maintained; each place wherepreparations had been made being held to the last, and a rapidretreat beaten to the next barricade. 

The Spaniards advanced in heavy column. At a distance of a hundredyards, on each side, marched a body of fifty in compact mass, thereby sheltering the main body from any sudden attack. 

The first point at which the lads had determined to make a standwas the mouth of a gorge. Here steep rocks rose perpendicularlyfrom the ground, running almost like a wall along that portion ofthe forest. In the midst of this was a cleft, through which alittle stream ran. It was here that the boys had made preparations. The point could not be turned, without a long and difficult marchalong the face of the cliff; and on the summit of this sixty men, divided into two parties, one on each side of the fissure, werestationed. 

The Spaniards advanced until they nearly reached the mouth of theravine. It must be remembered that, although the forest was verythick, and the vegetation luxuriant; yet there were paths here andthere, made by the constant passing, to and fro, of the occupantsof the wood. Their main direction acted as a guide to theSpaniards; and the hounds, by their sniffing and eagerness, actedas a guide to the advancing force. 

They paused when they saw, opening before them, this entrance tothe rocky gorge. While they halted, the increased eagerness of thedogs told them that they were now approaching the point where theirfoes were concealed; and the prospect of an attack, on so strong aposition, was formidable even to such a body. 

A small party, of thirty men, was told off to advance andreconnoiter the position. These were allowed to enter the gorge, and to follow it for a distance of a hundred yards, to a pointwhere the sides were approached to their nearest point. Then, froma parapet of rock piled across the ravine came a volley ofmusketry; and, simultaneously, from the heights of either sidegreat stones came crashing down. Such of the party as did not fallat the first discharge fired a volley at their invisibleassailants, and then hurried back to the main body. 

It was now clear that fighting, and that of a serious character, was to be undertaken. The Spanish commander rapidly reconnoiteredthe position; and saw that here, at least, no flanking movement waspossible. He therefore ordered his men to advance, for a directattack. Being more afraid of the stones from above than of thedefenders in the ravine, the Spaniards prepared to advance inskirmishing order; in that way they would be able to creep up tothe barricade of rocks with the least loss, to themselves, from thefire of its defenders; while the stones from above would prove farless dangerous than would be the case upon a solid column. 

With great determination, the Spanish troops advanced to theattack. As they neared the mouth of the gorge, flights of arrowsfrom above were poured down upon them; and these were answered bytheir own musketeers and bowmen, although the figures occasionallyexposed above offered but a poor mark, in comparison to thatafforded by the column below. 

The men on the ridge were entirely natives, the boys havingselected the negroes, on whose courage at close quarters they couldmore thoroughly rely, for the defense of the ravine. The firearmsin those days could scarcely be termed arms of precision. Thebell-mouth arquebuses could carry a large and heavy charge, butthere was nothing like accuracy in their fire; and although asteady fire was kept up from the barricade, and many Spaniardsfell; yet a larger number succeeded in making their way through thezone of fire, by taking advantage of the rocks and bushes; andthese gathered, near the foot of the barricade. 

The stones which came crashing from above did serious damage amongthem, but the real effect of these was more moral than physical. The sound of the great masses of stone, plunging down the hillside, setting in motion numbers of small rocks as they came, tearing downthe bushes and small trees, was exceedingly terrifying at first;but as block after block dashed down, doing comparatively littleharm, the Spaniards became accustomed to them; and, keeping underthe shelter of masses of rock, to the last moment, prepared alltheir energies for the attack. The Spanish commander found that thegreater portion of his troop were within striking distance, and hegave the command, to those gathered near the barricade, to springforward to the attack. 

The gorge, at this point, was some fifteen yards wide. Thebarricade across it was thirty feet in height. It was formed ofblocks of stone, of various sizes; intermingled with which weresharp stakes, with their points projecting; lines of bushes andarms of trees, piled outwards; and the whole was covered looselywith sharp prickly creepers, cut from the trees and heaped there. Amore difficult place to climb, even without its being defended fromabove, would be difficult to find. The covering of thorny creepershid the rocks below; and at each step the soldiers put their feetinto deep holes between the masses of rock, and fell forward, lacerating themselves horribly with the thorns, or coming facedownwards on one of the sharp-pointed stakes. But if, without anyresistance from above, the feat of climbing this carefully preparedbarricade was difficult; it was terrible when, from the ridgeabove, a storm of bullets swept down. It was only for a moment thatthe negroes exposed themselves, in the act of firing. Behind, thebarricade was as level and smooth as it was difficult upon theouter side. Great steps, some three feet wide, had been prepared ofwood; so that the defenders could easily mount and, standing inlines, relieve each other as they fired. The stones of the topseries had been carefully chosen of a form so as to leave, betweeneach, crevices through which the defenders could fire, whilescarcely exposing themselves to the enemy. 

The Spaniards behind endeavored to cover the advance of theircomrades, by keeping up a heavy fire at the summit of thebarricade; and several of the negroes were shot through the head, in the act of firing. Their loss, however, was small in comparisonto that of the assailants; who strove, in vain, to climb up thethorny ascent, their position being the more terrible inasmuch asthe fire from the parties on the rocks above never ceased, andstones kept up a sort of bombardment on those in the ravine. Eventhe fierce dogs could with difficulty climb the thorn-coveredbarriers, and those who reached the top were instantly shot, orstabbed. 

At last, after suffering very considerable loss, the Spanishcommander drew off his soldiers; and a wild yell of triumph rosefrom the negroes. The combat however had, as the boys were aware, scarcely begun; and they now waited, to see what the next effort ofthe Spaniards would be. 

It was an hour before the latter again advanced to the attack. Thistime the troops were carrying large bundles of dried grass andrushes; and although again suffering heavily in the attack, theypiled these at the foot of the barricade, and in another minute aflash of fire ran up the side. The smoke and flame, for a time, separated the defenders from their foes; and the fire ceased onboth sides, although those above never relaxed their efforts toharass the assailants. 

As the Spaniards had calculated, the flame of the great heap ofstraw communicated with the creepers, and burnt them up in itsfiery tongue; and when the flames abated, the rocks lay open anduncovered. The Spaniards now, with renewed hopes, advanced again tothe attack; and this time were able, although with heavy loss, tomake their way up the barricade. 

When they arrived within three or four feet of the top, Ned gavethe word; and a line of thirty powerful negroes, each armed with along pike, suddenly arose and, with a yell, threw themselves overthe edge and dashed down upon the Spaniards. The latter, strugglingto ascend, with unsteady footing on the loose and uneven rocks, were unable for an instant to defend themselves against thisassault. 

The negroes, barefooted, had no difficulty on the surface whichproved so fatal to the Spaniards; and, like the crest of a wave, they swept their opponents headlong down the face of the barricade. The heavily armed Spaniards fell over each other, those in fronthurling those behind backwards in wild confusion; and the firstline of negroes being succeeded by another, armed with axes, whocompleted the work which the first line had begun; the slaughter, for a minute, was terrible. 

For some thirty paces, the negroes pursued their advantage; andthen at a loud shout from Ned turned, and with a celerity equal tothat of their advance, the whole were back over the barricade, before the Spaniards in rear could awaken from their surprise; andscarcely a shot was fired, as the dark figures bounded back intoshelter. 

This time, the Spanish officer drew back his men sullenly. He feltthat they had done all that could be expected of them. Upwards ofsixty men had fallen. It would be vain to ask them to make theassault again. He knew, too, that by waiting, the other columnswould be gradually approaching; and that, on the morrow, somemethod of getting in the enemy's rear would probably be discovered. 

In the meantime, he sent off fifty men on either flank, to discoverhow far its rocky wall extended; while trumpeters, under strongguards, were sent up to the hilltops in the rear, and sounded thecall lustily. Musketoons, heavily charged so as to make as loud areport as possible, were also fired to attract the attention of theother columns. 

The boys were perfectly aware that they could not hope, finally, todefend this position. They had, however, given the Spaniards a veryheavy lesson; and the success of the defense had immensely raisedthe spirit and courage of their men. The signal was therefore givenfor a retreat; and in half an hour both the Indians, on the summitof the hill, and the negroes, behind the barricade, had fallenback; leaving only some half dozen to keep up the appearance ofdefense, and to bring back tidings of the doings of the enemy;while the rest hurried off, to aid the detached parties to inflictheavy blows upon the other columns. 

It was found that these were steadily approaching, but had lost agood many men. The reinforcements enabled the natives to make amore determined resistance, and in one or two places the columnswere effectually checked. The reports, when night fell, were thatthe Spaniards had altogether lost over two hundred men; but thatall their columns had advanced a considerable distance towards thecenter of the forest; and had halted, each as they stood; andbivouacked, keeping up huge fires and careful watches. 

It formed no part, however, of the boys' plan to attack them thus;and when morning dawned the whole of the defenders, each takingdifferent paths, as far as possible; some even making greatcircuits, so as to deceive the enemy, were directed to make for thecentral fortress. The intermediate positions, several of which wereas strong as the barricade which they had so well defended, wereabandoned; for the advance from other quarters rendered itimpossible to hold these. 

Chapter 9: Baffled. 

By midday, all the defenders of the forest were assembled in thesemi-circular plateau on the face of the hill; and, scouts havingbeen placed near the entrance, they awaited the coming of theenemy. So far as possible, every means had been taken to preventthe access to their place of retreat being discovered. A stream hadbeen turned, so as to run down a small ravine, leading to itsapproach. Trees which had been blown down by the wind had beenpreviously brought, from a considerable distance; and these werepiled in careless confusion across the gorge, so as to look as ifthey had fallen there, and give an idea that no one could havepassed that way. 

For the next two days, all was quiet. A scout upon the hilltop, andothers who were told off to watch the Spaniards, reported that thewoods below were being thoroughly searched; that the enemy wereacting in the most methodical way, the columns being now in closeconnection with each other, the intermediate forest being searchedfoot by foot; and that all were converging towards the centralmountains of the position. The dogs had proved valuable assistants, and these were tracking the paths used by them, and steadilyleading them towards the stronghold. 

That they would finally escape detection none of the defenders hadmuch hope. The Spaniards would be sure that they must be somewherewithin their line; and after the loss suffered, and the immensepreparations made, it was certain that they would not retire untilthey had solved the mystery, and, if possible, annihilated theforest bands. 

On the fourth day after entering the wood, the Spaniards came tothe point where the barricade of trees had been erected. Soskilfully had this been constructed that they would have retired, believing that there was no path beyond this little gorge; however, the restlessness and anger of the dogs convinced them that theremust be something behind. Slowly a passage was cut, with axes, through the virgin forest on either side; for the lesson they hadreceived had checked their impetuosity. They came down at the sideof the barricade, and thus having passed it, pressed forward insteady array until they came to the foot of the great cliff. Herethe dogs were not long before they pointed out to the assailantsthe narrow path, scarce visible, running along its face; and ashout of satisfaction from the Spaniards testified that they nowfelt certain that they had caught their enemies in a trap. 

Parties were sent off to positions whence they could obtain a goodview of the place, and these soon reported that the ledge continuedto a great opening in the face of the precipice; that in someplaces logs had been fixed to widen the path; and that there wasplenty of room, on the plateau formed by the retirement of the hillface, for a large body to have taken refuge. They also reportedthat the cliffs rose behind this amphitheater almost, if not quiteperpendicularly for a great height; and that, still higher, thebare rock fell away at so steep an angle that it would bedifficult, in the extreme, to take up such a position from above aswould enable them to keep up a musquetry fire, or to hurl rocksupon the defenders of the amphitheater. 

When the reports were considered by the Spanish leader, he saw atonce that this was not an enterprise to be undertaken rashly. Menwere sent down to the plain below to reconnoiter; while others weredispatched round the mountain, to see whether the path extendedacross the whole face of the precipice, and also to discover, ifpossible, whether the recess was commanded from above. 

Both reports were unfavorable From the valley the great naturalstrength of the position was manifest, for half a dozen men coulddefend such a path as this against a thousand, by placingthemselves behind an angle and shooting down all who turned thecorner; while the men from above reported that the peak shelved sorapidly towards the top of the sheer precipice, that it would beimpossible to get near enough to the edge to see down into theamphitheater They reported, however, that stones and rocks setgoing would dash down below, and that points could be gained fromwhich these missiles could be dispatched on their errand. 

A council of war was held; and it was determined, in the firstplace, to endeavor to force the position by direct attack. Some menof approved courage were chosen to lead the forlorn hope; a numberof marksmen, with arrows and firearms, were placed in the valley tokeep up a fire upon any who might show themselves on the path, while above, several hundreds of men were sent up, with crowbars, to loosen and hurl down rocks. 

The defenders, on their part, were not idle. Two spots had beenchosen in the pathway for the defense At each of these the face ofthe cliff extended sharply out in an angle, and it was on the sideof this angle next to the amphitheater that the preparations weremade. Here barricades of stones were heaped up on the path, whichat this point was some three yards wide. Six of the steadiest andmost courageous negroes were placed here, with muskets and pikes. Two of them were to lie with their guns pointed at the protectingangle so that, the instant anyone showed himself round the corner, they could open fire upon him. The others were lying in readinessto assist, or to relieve those on guard. Either Gerald or Nedremained with them, always. 

A few stones were thrown up on the outside edge of the path, toprotect the defenders from the shots of those in the valley below;not indeed that the danger from this source was very great, for theface of the precipice was some eight hundred feet high, and thepath ran along some four hundred from the bottom. With the clumsyarms in use, in those days, the fear of any one being struck frombelow was by no means great. 

A similar barricade was erected behind, and the negroes were, incase of extreme necessity, to fall back from their first position. At the second point an equal number of men were placed. 

Lastly, where the path ended at the amphitheater, strong barricadeshad been erected in a sort of semicircle; so that anyone, afterhaving forced the first defenses, would, as he showed himself atthe entrance to the amphitheater, be exposed to the fire of thewhole of its defenders. 

The position was so strong that Ned and Gerald had no fear, whatever, of its being forced. As the time approached when Nedexpected an attack, the defenders of the farthest barricade werestrengthened by a considerable number, lying down upon the path;for it was certain that, for the first two or three assaults, theSpaniards would push matters to the utmost; and that they would notbe repulsed, without severe fighting. 

So indeed it proved. Advancing with great caution along the narrowpath, which was sometimes seven or eight feet wide, sometimesnarrowing to a few inches, the leaders of the party of attack madetheir way along, until they turned the projecting point. Then theguns of the two men on guard spoke out, and the two leaders fell, shot through the body, over the precipice. Now that they knew theposition of their enemy, the Spaniards prepared for a rush. Gathering themselves as closely as they could together, theypressed round the corner. Shot after shot rang out from thedefenders, as they turned it; but although many fell, the otherspressed forward so numerously, and bravely, that they could be saidfairly to have established themselves round the corner. 

The barricade now, however, faced them; and behind this weregathered the bravest of the negroes, led by the boys. Thebarricade, too, had been covered with thorny branches, as had thatwhich they had defended before; and the Spaniards, of whom onlysome ten or twelve could find fighting room round the corner, wereshot down before they could make any impression, whatever. 

Bravely as they fought, it was impossible for men to maintain sounequal and difficult a fight as this; and after trying for an hourto storm the barricade, the Spaniards fell back, having lost overfifty of the best of their men. 

In the meantime, with a thundering sound, the rocks were rollingdown from the summit of the mountain. The greater portion of themdid not fall in the amphitheater at all; but, from the impetus oftheir descent down the sloping rocks above, shot far out beyond itsedge. Others, however, crashed down on to the little plateau; butall who were there were lying so close to the face of the rock, that the missiles from above went far beyond them. 

From below in the valley a constant fire was kept up, but this wasas innocuous as the bombardment from above; and when the Spaniardsfell back, only three of the defenders had been in any way injured, and these were hit by the pistol balls, fired by the assailants ofthe barricade. 

When the Spaniards retired, all, except the men told off for theposts at the barricades, fell back to the amphitheater The negroesand natives were, both alike, delighted with the success of thedefense; and were now perfectly confident of their ability to holdout, as long as their provisions lasted. There was no fear of wantof water, for from the face of the hill a little stream trickledout. Piles of yams, bananas, sweet potatoes, and other tropicalfruit had been collected, and a score of sheep; and with care, theboys calculated that for five weeks they could hold out. 

The Spaniards were furious at the non-success of their enterprise, but after reconnoitering the position in every way, the commanderscame to the conclusion that it was absolutely impregnable, and thatthe only plan was to starve out the besieged. It did not appearthat there could be any other way of retreat, and a small forcecould watch the path; as it would be as difficult for the besiegedto force their way back by it, as for the besiegers to find anentry. The greater portion of the force was, therefore, marchedhome; a guard of two hundred men being set, to watch the pointwhere the path along the precipice started. 

The incidents of the five weeks which elapsed after the siege beganwere not important. It was soon found that the Spaniards hadabandoned the notion of attack; but the vigilance of the defenderswas never relaxed, for it was possible, that at any moment theenemy, believing that they had been lulled into carelessness, mightrenew their attack. 

Twice, indeed, at nightfall the Spaniards advanced and crept roundthe point of defense; but were each time received so quickly, bythe fire of the defenders of the barricade, that they were finallyconvinced that there was no hope, whatever, of catching themnapping. 

At the end of five weeks it was determined that the time hadarrived when they should leave their fortress. The Spaniards hadplaced a guard of fifty men near the foot of the precipice, toprevent any attempt of the besieged to descend its face by means ofropes; but above no precautions had been taken, as it appearedimpossible, to anyone looking at the face of the cliff from adistance, that a human being could scale it. 

Thanks, however, to the pains which had been taken previously, theway was open. In most places, rough steps had been cut; in others, where this was impossible, short stakes had been driven intocrevices of the rock to form steps; and although the ascent wasdifficult, it was quite possible, to lightly clad and active men. 

The time chosen for the attempt was just after dusk had fallen, when it was still light enough to see close at hand, but darkenough to prevent those in the valley observing what was passing. Ayoung moon was already up, giving sufficient light to aid theenterprise. Some of the most active of the natives first ascended. These were provided with ropes which, at every bend and turn of theascent, they lowered so as to give assistance to those mountingbehind. The strictest silence was enforced, and the arms were allwrapped up, so as to avoid noise should they strike the rock. 

One by one the men mounted, in a steady stream. All werebarefooted, for Ned and Gerald had imitated the example of thenatives; and upon such a task as this, the bare foot has aninfinitely safer hold than one shod with leather. Although thecliff looked quite precipitous, from a distance; in reality itsloped gently backwards, and the task was far less difficult thanit appeared to be. 

The most dangerous part, indeed, was that which followed thearrival at the top. The mountain sloped so steeply back that it waslike climbing the roof of a very steep house, and hand and footwere, alike, called into requisition to enable them to get forward;indeed, to many it would have been impossible, had not the leaderslowered their ropes down from above, affording an immenseassistance to those following. 

At last, the whole body reached the top and, descending upon theother side, plunged into the forest. They directed their course toa valley, ten miles distant, where considerable supplies ofprovisions had been stored up; and where some of their crops hadbeen planted, a few weeks before the arrival of the Spaniards. Herefor two days they feasted, secure that a considerable time mightelapse, before the Spaniards discovered that they had vanished fromthe fortress. 

Then they prepared to put into execution the plan upon which theyhad resolved. They knew that in the town, there would be no watchof any sort kept; for all believed them cooped up, without a chanceof escape. The four troops then, commanded as before, issued fromthe forest as the sun went down, and marched towards the town. Itwas soon after midnight when they entered the streets and, proceeding noiselessly through them, advanced to the spot assignedto each. 

One was to attack the governor's house, and to make him a prisoner;two others were to fall upon the barracks, and to do as much harmas possible; while the fourth was to proceed to the governmentmagazines of stores and munitions, to fire these at a great manyplaces. 

This programme was carried out successfully. The guards at thegovernor's house were overpowered in an instant and, as it had beensurrounded, all the inmates were captured. Those of the men whodefended themselves were cut down, but Gerald and Ned had insistedthat no unnecessary slaughter should take place. 

The party attacking the barracks had no such instructions. It waslegitimate for them to inflict as much loss as possible upon thesoldiers; and when, with terrible shouts, the negroes broke in uponthem, the Spaniards, taken by surprise, offered but a feebleresistance. Large numbers of them were cut down, before they couldrally or open fire upon their enemies. As soon as the resistancebecame serious, the negroes and Indians vanished, as quickly asthey had come. 

In the meantime, the whole of the town was lit up by sheets offire, rising from the government magazines. The alarm bells of thechurches tolled out, the shouts of the frightened inhabitantsmingled with the yells of the natives, and the report of firearms, from all parts of the town; and the townspeople thought that ageneral sack and slaughter was at hand. 

The negroes, however, entered no private house, but in an hour fromtheir first appearance they had retired beyond the town; and weremaking their way, in a solid and well-ordered mass, for the forest, bearing in their center the governor and two of his sons. 

The success of the enterprise had been complete. They were now, Nedthought, in a position, if not to dictate terms to the enemy, atleast to secure for themselves an immunity from attacks. Day wasbreaking when they entered the hills and, an hour later, one of thesons of the governor was sent to the party still besieging theirformer stronghold, to inform them that the besieged had allescaped, had made a raid upon the city, and had carried off thegovernor; whose instructions to them was that they were to at oncefall back, to avoid being attacked by the negroes. 

The officer commanding the besiegers was glad enough to call hismen together, and to retire unharmed from the forest; which nowbegan to inspire an almost superstitious fear in the Spaniards, sounexpected and mysterious had been the defeats inflicted upon themthere. The governor's son accompanied the troops back to the city, and was the bearer of a missive from Ned to the officer commandingthe troops, and to the inhabitants. Ned offered, upon the part ofthe forest men, that if the Spaniards would consent to leave themunmolested in their forest; they upon their part would, in thefirst place, release the governor, and in the second, promise thatno acts of violence, or raids of any kind, should be made beyondits boundaries. The question of fugitive slaves, who might seekrefuge among them, was to be discussed at a meeting between theheads of each party, should the proposal be accepted. The governorsent a line, on his part, to say that he was well treated, that heauthorized them to enter into any negotiations which they mightthink fit; adding that, in case they should decide to refuse theoffer made them, no thought of his safety should be allowed, for aninstant, to sway their notions. 

It was two days before the messenger returned. Several stormymeetings had taken place in the town. The officers were, for themost part, anxious to renew the fighting. They were intenselymortified at the idea of the forces of Spain being compelled totreat, upon something like even terms, with a handful of escapedslaves; and would have again marched the troops into the forest, and renewed the war. The townspeople, however, were stronglyopposed to this. They had suffered immensely, already, by thedestruction of the outlying plantations and haciendas; and theevents of the attack upon the town showed that there was no littledanger of the whole place being burnt to the ground. They were, therefore, eager in the extreme to make terms with this active andubiquitous enemy. The troops, too, were by no means eager toattempt another entry into the forest. They had fared so ill, heretofore, that they shrank from another encounter. There wasneither glory nor booty to be obtained, and warfare such as thiswas altogether unsuited to their habits. Their discipline wasuseless, and they were so bewildered, by the tactics of theiractive foes, that there was a very strong feeling among them infavor of making terms. The council sat the whole day, and finallythe pacific party prevailed. 

The deputation, consisting of the officer commanding the troops, ofthe ecclesiastic of highest rank in the town, and of one of theprincipal merchants, proceeded to the forest. When they were seenby the lookout to be approaching, Ned and Gerald, with the leadingnative and negro, proceeded to meet them. The details were soonarranged, upon the basis which had been suggested. The forest menwere to enjoy their freedom, unmolested. They were to be allowed tocultivate land on the edge of the forest, and it was forbidden toany Spaniard to enter their limits, without previously applying fora pass. They, on their part, promised to abstain from allaggression, in any shape. 

The question of runaways was then discussed. This was by far themost difficult part of the negotiations. The Spaniards urged thatthey could not tolerate that an asylum should be offered, to allwho chose to desert from the plantations. The boys saw the justiceof this, and finally it was arranged that the case of every slavewho made for the forest should be investigated; that the ownersshould, themselves, come to lay a formal complaint of their case;that the slave should reply; and each might produce witnesses. Thenegro was to be given up, unless he could prove that he had beentreated with gross cruelty, in which case he was to be allowedprotection in the forest. 

These preliminaries settled, a short document embodying them wasdrawn up, in duplicate, and these treaties were signed, by thethree Spaniards who formed the deputation and by the governor onthe one side, and by the four representatives of the forest men onthe other. 

Thus ended the first successful resistance, to Spanish power, amongthe islands of the western seas. 

The governor and his son then left for the city, and the forest menretired to what was now their country. Ned and Gerald impressedupon their allies the importance of observing, strictly, theconditions of peace; and at the same time of continuing theirexercises in arms, and maintaining their discipline. They pointedout to them that a treaty of this kind, extorted as it were fromone, and that the strongest of the contracting powers, was certainnot to have long duration. The Spaniards would smart at thehumiliation which had, in their opinion, befallen them; andalthough the fugitive clause might for some time act favorably, itwas sure, sooner or later, to be a bone of contention. Theyimpressed upon them also that although they might, as had beenshown, achieve successes for a time, yet that in the long run thepower of the Spaniards must prevail, and that nothing short ofextermination awaited them; therefore he urged the strictestadherence to the treaty, and at the same time a preparedness forthe recommencement of hostilities. 

Some months passed without incident, and the relations between thelittle community in the mountains and the Spaniards became morepacific. The latter found that the natives, if left alone, did themno damage. Bad masters learned that a course of ill treatment oftheir slaves was certain to be followed by their flight, and uponthe bad treatment being proved, these found shelter among themountains. Upon the other hand, the owners who treated their slaveswith kindness and forbearance found that, if these took to themountains in a fit of restlessness, a shelter there was refusedthem. Upon the edge of the forest, patches of plantation groundmade their appearance; and the treaty was, upon the whole, wellobserved on both sides. 

It was about a year after they had taken to the hills that newsreached the boys that an English ship had come into those waters. It was brought them across at an island?? by some Simeroons who hadbeen where the English ship anchored. They said that it wascommanded by Master John Oxenford. The boys knew him, as he hadbeen on board Captain Francis Drake's ship during the lastexpedition, and they determined to make an effort to join him. Hehad, however, left the island before the natives started with thenews; and they made an arrangement with them, to convey them acrossto that place, when it should be learned that the vessel wasreturning, or was again there. 

It was not long before they were filled with grief at the news thatreached them, although they felt not a little thankful that theyhad not been able to join Captain Oxenford, when he first reachedthe islands. This adventurous seaman had, after the return toEngland of Captain Francis Drake's expedition, waited for some timeon shore; and then, fretting under forced inactivity--for CaptainDrake had, for the time, abandoned any project which he hadentertained of a return to the Spanish seas, and had engaged in awar in Ireland--determined to equip an expedition of his own, withthe assistance of several of those who had sailed in the lastvoyage with him, and of some Devonshire gentlemen who thought thata large booty might be made out of the venture. 

He equipped a sloop of 140 tons burden, and sailed for Darien. Whenhe arrived at this isthmus, he laid up his ship and marched inland, guided by Indians. After traveling twelve leagues among themountains, he came to a small river running down into the Pacific. Here he and his comrades built a boat, launched it in the stream, and dropped down into the bay of Panama. Then he rowed to the Isleof Pearls, and there captured a small barque, from Quito, withsixty pounds of gold. This raised the spirits of the adventurers, and six days later they took another barque, with a hundred andsixty pounds of silver. They then set off in quest of pearls. Theysearched for a few days, but did not find them in proportion totheir expectations. They therefore determined to return, andre-entered the mouth of the river they had descended. Here theyloosed the prizes they had taken, and let them go. 

The delay at Pearl Island was a mistake, and a misfortune. CaptainOxenford should have known that the Spanish authorities of themainland would, when they heard that a single boat's load ofEnglishmen was ravaging their commerce, make a great effort tocapture him; and his attack should have been swift and determined, and his retreat made without a halt. The fortnight which had beenallowed to slip away caused his ruin. The news of their presencespeedily arrived at Panama. Captain Ortuga was dispatched with fourbarques in search of them and, falling in with the liberatedprizes, learned the course that the English had taken. The riverhad three branches, and the Spaniard would have been much puzzledto know which to ascend; but the carelessness of the adventurersgave him a clue; for, as he lay with his boats, wondering whichriver he should ascend, he saw floating on the water largequantities of feathers. These were sufficient indications of a campon the banks, and he at once followed that branch of the stream. 

In four days he came upon the boat, which was hauled upon the sand, with only six men with her. They were lying asleep on the bank, andthe coming of the Spaniards took them completely by surprise, andone of them was killed before he could make his escape into thewoods. The rest got off. The Spaniards left twenty men to guard theboat, and with eighty others went up the country. Half a leagueaway they found some huts, and in these the treasures of gold andsilver which the English had captured were discovered. 

Satisfied with having recovered these, Captain Ortuga was about toreturn to the river with his men; when Oxenford, with the Englishand two hundred Simeroons, attacked them. The Spaniards foughtbravely, and the Simeroons would not stand against their fire. TheEnglish struggled desperately. Eleven of these were killed, and theSimeroons took to their heels. Oxenford and a few of his companionsescaped, and made their way back towards the spot where they hadleft their ship. 

News of what was going on had, however, been sent across fromPanama to Nombre de Dios, and four barques from that port had putout, and had found and taken Oxenford's ship. A band of a hundredand fifty men scoured the mountains, and into the hands of theseCaptain Oxenford and his companions fell. All of them were executedon the spot; except Oxenford, the master, the pilot, and five boys. These were taken to Panama, where the three men were executed, thelives of the five boys being spared. 

This news was a sore blow to the lads, who had hoped much to beable to reach the ship, and to return to England in her. The delay, however, was not long, for a few weeks afterwards came the newsthat another English ship was in those waters. A party of Simeroonsoffered to take Ned and Gerald thither in their boat, and theydetermined to avail themselves of the offer. 

Great was the lamentation, among the community in the forest, whenthe news that their leaders were about to leave became known. Thesimple Indians assembled around them, and wept, and used everyentreaty and prayer, to change their resolution. However, the boyspointed out to them that they had already been absent near threeyears from home; and that, as the settlers were now able to defendthemselves, and had earned the respect of the Spaniards, theywould, if they continued their present course of avoiding givingany cause of complaint to the whites, no doubt be allowed to livein peace. They had, too, now learned the tactics that should bepursued, in case of difficulty; and by adhering to these, the boysassured them that they might rely upon tiring out the Spaniards. Some of the negroes were in favor of retaining the English leadersby force, but this was objected to by the majority. Many of theIndians possessed gold, which had been the property of theirancestors before the arrival of the Spaniards; and some of thesetreasures were now dug up, and the boys were presented with a greatstore of pretty ornaments, and other workmanship of the natives. Much rough gold was also placed on board their canoe, and a greatportion of the dwellers of the hills marched down at night withthem to the point of embarkation, a lonely creek far from thesettlement of the Spaniards, to bid them farewell. 

The boys, themselves, were affected by the sorrow of their friends, and by the confidence which these had placed in them; and theypromised that, should they return to those parts, they wouldassuredly pay a visit to them, again, in the hills. Before leaving, they had seen that two of the worthiest and wisest of the nativeswere chosen as leaders, and to these all the rest had sworn anoath, promising to obey their orders in all respects. They hadconstantly acted with the boys; and had, indeed, been their chiefadvisers in the matters internal to the tribe; and the lads hadlittle doubt that, for some time at least, things would go well inthe mountains. As to the ultimate power of the refugees to maintaintheir independence, this must, they felt, depend upon events beyondthem. If the Spaniards were left at peace, and undisturbed byEnglish adventurers or other troubles, there was little doubt, sooner or later, they would destroy the whole of the natives ofthis island, as they had destroyed them in almost every place wherethey had come in contact with them. However, the boys had thesatisfaction of knowing that they had been the means of, at least, prolonging the existence of this band, and of putting off the evilday, perhaps for years to come. 

The Simeroons paddled out from the creek and, hoisting the sail, the boat merrily danced over the water; and the boys felt theirspirits rise, at the hope of seeing their countrymen, and hearingtheir native tongue again, after eighteen months passed, absolutelyseparate from all civilized communion. 

After two days sailing and paddling, they reached the bay where thenatives had reported the English ship to be lying; and here, totheir great delight, they found the Maria, Captain Cliff, lying atanchor. 

Ned and Gerald, when they explained who they were, were receivedwith great joy and amazement. The story of their loss had beentold, in England; and the captain, who came from the neighborhoodwhere Gerald's father dwelt, reported that the family had longmourned him as dead. He himself was bent, not upon a buccaneeringvoyage--although, no doubt, if a rich ship had fallen into hishands he would have made no scruple in taking it--but his objectwas to trade with the natives, and to gather a store of such goodsas the islands furnished, in exchange for those of English make. Hehad, too, fetched slaves from the western coast of Africa, and haddisposed of them to much advantage; and the ship was now about toproceed on her way home, each man's share, of the profits of theexpedition, amounting to a sum which quite answered hisexpectations. 

It was two months later before the boys, to their great delight, again saw the hills behind Plymouth. None who had seen them embarkin the Swanne would have recognized, in the stalwart young fellowswho now stepped ashore on the hove, the lads who then set sail. Nearly three years had passed. The sun of the tropics had burnttheir faces almost to a mahogany color Their habit of command, among the natives, had given them an air and bearing beyond theiryears; and though Ned was but eighteen, and Gerald a little older, they carried themselves like men of mature years. 

It had been, indeed, no slight burden that they had endured. Thefighting which had formed the first epoch of their stay in theisland, serious as it had been, had been less wearing to them thanthe constant care and anxiety of the subsequent quiet time. Thearrival of each fugitive slave was a source of fresh danger, and ithad often needed all their authority to prevent the younger, andwilder, spirits of their little community from indulging in raidsupon the crops of the Spaniards. 

Once in Plymouth, the lads said goodbye to each other, promising tomeet again in a few days. Each then proceeded to his home. Ned, indeed, found that he had a home no longer; for on reaching thevillage he found that his father had died, a few months after hisdeparture; and a new pedagogue had taken his place, and occupiedthe little cottage. 

The shock was a great one, although hardly unexpected, for hisfather's health had not been strong; and the thought that he wouldnot be alive, when he returned, had often saddened Ned's mindduring his absence. He found, however, no lack of welcome in thevillage. There were many of his school friends still there, andthese looked with astonishment and admiration on the bronzed, military-looking man, and could scarce believe that he was theirplaymate, the Otter. 

Here Ned tarried a few days, and then, according to his promise toGerald, started for the part of the country where he lived, andreceived a most cordial welcome from the father and family of hisfriend. 

Chapter 10: Southward Ho!

Upon making inquiries, Ned Hearne found that Captain Drake had, upon the return of his expedition, set aside the shares of theprize money of Gerald Summers, himself, and the men who were lostin the wreck of the prize, in hopes that they would some day returnto claim them. Upon the evidence given by Gerald and himself of thedeath of the others, their shares were paid, by the bankers atPlymouth who had charge of them, to their families; while Ned andGerald received their portions. 

Owing to the great mortality which had taken place among the crews, each of the lads received a sum of nearly a thousand pounds, thetotal capture amounting to a value of over a million of money. Asboys, they each received the half of a man's share. The officers, of course, had received larger shares; and the merchants who hadlent money to get up the expedition gained large profits. 

Ned thought, at first, of embarking his money in the purchase of ashare in a trading vessel, and of taking to that service; but, hearing that Captain Drake intended to fit out another expedition, he decided to wait for that event, and to make one more voyage tothe Spanish main, before determining on his future course. Having, therefore, his time on his hands, he accepted the invitation of theparents of his three boy friends, Tom Tressilis, Gerald Summers, and Reuben Gail. He was most warmly welcomed, for both Tom andGerald declared that they owed their lives to him. He spent severalweeks at each of their homes, and then returned to Plymouth, wherehe put himself into the hands of a retired master mariner, to learnnavigation and other matters connected with his profession, andoccupied his spare time in studying the usual branches of agentleman's education. 

It was some months before Captain Francis returned from Ireland, but when he did so, he at once began his preparations for his nextvoyage. The expedition was to be on a larger scale than that inwhich he had formerly embarked, for he had formed the resolve tosail round Cape Horn, to coast along north to the Spanishsettlements upon the great ocean he had seen from the tree top inthe Isthmus of Darien; and then, if all went well, to sail stillfurther north, double the northern coasts of America, and to findsome short way by which English ships might reach the Pacific. These projects were, however, known to but few, as it wasconsidered of the utmost importance to prevent them from beingnoised abroad, lest they might come to the ears of the Spaniards, and so put them upon their guard. 

In spite of the great losses of men upon the former expedition, thenumber of volunteers who came forward, directly Captain Drake'sintention to sail again to the Indies was known, was greatly inexcess of the requirements. All, however, who had sailed upon thelast voyage, and were willing again to venture, were enrolled, andCaptain Drake expressed a lively pleasure at meeting Ned Hearne andGerald Summers, whom he had given up as lost. 

The expenses of the expedition were defrayed partly from the fundsof Captain Drake and his officers, partly by moneys subscribed bymerchants and others who took shares in the speculation. These weretermed adventurers. Ned embarked five hundred pounds of his prizemoney in the venture, as did each of his three friends. 

He was now nineteen, and a broad, strongly-built young fellow. Hisfriends were all somewhat older, and all four were entered byCaptain Francis as men, and ranked as "gentlemen adventurers, " andwould therefore receive their full share of prize money. 

On the 12th of November, 1577, the fleet sailed out of PlymouthSound amid the salutes of the guns of the fort there. It consistedof five ships: the Pelican, of 100 tons, the flagship, commanded byCaptain General Francis Drake; the Elizabeth, 80 tons, Captain JohnWinter; the Marigold, a barque of 30 tons, Captain John Thomas; theSwan, a flyboat of 50 tons, Captain John Chester; and theChristopher, a pinnace of 15 tons, Captain Thomas Moore. 

The voyage began unfortunately, for, meeting a headwind, they wereforced to put into Falmouth, where a tempest ill-treated themsorely. Some of the ships had to cut away their masts, and thewhole were obliged to put back into Plymouth, to refit, enteringthe harbor in a very different state to that in which they had leftit, a fortnight before. Every exertion was made and, after a fewdays' delay, the fleet again set sail. 

They carried an abundance of stores, of all kinds, together withlarge quantities of fancy articles, as presents for the savagepeople whom they might meet in their voyaging. The second start wasmore prosperous than the first and, after touching at variouspoints on the west coast of Africa, they shaped their way to themouth of the La Plata, sailing through the Cape de Verde Islands, where their appearance caused no slight consternation among thePortuguese. However, as they had more important objects in view, they did not stop to molest any of the principal towns, onlylanding at quiet bays to procure a fresh supply of water, and toobtain fruit and vegetables, which in those days, when ships onlycarried salt provisions, were absolutely necessary to preserve thecrews in health. All were charmed with the beauty and fertility ofthese islands, which were veritable gardens of tropical fruits, andthey left these seas with regret. 

The fleet reached the La Plata in safety, but made no long staythere; for the extreme shallowness of the water, and the frequencyand abundance of the shoals in the river, made the admiral fear forthe safety of his ships; and accordingly, after a few days' rest, the anchors were weighed and the fleet proceeded down the coast. For some time they sailed without adventure, save that once ortwice, in the storms they encountered, one or other of the shipswere separated from the rest. 

After several weeks' sailing, they put into the Bay of SaintJulian, on the coast of Patagonia. Here the crews landed to obtainwater. Soon the natives came down to meet them. These were tall, active men, but yet far from being the giants which the Spaniardshad represented them, few of them being taller than a tallEnglishman. They were dressed in the scantiest clothing--the menwearing a short apron made of skin, with another skin as a mantleover one shoulder; the women wearing a kind of petticoat, made ofsoft skin. The men carried bows and arrows and spears, and werepainted strangely--one half the head and body being painted white, the other black. Their demeanor was perfectly friendly, and CaptainDrake, fearing no harm, walked some distance inland, and many ofthose not engaged in getting water into the boats also strolledaway from the shore. 

Among those who rambled farthest were Ned and Tom Tressilis, together with another gentleman adventurer, named Arbuckle. Whenthey left Captain Francis, the armorer, who had brought a bow onshore with him, was showing the natives how much farther ourEnglish bow could carry than the native weapon. 

Wondering what the country was like beyond the hills, the littleparty ascended the slope. Just as they reached the top, they hearda shout. Looking back, they saw that all was confusion. 

The string of the armorer's bow had snapped, and the natives, knowing nothing of guns, believed that the party were now unarmed. As the armorer was restringing his bow, one of the natives shot anarrow at him, and he fell, mortally wounded. One standing near nowraised his arquebus; but before he could fire, he too was piercedby two arrows, and fell dead. The admiral himself caught up thearquebus, and shot the man who had first fired. 

The little party on the hill had been struck with amazement andconsternation at the sudden outburst, and were recalled to a senseof their danger by the whiz of an arrow, which struck MasterArbuckle in the heart; and at the same moment a dozen of thesavages made their appearance, from among the trees below them. Seeing the deadliness of their aim, and that he and Tom would beshot down at once, before they could get to close quarters, Nedturned to fly. 

"Quick, Tom, for your life!"

Fortunately, they stood on the very top of the ascent, so that asingle bound backwards took them out of sight and range of theirenemies. There was a wood a few hundred yards inland, apparently ofgreat extent, and towards this the lads ran at the top of theirspeed. The savages had to climb the hill and, when they reached itscrest, the fugitives were out of bow-shot range. 

A yell broke from them as they saw the lads, but these had made thebest use of their time, and reached the wood some two hundred yardsahead of their pursuers. Ned dashed into the undergrowth and torehis way through it, Tom close at his heels. Sometimes they came toopen spaces, and here each time Ned changed the direction of theirflight, choosing spots where they could take to the underwoodwithout showing any sign, such as broken boughs, of their entrance. 

After an hour's running the yells and shouts, which had at firstseemed close behind, gradually lessened, and were now but faintlyheard. Then, utterly exhausted, the lads threw themselves on theground. In a few minutes, however, Ned rose again. 

"Come, Tom, " he said, "we must keep on. These fellows will trace uswith the sagacity of dogs; but, clever as they may be, it takestime to follow a track. We must keep on now. When it gets dark, which will be in another hour or so, they will be able to follow usno longer, and then we can take it easily. "

"Do as you think best, Ned. You are accustomed to this kind ofthing. "

Without another word they started off at a run again, keeping asnearly as they could a straight course; for Ned's experience inforest life enabled him to do this, when one unused to woodcraftwould have lost all idea of direction. The fact, however, that themosses grew on the side of the trees looking east, was guide enoughfor him; for he knew that the warm breezes from the sea wouldattract them, while the colder inland winds would have an oppositeeffect. 

Just as it was getting dark they emerged from the wood, and couldsee, stretching far before them, an undulating and almost treelesscountry. 

"Fortunately there has been no rain for some time, and the groundis as hard as iron, " Ned said. "On the damp soil under the treesthey will track our steps, but we shall leave no marks here; and inthe morning, when they trace us to this spot, they will be atfault. "

So saying, he struck off across the country. For some hours theywalked, the moon being high and enabling them to make their waywithout difficulty. At last they came upon a clump of bushes, andhere Ned proposed a halt. Tom was perfectly ready, for they had nowwalked and run for many hours, and both were thoroughly fatigued;for after so long a voyage, in a small ship, they were out ofcondition for a long journey on foot. 

"The first thing to do is to light a fire, " Ned said; "for it isbitterly cold. "

"But how do you mean to light it?"

"I have flint and steel in my pouch, " Ned said, "and a flask ofpowder, for priming my pistols, in my sash here. It is a pity, indeed, we did not put our pistols into our belts when we cameashore. But even if I had not had the flint and steel, I could havemade a fire by rubbing two dead sticks together. You forget, I havelived among savages for a year. "

"You don't think that it is dangerous to light a fire?"

"Not in the least. It was dark when we left the wood, and they musthave halted on our track, far back among the trees, to follow it upby daylight. Besides, we have walked five hours since then, andmust be twenty miles away, and we have crossed five or six hills. Find a few dead sticks and I will pull a handful or two of driedgrass. We will soon have a fire. "

Ned made a little pile of dried grass, scooped out a slightdepression at the top, and placed a dead leaf in it. On this hepoured a few grains of powder, added a few blades of dried grass, and then set to work with his flint and steel. After a blow or two, a spark fell into the powder. It blazed up, igniting the blades ofgrass and the leaf, and in a minute the little pile was in a blaze. Dried twigs, and then larger sticks were added, and soon a brightfire burned up. 

"Throw on some of the green bush, " Ned said. "We do not want ablaze, for although we have thrown out the fellows in pursuit ofus, there may be others about. "

"And now, Ned, " Tom said, after sitting for some time gazing intothe red fire, "what on earth are we to do next?"

"That is a question more easily asked than answered, " Ned said, cheerfully. "We have saved our skins for the present, now we havegot to think out what is the best course to pursue. "

"I don't see any way to get back to the ship, " Tom said, after along pause. "Do you?"

"No, " Ned replied. "I don't, Tom. These savages know that they havecut us off, and will be on the watch, you may be sure. They shootso straight, with those little bows and arrows of theirs, that weshould be killed without the least chance of ever getting to closequarters. Besides, the admiral will doubtless believe that we havebeen slain, and will sail away. We may be sure that he beat off thefellows who were attacking him, but they will all take to thewoods, and he would never be able to get any distance among thetrees. Besides, he would give up all hope of finding us there. Asto our getting back through the wood, swarming with savages, itseems to me hopeless. "

"Then whatever is to become of us?" Tom asked, hopelessly. 

"Well, the lookout is not bright, " Ned said thoughtfully, "butthere is a chance for us. We may keep ourselves by killing wildanimals, and by pushing inland we may come upon some people lesstreacherous and bloody than those savages by the seashore. If so, we might hunt and live with them. "

Tom groaned. 

"I am not sure that I would not rather be killed at once, than goon living like a savage. "

"The life is not such a bad one, " Ned said. "I tried it once, andalthough the negroes and Indians of Porto Rico were certainly avery different people to these savages, still the life led on thesegreat plains and hills, abounding with game, is more lively thanbeing cooped up in a wood, as I was then. Besides, I don't meanthat we should be here always. I propose that we try and cross thecontinent. It is not so very wide here, and we are nearly in a linewith Lima. The admiral means to go on there, and expects a richbooty. He may be months before he gets round the Horn, and if wecould manage to be there when he arrives, we should be rescued. Ifnot, and I own that I have not much hope of it, we could at leastgo down to Lima some time or other. I can talk Spanish now veryfairly, and we shall have such a lot of adventures to tell that, even if they do not take us for Spanish sailors, as we can try tofeign, they will not be likely to put us to death. They would do soif we were taken in arms as buccaneers; but, coming in peaceably, we might be kindly treated. At any rate, if we get on well with theIndians we shall have the choice of making, some day or other, forthe Spanish settlements on the west coast; but that is all in thedistance. The first thing will be to get our living, somehow; thesecond to get further inland; the third to make friends with thefirst band of natives we meet. And now, the best thing to do is togo off to sleep. I shall not be many minutes, I can tell you. "

Strange as was the situation, and many the perils that threatenedthem, both were in a few minutes fast asleep. The sun was risingabove the hills when, with a start, they awoke and at once sprangto their feet, and instinctively looked round in search ofapproaching danger. All was, however, quiet. Some herds of deergrazed in the distance, but no other living creature was visible. 

Then they turned their eyes upon each other, and burst into asimultaneous shout of laughter. Their clothes were torn literallyinto rags, by the bushes through which they had forced their way;while their faces were scratched, and stained with blood, from thesame cause. 

"The first thing to be done, " Ned said, when the laugh was over, "is to look for a couple of long springy saplings, and to make bowsand arrows. Of course they will not carry far, but we might knockdown any small game we come across. "

Both lads were good shots with a bow, for in those days, althoughfirearms were coming in, all Englishmen were still trained in theuse of the bow. 

"But what about strings?" Tom asked. 

"I will cut four thin strips from my belt, " Ned said. "Each pair, tied together, will make a string for a five-foot bow, and will befully strong enough for any weapon we shall be able to make. "

After an hour's walk, they came to a small grove of trees growingin a hollow. These were of several species and, trying thebranches, they found one kind which was at once strong andflexible. With their hangers, or short swords, they cut down asmall sapling of some four inches in diameter, split it up, paredeach half down, and manufactured two bows; which were rough, indeed, but sufficiently strong to send an arrow a considerabledistance. They then made each a dozen shafts, pointed and notchedthem. Without feathers, or metal points, these could not flystraight to any distance; but they had no thought of long-rangeshooting. 

"Now, " Ned said, "we will go back to that bare space of rock wepassed, a hundred yards back. There were dozens of little lizardsrunning about there, it will be hard if we cannot knock some over. "

"Are they good to eat?" Tom asked. 

"I have no doubt they are, " Ned said. "As a rule, everything ismore or less good to eat. Some things may be nicer than others, buthardly anything is poisonous. I have eaten snakes, over and overagain, and very good they are. I have been keeping a lookout forthem, ever since we started this morning. "

When they reached the rock, the lizards all darted off to theircracks and crevices; but Ned and Tom lay down, with their bows bentand arrows in place, and waited quietly. Ere long the lizardspopped up their heads again, and began to move about, and the ladsnow let fly their arrows. Sometimes they hit, sometimes missed, andeach shot was followed by the disappearance of the lizards; butwith patience they found, by the end of an hour, that they had shota dozen, which was sufficient for an ample meal for them. 

"How will you cook them, Ned?"

"Skin them as if they were eels, and then roast them on a stick. "

"I am more thirsty than hungry, " Tom said. 

"Yes, and from the look of the country, water must be scarce. However, as long as we can shoot lizards and birds, we can drinktheir blood. "

The fire was soon lighted, and the lizards cooked. They tasted likelittle birds, their flesh being tender and sweet. 

"Now we had better be proceeding, " Ned said, when they had finishedtheir meal. "We have an unknown country to explore and, if we everget across, we shall have materials for yarns for the rest of ourlives. "

"Well, Ned, I must say you are a capital fellow to get into ascrape with. You got Gerald and me out of one, and if anyone couldget through this, I am sure you could do so. Gerald told me that healways relied upon you, and found you always right. You may be surethat I will do the same. So I appoint you captain general of thisexpedition, and promise to obey all orders, unquestioningly. "

"Well, my first order is, " Ned said, laughing, "that we each make agood pike. The wood we made our bows from will do capitally, and wecan harden the points in the fire. We may meet some wild beasts, and a good, strong six-foot pike would be better than our swords. "

Two hours' work completed the new weapons, and with their bowsslung at their backs, and using their pikes as walking staves, they again set out on their journey across the continent. 

Chapter 11: The Marvel of Fire. 

"What are those--natives?" exclaimed Tom suddenly. 

Ned looked steadily at them for some time. 

"No, I think they are great birds. The ostrich abounds in theseplains; no doubt they are ostriches. "

"I suppose it is of no use our chasing them?"

"Not a bit. They can run faster than a horse can gallop. "

During the day's walk, they saw vast numbers of deer of variouskinds; but as they were sure that these would not allow them toapproach, they did not alter their course, which was, as nearly asthey could calculate by the sun, due west. The sun was warm duringthe day, but all the higher hilltops were covered with snow. 

"If the worst comes to the worst, " Ned said, "we must go up and getsome snow. We can make a big ball of it, and bring it down with usin one of our sashes. But I should think there must be some stream, somewhere about. The snow must melt; besides, these great herds ofdeer must drink somewhere. "

Late in the afternoon they came on the crest of a ridge. 

"There, " Ned said, pointing to a valley in which were a number oftrees. "We shall find water there, or I am mistaken. "

An hour's tramp brought them to the valley. Through this a streamran between steep banks. They followed it for half a mile, and thencame to a spot where the banks sloped away. Here the ground wastrampled with many feet, and the edge of the stream was troddeninto mud. 

"Hurrah, Tom! Here is meat, and drink, too. It is hard if we do notkill something or other here. Look at that clump of bushes, wherethe bank rises. If we hide there, the deer will almost touch us asthey pass to water; and we are sure to be able to shoot them, evenwith these bows and arrows. 

"But first of all, for a drink. Then we will cross the stream, andmake a camping ground under the trees opposite. "

The stream was but waist deep, but very cold, for it was composedof snow water. 

"Shall we light a fire, Ned? It might frighten the deer. "

"No, I think it will attract them, " Ned said. "They are mostinquisitive creatures, and are always attracted by anythingstrange. "

A fire was soon lighted and, after it got quite dark, they piled updry wood upon it, recrossed the river, and took their places in thebushes. An hour passed, and then they heard a deep sound. In aminute or two the leading ranks of a great herd of deer appeared onthe rise, and stood looking wonderingly at the fire. For somelittle time they halted; and then, pushed forward by those behind, and urged by their own curiosity, they advanced step by step, withtheir eyes fixed on the strange sight. So crowded were they that asthey advanced they seemed a compact mass, those outside comingalong close to the bushes in which the boys lay. 

Silently these raised their bows, bent them to the full strain, andeach launched an arrow. The deer were not five feet from them, andtwo stags fell, pierced through and through. They leaped to theirfeet again, but the boys had dashed out with their swords in hand, and in an instant had cut them down. 

There was a wild rush on the part of the herd, a sound of feetalmost like thunder, and then the boys stood alone, by the side ofthe two deer they had killed. They were small, the two together notweighing more than a good-sized sheep. 

The boys lifted them on their shoulders, rejoicing, and wadedacross the stream. One they hung up to the branch of a tree. Theother they skinned and cut up, and were soon busy roasting piecesof its flesh over the fire. 

They had just finished an abundant meal when they heard a roar at ashort distance, which brought them to their feet in a moment. Nedseized his pike, and faced the direction from which the sound hadcome. 

"Throw on fresh sticks, Tom. All animals fear fire. "

A bright blaze soon lit up the wood. 

"Now, Tom, do you climb the tree. I will give you the pieces ofmeat up, and then do you lift the other stag to a higher branch. Idon't suppose the brute can climb, but he may be able to do so. Atany rate, we will sleep in the tree, and keep watch and ward. "

As soon as Tom had followed these instructions, Ned handed him upthe bows and arrows and spears, and then clambered up beside him. As the fire again burned low, an animal was seen to approach, cautiously. 

"A lion!" whispered Tom. 

"I don't think that he is as big as a lion, " Ned said, "but hecertainly looks like one. A female, I suppose, as it has got nomane. "

Of course the lads did not know, nor indeed did anyone else, atthat time, that the lion is not a native of America. The animalbefore them was what is now called the South American lion, orpuma. 

The creature walked round and round the fire, snuffing; and then, with an angry roar, raised itself on its hind legs and scratched atthe trunk of the tree. Several times it repeated this performance;and then, with another roar, walked away into the darkness. 

"Thank goodness it can't climb!" Ned said. "I expect, with ourspears and swords, we could have beaten it back if it had tried;still, it is just as well not to have had to do it. Besides, now wecan both go to sleep. Let us get well up the tree, so that ifanything that can climb should come, it will fall to at the deer tobegin with. That will be certain to wake us. "

They soon made themselves as comfortable as they could in crutchesof the tree, tied themselves with their sashes to a bough toprevent a fall, and were soon asleep. 

The next day they rested in the wood, made fresh bowstrings fromthe twisted gut of the deer, cut the skins up into long strips, thereby obtaining a hundred feet of strong cord, which Ned thoughtmight be useful for snares. Here, too, they shot several birds, which they roasted, and from whose feathers, tied on with athread-like fiber, they further improved their arrows. Theycollected a good many pieces of fiber for further use; for, as Tomsaid, when they got on to rock again they would be sure to findsome splinters of stone, which they could fasten to the arrows forpoints; and would be then able to do good execution, even at adistance. 

They cut a number of strips of flesh off the deer, and hung them inthe smoke of the fire; by which means they calculated that theycould keep for some days, and could be eaten without being cooked;which might be an advantage, as they feared that the odor ofcooking might attract the attention of wandering Indians. 

The following morning they again started, keeping their backs, asbefore, to the sun. 

"Look at these creatures, " Tom said suddenly, as a herd of animalsdashed by at a short distance. "They do not look like deer. "

"No, they look more like sheep or goats, but they have much longerlegs. I wonder what they can be!"

During the day's journey they came across no water, and by the endof the tramp were much exhausted. 

"We will not make a fire tonight, " Ned said. "We must be careful ofour powder. I don't want to be driven to use sticks for gettingfire. It is a long and tedious business. We will be up at daybreaktomorrow, and will push on till we find water. We will contentourselves, for tonight, with a bit of this smoked venison. "

They found it dry work, eating this without water; and soondesisted, gathered some grass to make a bed, and were asleep ashort time after it became dark. They were now in an open district, not having seen a tree since they started in the morning, and theyhad therefore less fear of being disturbed by wild beasts. Theyhad, indeed, talked of keeping watch by turns; but without a fire, they felt that this would be dull work; and would moreover be oflittle avail, as in the darkness the stealthy tread of a lion wouldnot be heard, and they would therefore be attacked as suddenly asif no watch had been kept. If he should announce his coming by aroar, both would be sure to awake, quickly enough. So, lying downclose together, with their spears at hand, they were soon asleep, with the happy carelessness of danger peculiar to youth. 

With the first streak of daybreak, they were up and on their way. Until midday they came upon no water, their only excitement beingthe killing of an armadillo. Then they saw a few bushes in a hollowand, making towards it, found a small pool of water. After a heartydrink, leaves and sticks were collected, a fire made, and slices ofthe smoked deer's meat were soon broiling over it. 

"This is jolly, " Tom said. "I should not mind how long I tramped, if we could always find water. "

"And have venison to eat with it, " Ned added, laughing. "We havegot a stock to last a week, that is a comfort, and this armadillowill do for supper and breakfast. But I don't think we need fearstarvation, for these plains swarm with animals; and it is hard ifwe can't manage to kill one occasionally, somehow or other. "

"How far do you think it is across to the other coast?"

"I have not an idea, " Ned said. "I don't suppose any Englishmanknows, although the Spaniards can of course tell pretty closely. Weknow that, after rounding Cape Horn, they sail up the coastnorthwest, or in that direction, so that we have got the base of atriangle to cross; but beyond that, I have no idea whatever. 

"Hallo!"

Simultaneously, the two lads caught up their spears and leaped totheir feet. Well might they be alarmed, for close by were a partyof some twenty Indians who had, quietly and unperceived, come downupon them. They were standing immovable, and their attitude did notbetoken hostility. Their eyes were fixed upon them, but theirexpression betrayed wonder, rather than enmity. 

"Lay down your spear again, Tom, " Ned said. "Let us receive them asfriends. "

Dropping their spears, the lads advanced a pace or two, holding outtheir hands in token of amity. Then slowly, step by step, theIndians advanced. 

"They look almost frightened, " Ned said. "What can they be staringso fixedly at?"

"It is the fire!" Ned exclaimed. "It is the fire! I do believe theyhave never seen a fire before. "

It was so, as Sir Francis Drake afterwards discovered when landingon the coast. The Patagonian Indians, at that time, were whollyunacquainted with fire. 

When the Indians came down, they looked from the fire to the boys, and perceived for the first time that they were creatures ofanother color from themselves. Then, simultaneously, they threwthemselves on their faces. 

"They believe that we are gods, or superior beings of some kind, "Ned said. "They have clearly never heard of the Spaniards. Whatgood fortune for us! Now, let us reassure them. "

So saying, he stooped over the prostrate Indians, patted them onthe head and shoulders; and, after some trouble, he succeeded ingetting them to rise. Then he motioned them to sit down round thefire, put on some more meat and, when this was cooked, offered apiece to each, Tom and himself setting the example of eating it. 

The astonishment of the natives was great. Many of them, with acry, dropped the meat on finding it hot; and an excited talk wenton between them. Presently, however, the man who appeared to be thechief set the example of carefully tasting a piece. He gave anexclamation of satisfaction, and soon all were engaged upon thefood. 

When they had finished, Ned threw some more sticks on the fire, andas these burst into flames and then consumed away, the amazement ofthe natives was intense. Ned then made signs to them to pull upsome bushes, and cast on the fire. They all set to work withenergy, and soon a huge pile was raised on the fire. At first greatvolumes of white smoke only poured up, then the leaves crackled, and presently a tongue of flame shot up, rising higher and higher, till a great bonfire blazed away, far above their heads. Thiscompleted the wonder and awe of the natives, who again prostratedthemselves, with every symptom of worship, before the boys. Theseagain raised them, and by signs intimated their intention ofaccompanying them. 

With lively demonstrations of gladness and welcome, the Indiansturned to go, pointing to the west as the place where their abodelay. 

"We may as well leave our bows and arrows, " Ned said. "Their bowsare so immensely superior to ours that it will make us sink intheir estimation, if they see that our workmanship is so inferiorto their own. "

The Indians, who were all very tall, splendidly made men, steppedout so rapidly that the lads had the greatest difficulty in keepingup with them, and were sometimes obliged to break into a half trot;seeing which the chief said a word to his followers, and they thenproceeded at a more reasonable rate. It was late in the eveningbefore they reached the village, which lay in a wooded hollow atthe foot of some lofty hills. The natives gave a loud cry, which atonce brought out the entire population, who ran up and gazed, astonished at the newcomers. The chief said a few words, when, withevery mark of awe and surprise, all prostrated themselves as themen had before done. 

The village was composed of huts, made of sticks closelyintertwined, and covered with the skins of animals. The chief ledthem to a large one, evidently his own, and invited them to enter. They found that it was also lined with skins, and others were laidupon the floor. A pile of skin served as a mat and bed. The chiefmade signs that he placed this at their disposal, and soon leftthem to themselves. 

In a short time he again drew aside the skin which hung across theentrance, and a squaw advanced, evidently in deep terror, bearingsome raw meat. Ned received it graciously, and then said to Tom:

"Now we will light a fire, and astonish them again. "

So saying, the boys went outside, picked up a dry stick or two, andmotioned to the Indians who were gathered round that they neededmore. The whole population at once scattered through the grove, andsoon a huge pile of dead wood was collected. 

The boys now made a little heap of dried leaves, placed a fewgrains of powder in a hollow at the top and, the flint and steelbeing put into requisition, the flame soon leaped up, amid a cry ofastonishment and awe from the women and children. Wood was now laidon, and soon a great fire was blazing. The men gathered round andsat down, and the women and children gradually approached, and tooktheir places behind them. 

The evening was cold and, as the natives felt the grateful heat, fresh exclamations of pleasure broke from them; and gradually acomplete babel of tongues broke out. Then the noise was hushed, anda silence of expectation and attention reigned, as the lads cut offslices of the meat and, spitting them on pieces of green wood, heldthem over the fire. Tom made signs to the chief and those sittinground to fetch meat, and follow their example. Some of the Indianwomen brought meat, and the men, with sharp stone knives, cut offpieces and stuck them on green sticks, as they had seen the boysdo. Then very cautiously they approached the fire, shrinking backand exhibiting signs of alarm at the fierce heat it threw out, asthey approached near to it. 

The boys, however, reassured them, and they presently set to work. When the meat was roasted, it was cut up and distributed in littlebits to the crowd behind, all of whom were eager to taste thiswonderful preparation. It was evident, by the exclamations ofsatisfaction, that the new viand was an immense success; and freshsupplies of meat were soon over the fire. 

An incident now occurred which threatened to mar the harmony of theproceedings. A stick breaking, some of the red-hot embers scatteredround. One rolled close to Ned's leg, and the lad, with a quicksnatch, caught it up and threw it back upon the fire. Seeing this, a native near grasped a glowing fragment which had fallen near him, but dropped it with a shriek of astonishment and pain. 

All leaped to their feet, as the man danced in his agony. Some ranaway in terror, others instinctively made for their weapons, allgesticulated and yelled. 

Ned at once went to the man and patted him assuringly. Then he gothim to open his hand, which was really severely burned. Then he gota piece of soft fat and rubbed it gently upon the sore, and thenmade signs that he wanted something to bandage it with. A womanbrought some large fresh leaves, which were evidently good forhurts; and another a soft thong of deer hide. The hand was soonbandaged up and, although the man must still have been in severepain, he again took his seat, this time at a certain distance fromthe fire. 

This incident greatly increased the awe with which the boys wereviewed, as not only had they the power of producing this new andastonishing element, but they could, unhurt, take up pieces of woodturned red by it, which inflicted terrible agony on others. 

Before leaving the fire and retiring to their tent, the boys madesigns to the chief that it was necessary that someone should beappointed to throw on fresh wood, from time to time, to keep thefire alight. This was hardly needed, as the whole population werefar too excited to think of retiring to bed. After the lads hadleft they gathered round the fire, and each took delight inthrowing on pieces of wood, and in watching them consume; andseveral times, when they woke during the night, the boys saw, bythe bright light streaming in through the slits in the deerskin, that the bonfire was never allowed to wane. 

In the morning fresh meat was brought to the boys, together withraw yams and other vegetables. There were now other marvels to beshown. Ned had learned, when with the negroes, how to cook incalabashes; and he now got a gourd from the natives, cut it inhalf, scooped its contents out, and then filled it with water. Fromthe stream he then got a number of stones, and put them into thefire until they became intensely hot. Then with two sticks he rakedthem out, and dropped them into the water. 

The natives yelled with astonishment as they saw the water fizz andbubble, as the stones were thrown in. More were added until thewater boiled. Then the yams, cut into pieces, were dropped in, morehot stones added to keep the water boiling, and when cooked, theyams were taken out. When sufficiently cooled, the boys distributedthe pieces among the chiefs, and again the signs of satisfactionshowed that cooked vegetables were appreciated. Other yams werethen cut up, and laid among the hot embers to bake. 

After this the boys took a few half-burned sticks, carried them toanother spot, added fresh fuel, and made another fire; and thensigned to the natives to do the same. In a short time a dozen fireswere blazing, and the whole population were engaged in grillingvenison, and in boiling and baking yams. The boys were both goodtrenchermen, but they were astounded at the quantity of food whichthe Patagonians disposed of. 

By night time the entire stock of meat in the village wasexhausted, and the chief motioned to the boys that, in the morning, he should go out with a party to lay in a great stock of venison. To this they made signs that they would accompany the expedition. 

While the feasting had been going on, the lads had wandered awaywith two of the Indian bows and arrows. The bows were much shorterthan those to which they were accustomed, and required far lessstrength to pull. The wood of which the bows were formed was toughand good, and as the boys had both the handiness of sailors and, like all lads of that period, had some knowledge of bow making, they returned to the camp, and obtained two more of the strongestbows in the possession of the natives. They then set to work withtheir knives and, each taking two bows, cut them up, fitted, andspliced them together. 

The originals were but four feet long, the new ones six. The halvesof one bow formed the two ends, the middle being made of the otherbow, doubled. The pieces were spliced together with deer sinews;and when, after some hours' work, they were completed, the boysfound that they were as strong and tough as the best of theirhome-made bows, and required all their strength to draw them to theear. 

The arrows were now too short, but upon making signs to the nativesthat they wanted wood for arrows, a stock of dried wood, carefullyprepared, was at once given them, and of these they made somearrows of the regulation cloth-yard length. The feathers, fastenedon with the sinews of some small animals, were stripped from theIndian arrows and fastened on, as were the sharp-pointed stoneswhich formed their heads; and on making a trial, the lads foundthat they could shoot as far and as straight as with their ownfamiliar weapons. 

"We can reckon on killing a stag, if he will stand still, at ahundred and fifty yards, " Ned said, "or running, at a hundred. Don't you think so?"

"Well, six times out of seven we ought to, at any rate, " Tomreplied; "or our Devonshire archership has deserted us. "

When they heard, therefore, that there was to be a hunt upon thefollowing day, they felt that they had another surprise for thenatives, whose short bows and arrows were of little use at agreater distance than fifty yards, although up to that distancedeadly weapons in their hands. 

Chapter 12: Across a Continent. 

The work upon which the boys were engaged passed unnoticed by theIndians, who were too much absorbed by the enjoyment of the newdiscovery to pay any attention to other matters. The bows andarrows had been given to them, as anything else in camp for whichthey had a fancy would have been given; but beyond that, none hadobserved what was being done. 

There were, then, many exclamations of astonishment among them, when Ned and Tom issued from their hut in the morning to join thehunting party, carrying their new weapons. The bows were, ofcourse, unstrung; and Ned handed his to the chief, who viewed itwith great curiosity. It was passed from hand to hand, and thenreturned to the chief. One or two of the Indians said something, and the chief tried its strength. He shook his head. Ned signed tohim to string it, but the chief tried in vain, as did several ofthe strongest of the Indians. Indeed, no man, however powerful, could string an old English bow, unless trained to its use. 

When the Indians had given up the attempt as hopeless, the two ladsstrung their bows without the slightest difficulty, to the intensesurprise of the natives. These again took the bows, but failed tobend them even to the length of their own little arrows. The ladsthen took out their newly-made shafts, and took aim at a youngtree, of a foot diameter, standing at about two hundred yardsdistance; and both sent their arrows quivering into the trunk. 

The Indians gave a perfect yell of astonishment. 

"It is not much of a mark, " Tom said; "Hugh Willoughby, of ourvillage, could hit a white glove at that distance every time; andthe fingers of a glove five times out of six. It is the length ofthe shots, not the accuracy, which astounds these fellows. However, it is good enough to keep up our superiority. "

The party now started on their hunt. There was but littledifficulty in finding game, for numerous herds could be seengrazing. The task was to get within shot. The boys watchedanxiously, to see the course which the Indians would adopt. 

First ascertaining which way the wind was blowing, the chief, withten others, accompanied by the boys, set off to make a circuit, soas to approach one of the herds upwind. When they had reached thepoint desired, all went down upon their bellies and crawled likesnakes, until they reached a clump of low bushes, a quarter of amile from the herd. Then they lay quiet, waiting for theircomrades, whose turn it now was to act. 

These, also making a circuit, but in the opposite direction, placedthemselves half a mile to windward of the deer, in a long line. Then they advanced toward the herd, making no effort to concealthemselves. 

Scarcely had they risen to their feet than the herd winded them. For a minute or two they stood motionless, watching the distantfigures; and then, turning, bounded away. The chief uttered anexclamation of disgust, for it was evident at once that, from thedirection that they were taking, the herd would not pass, as hehoped, close by the bushes. 

The lads, however, were well satisfied; for the line would takethem within a hundred and fifty yards. As, in a closely-packedbody, they came along, Ned and Tom rose suddenly to their feet, drew their bows to their ears, and launched their arrows. Each had, according to the custom of English archers, stuck two arrows intothe ground by the spot where they would stand up; and these theyalso discharged, before the herd was out of shot. With fairshooting it was impossible to miss so large a mark, and five of thelittle deer rolled over, pierced through by the arrows; whileanother, hit in a less vital spot, carried off the weapon. 

The Indians raised a cry of joy and surprise, at shooting which tothem appeared marvellous, indeed; and when the others came upshowed them, with marks of astonishment, the distance at which theanimals had fallen from the bush from which the arrows had beenaimed. 

Two more beats were made. These were more successful, the herdspassing close to the places of concealment, and upon each occasionten stags fell. This was considered sufficient. 

The animals were not all of one kind. One herd was composed of deerfar larger than, and as heavy as good-sized sheep; while the otherswere considerably smaller, and the party had as much as theirunited efforts--except those of Ned and Tom, whose offer to assistwas peremptorily declined--could drag back to the village, wherethe feasting was at once renewed. 

The lads, when the natives had skinned the deer, took some of thesmaller and finer skins, intending to dry them; but the natives, seeing their intention, brought them a number of the same kind, which were already well cured and beautifully supple. Fashioningneedles from small pieces of bone, with sinews for thread, andusing their own tattered clothes as patterns, the two lads set towork; and by the following evening had manufactured doublets andtrunks of deerskin, which were a vast improvement upon their lateragged apparel; and had, at a short distance, the appearance ofbeing made of a bright brownish-yellow cloth. 

By this time the Indians had become quite accustomed to them. Themen, and sometimes even the women, came to the hut and sat down andtried to talk with them. The boys did their best to learn, askingthe name of every article, and repeating it until they hadthoroughly learned it, the Indians applauding like children whenthey attained the right pronunciation. 

The next morning they saw a young Indian starting alone, with hisbow and arrow. Anxious to see how he was going to proceed, byhimself, the boys asked if they might accompany him. He assented, and together they started off. 

After an hour's walking, they arrived at an eminence from which anextensive view could be obtained. Here their companion motioned tothem to lie down and watch his proceedings. They did so, and sawhim make a wide circuit, and work up towards the herd of deer. 

"They will be off long before he can get within bow shot, " Tomsaid. "Look, they are getting fidgety already. They scent danger, and he is four hundred yards away. They will be off in a minute. 

"Look, what on earth is he doing?"

The Indian was lying on his back, his body being almost concealedby the grass, which was a foot high. In the air he waved his legsto and fro, twisting and twining them. The boys could not helplaughing at the curious appearance of the two black objects wavingslowly about. The herd of deer stood staring stupidly at thespectacle. Then, as if moved by a common impulse of curiosity, theybegan slowly to approach, in order to investigate more closely thissingular phenomenon. Frequently they stopped, but only to continuetheir advance, which was made with a sort of circling movement, asif to see the object from all sides. 

Nearer and nearer they approached, until the leaders were not morethan fifty yards away; when the native leaped to his feet, anddischarged his arrows with such rapidity, and accuracy, that two ofthe animals fell before they could dart away out of range. 

The lads soon joined the native, and expressed their approval ofhis skill. Then, while he threw one carcass over his shoulder, theydivided the weight of the other between them, and so accompaniedhim into camp. 

The next day Ned and Tom, walking to an eminence near the camp, sawin the distance some ostriches feeding. Returning to the huts, theyfound the young hunter whom they had accompanied on the precedingday, and beckoned to him to accompany them. When they reached thespot from which the ostriches were visible, they motioned to him tocome out and shoot them. He at once nodded. 

As they were about to follow him back to camp, for their bows andarrows, he shook his head and signed to them to stay where theywere; and going off by himself, returned with his bow and arrowand, to the surprise of the boys, the skin of an ostrich. 

To show the lads what he intended to do, he put on the skin, sticking one arm up the long neck, his black legs alone showing. Henow imitated the motions of the bird, now stalking along, nowpicking up bits of grass, and this with such an admirable imitationof nature that Ned and Tom shouted with laughter. 

The three then set off together, taking a line which hid them fromthe view of the ostriches. The Indian at last led them to a smalleminence, and signed to them to ascend this, and there to lie downand watch the result. On arriving at their post, they foundthemselves about a quarter of a mile from the group of great birds. 

It seemed a long time before they could see any signs of thenative, who had to make a long detour so as to approach the birdsupwind. About a hundred and fifty yards from the spot where theywere feeding was a clump of bushes, and presently the lads suddenlybeheld an ostrich, feeding quietly beside this clump. 

"There was no bird near those bushes two minutes ago, " Tom said. "It must be the Indian. "

Very quietly, and by degrees, the ostrich approached the group. When within four yards of them the ostrich, as if by magic, vanished; and an Indian stood in his place. In another moment hisbow twanged, and the ostrich next to him fell over, pierced throughwith an arrow; while the rest of the flock scattered over theplain, at an immense speed. 

Ned and Tom now rose to their feet and ran down the slope to theIndian, who was standing by the dead bird. He pulled out the tailfeathers and handed them to them; cut off the head and legs; openedand cleaned the body; and then, putting it on his shoulder, startedagain for the camp. 

For another week they remained in the Indian village, and in thattime picked up a good many native words. They then determined thatthey must be starting on their westward journey. They thereforecalled upon the chief and explained to him by signs, eked out witha few words, that they must leave him and go towards the settingsun. 

The grief of the chief was great, as was that of the tribe, when hecommunicated the tidings to them. There was great talking among thegroups round the fire that night, and Ned saw that some questionwas being debated, at great length. The next morning the chief andseveral of the leading men came into their hut, and the chief madea speech, accompanied with great gesticulation. The lads gatheredthat he was imploring them not to leave them, and pointing out thatthere would be hostile Indians on the road, who would attack them. Then the chief led them to the fires, and signed that if they wentout the tribe would be cold again, and would be unable to cooktheir food. 

Already, indeed, on one occasion after a great feast, the tribe hadslept so soundly that all the fires were out before morning, andNed had been obliged to have recourse to his flint and steel. Afterthis, two fires had been kept constantly burning, night and day. Others were lighted for cooking, but these were tended constantly, and Ned saw that there was little chance of their ever going outtogether, so long as the tribe remained in the village. 

Now, however, he proceeded to show them how to carry fire withthem. Taking one blazing stick, and starting out as for a journey, he showed that the fire gradually went out. Then he returned to thefire and took two large pieces, and started, keeping them socrossed that the parts on fire were always in contact. In this way, as he showed them, fire could be kept in for a very long time; andthat, if two brands were taken from each fire, there would belittle difficulty in keeping fire perpetually. 

Finally he showed them how, in case of losing fire in spite of allthese precautions, it could be recovered by means of friction. Hetook two pieces of dried wood; one being very hard grained, and theother much softer. Of the former he cut a stick of about a footlong and an inch round, and pointed at both ends. In the other hemade a small hole. Then he unstrung one end of a bowstring, twistedit once round the stick, and strung it again. Then he put one pointof the stick in the hole in the other piece of wood, which he laidupon the ground. Round the hole he crumbled into dust some dryfungus. On the upper end of the short stick he placed a flat stone, which he bade one of the natives press with moderate force. 

Now, working the bow rapidly backwards and forwards, the stick wasspun round and round like a drill. The Indians, who were unable tomake out what Ned was doing, watched these proceedings with greatattention. When a little smoke began to curl up from the heatedwood they understood at once, and shouted with wonder. In a fewminutes sparks began to fly from the stick, and as these fell onthe dried fungus they rapidly spread. Tom knelt down and blewgently upon them, adding a few dried leaves, and in another minutea bright flame sprang up. 

The natives were delighted. They had now means of making fire, andcould in future enjoy warmth and cooked food, and their gratitudeto the lads was unbounded. Hitherto they had feared that, whenthese strange white beings departed, they would lose their fires, and return to their former cheerless existence, when the longwinter evenings had to be spent in cold and darkness. That eveningthe chief intimated to his visitors that he, and a portion of themen of the tribe, would accompany them for some distance; the womenremaining behind, with the rest of the fighting men as their guard. This decision pleased the young men much, for they could not hopeto go far without meeting other tribes; and although, as had beenfound in the present instance, the gift of fire would be sure topropitiate the Indians; it was probable that they might be attackedon the march, and killed without having an opportunity ofexplanation. Their friends, however, would have the power of atonce explaining, to all comers, the valuable benefits which theycould bestow. 

During the time that they had been staying in the village, they hadfurther improved their bows by taking them to pieces, fitting theparts more accurately together, and gluing them with glue, preparedby boiling down sinews of animals in a gourd. Then, rebinding themwith fine sinews, they found that they were, in all respects, equalto their English weapons. They had now no fear as to their power ofmaintaining themselves with food on the way, and felt that, evenwhen their new friends should leave them, they would have a fairchance of defending themselves against attack, as their bows wouldcarry more than thrice as far as those of the natives. 

The following morning the start was made. The chief and twentypicked warriors accompanied them, together with six young Indians, two of whom carried lighted brands. The others dragged lightsleighs, upon which were piled skins and long poles, for makingtents at night, for the temperature was exceedingly cold aftersundown. The whole village turned out to see the party off, andshouts of farewell, and good wishes, rang in the air. 

For the first three days no adventures were met with. The party hadno difficulty in killing game sufficient for their needs, and atnight they halted at streams or pools. Ned observed, however, thatat the last halting place the chief, who had hitherto taken noprecaution at night, gave some orders to his followers; four ofwhom, when the rest laid down to rest, glided off in differentdirections into the darkness. 

Ned pointed to them inquiringly, and the chief intimated that theywere now entering the hunting grounds of another tribe. Thefollowing day the band kept closely together. A vigilant lookout onthe plains was kept up, and no straggling was allowed. They hadsufficient meat left over, from their spoils of the day before, tolast for the day; and no hunting was necessary. 

The next evening, just as they had retired to rest, one of thescouts came in and reported that he heard sounds around, whichbetokened the presence of man. The calls of animals were heard onthe plain; and a herd of deer, which had evidently been disturbed, had darted past at full speed. 

The chief now ordered great quantities of dried wood to be throwninto the fire, and a vast blaze soon shot up high, illuminating acircle of a hundred yards in diameter. Advancing to the edge ofthis circle, the chief held out his arms, to show that he wasunarmed; and then shouted, at the top of his voice, to the effectthat he invited all within hearing to come forward, in peace. Thestrange appearance that they saw was a boon, given to the Indianpeople by two great white beings, who were in his camp; and that, by its aid, there would be no more cold. 

Three times he shouted out these words, and then retired to thefire and sat down. Presently from the circle of darkness a numberof figures appeared, approaching timidly and with an awe-struckair, until within a short distance of the fire. 

Then the chief again rose, and bade them welcome. There were somefifty or sixty of them, but Ned and his friend had no fear of anytreachery, for they were evidently under the spell of a sense ofamazement greater than that which had been excited among those theyfirst met; and this because they first saw this wonder by night. 

When the newcomers had taken their seats, the chief explained tothem the qualities of their new discovery. That it made them warmand comfortable their own feelings told them; and on the morrow, when they had meat, he would show them how great were its effects. Then he told them of the dancing water, and how it softened andmade delicious the vegetables placed in it. At his command one ofhis followers took two brands, carried them to a distance, and soonlighted another fire. 

During the narrative, the faces of the Indians lighted up with joy;and they cast glances of reverence and gratitude towards the youngwhite men. These, finding that amity was now established, retiredto sleep to the little skin tents which had been raised for them;while the Indians remained sitting round the fire, engrossed withits wonders. 

The young men slept late next morning, knowing that no move couldbe made that day. When they came out of the tents, they found thatthe natives had lost no time. Before daybreak hunting parties hadgone out, and a store of game was piled near the fire; or ratherfires, for a dozen were now burning, and the strangers were beinginitiated in the art of cooking by their hosts. 

Two days were spent here; and then, after much talk, the tribe atwhich they had now arrived arranged to escort and pass the boys onto their neighbors, while the first party returned to theirvillage. Ned and Tom were consulted before this matter was settled, and approved of it. It was better that they should be passed on, from tribe to tribe, than that they should be escorted all the wayby a guard who would be as strange as themselves to the country, and who would naturally be longing to return to their homes andfamilies. 

For some weeks the life led by the travelers resembled that whichhas been described. Sometimes they waited for a few days atvillages, where great festivities were held in their honor The newsof their coming, in many cases, preceded them; and they and theirconvoy were often met at the stream, or other mark which formed theacknowledged boundary between the hunting grounds, by large bodieseager to receive and welcome them. 

They had, by this time, made considerable progress in the language, knew all the names of common objects, and could make themselvesunderstood in simple matters. The language of savage people isalways simple. Their range of ideas is narrow; their vocabularyvery limited, and consequently easily mastered. 

Ned knew that, at any time, they might come across people in astate of active warfare with each other; and that his life mightdepend upon the ability to make himself understood. Consequently helost no opportunity of picking up the language. On the march Tomand he, instead of walking and talking together, each went with agroup of natives; and kept up a conversation, eked out with signs, with them; and consequently they made very considerable progresswith the language. 

Chapter 13: Through the Cordilleras. 

After three months of steady travel, the country, which had becomemore and more hilly as they advanced toward the west, assumed adifferent character. The hills became mountains, and it was clearthat they were arriving at a great range running north and south. They had for some time left the broad plains behind them, and gamewas very scarce. The Indians had of late been more and moredisinclined to go far to the west, and the tribe with whom theywere now traveling told them that they could go no farther. Theysignified that beyond the mountains dwelt tribes with whom theywere unacquainted, but who were fierce and warlike. One of theparty, who had once crossed, said that the people there had fireslike those which the white men had taught them to make. 

"You see, Tom, " Ned said, "they must have been in contact with theSpaniards, or at least with tribes who have learned something fromthe Spaniards. In that case our supernatural power will be at anend, and our color will be against us, as they will regard us asSpaniards, and so as enemies. At any rate, we must push on and takeour chance. "

From the Indian they learned that the track lay up a valley beforethem, that after a day's walking they would have to begin theascent. Another day's journey would take them to a neck between twopeaks, and the passage of this would occupy at least a day. Thenative described the cold as great here, even in summer, and thatin winter it was terrible. Once across the neck, the descent on theother side began. 

"There can be no snow in the pass now, Tom; it is late in December, and the hottest time of the year; and although we must be a verygreat height above the sea, for we have been rising ever since weleft the coast, we are not so very far south, and I cannot believethe snow can now lie in the pass. Let us take a good stock of driedmeat, a skin for water--we can fill it at the head of thevalley--and make our way forward. I do not think the sea can lievery far on the other side of this range of mountains, but at anyrate, we must wait no longer. Captain Drake may have passedalready, but we may still be in time. "

The next morning they bade adieu to their companions, with whomthey had been traveling for a fortnight. These, glad again to turntheir faces homeward, set off at once; and the lads, shoulderingtheir packs, started up the valley. The scenery was grand in theextreme, and Ned and Tom greatly enjoyed it. Sometimes the sidesapproached in perpendicular precipices, leaving barely room for thelittle stream to find its way between their feet; at others it washalf a mile wide. When the rocks were not precipitous the sideswere clothed with a luxuriant foliage, among which the birdsmaintained a concert of call and song. So sheltered were they that, high as it was above the sea, the heat was very oppressive; andwhen they reached the head of the valley, late in the afternoon, they were glad indeed of a bathe in a pool of the stream. 

Choosing a spot of ground near the stream, the lads soon made afire, put their pieces of venison down to roast, and prepared for aquiet evening. 

"It seems strange to be alone again, Tom, after so many months withthose Indians; who were ever on the watch for every movement andword, as if they were inspired. It is six months, now, since weleft the western coast; and one almost seems to forget that one isEnglish. We have picked up something of half a dozen Indiandialects; we can use their weapons almost as well as they canthemselves; and as to our skins, they are as brown as that of thedarkest of them. The difficulty will be to persuade the people onthe other side that we are whites. "

"How far do you think the sea lies on the other side of this rangeof giant mountains?" Tom asked. 

"I have no idea, " Ned replied, "and I do not suppose that anyoneelse has. The Spaniards keep all matters connected with this coasta mystery; but I believe that the sea cannot be many days' marchbeyond the mountains. "

For an hour or two they chatted quietly, their thoughts naturallyturning again to England, and the scenes of their boyhood. 

"Will it be necessary to watch, think you?" Tom asked. 

"I think it would be safer, Tom. One never knows. I believe that weare now beyond the range of the natives of the Pampas. Theyevidently have a fear of approaching the hills; but that only showsthat the natives from the other side come down over here. I believethat they were, when the Spaniards landed, peaceable people; quietand gentle. So at least they are described. But those who take tothe mountains must be either escaped slaves, or fugitives from thecruelty of the Spaniards; and even the gentlest man, when driven todesperation, becomes savage and cruel. To these men our white skinswould be like a red rag to a bull. They can never have heard of anywhite people, save the Spaniards; and we need expect little mercyif we fall into their hands. I think we had better watch, turnabout. I will take the first watch, for I am not at all sleepy, andmy thoughts seem busy tonight, with home. "

Tom was soon fast asleep, and Ned sat quietly watching the embersof the fire, occasionally throwing on fresh sticks, until he deemedthat nearly half the night was gone. Then he aroused his companionand lay down himself, and was soon fast asleep. 

The gray light was just beginning to break when he was aroused by asudden yell, accompanied by a cry from Tom. He leaped to his feet, just in time to see a crowd of natives rush upon himself and hiscomrade, discharging as they did so numbers of small arrows, several of which pierced him as he rose to his feet. Before theycould grasp their bows, or any other weapons, the natives were uponthem. Blows were showered down with heavy clubs and, although thelads made a desperate resistance, they were beaten to the ground ina short time. The natives at once twisted strong thongs round theirlimbs; and then, dragging them from the fire, sat down themselvesand proceeded to roast the remains of the boys' deer meat. 

"This is a bad business indeed, Tom, " Ned said. "These mendoubtless take us for Spaniards. They certainly must belong to theother side of the mountains, for their appearance and language arealtogether different to those of the people we have been stayingwith. These men are much smaller, slighter, and fairer. Runawaysthough no doubt they are, they seem to have more care about theirpersons, and to be more civilized in their appearance and weapons, than the savages of the plains. "

"What do you think they will do with us, Ned?"

"I have no doubt in the world, Tom, that their intention is eitherto put us to death with some horrible torture, or to roast us. TheSpaniards have taught them these things, if they did not know thembefore; and in point of atrocities, nothing can possibly exceedthose which the Spaniards have inflicted upon them and theirfathers. "

Whatever were the intentions of the Indians, it was soon evidentthat there would be some delay in carrying them out. After they hadfinished their meal, they rose from the fire. Some amusedthemselves by making arrows from the straight reeds that grew bythe stream. Others wandered listlessly about. Some threw themselvesupon the ground and slept; while others, coming up to the boys, poured torrents of invective upon them, among which they coulddistinguish in Spanish the words "dog" and "Spaniard, " varyingtheir abuse by violent kicks. As, however, these were given by thenaked feet, they did not seriously inconvenience the boys. 

"What can they be waiting for?" Tom said. "Why don't they dosomething if they are going to do it. "

"I expect, " Ned answered, "that they are waiting for some chief, orfor the arrival of some other band, and that we are to be kept fora grand exhibition. "

So it proved. Three days passed, and upon the fourth another band, smaller in numbers, joined them. Upon the evening of that day thelads saw that their fate was about to be brought to a crisis. Thefire was made up with huge bundles of wood; the natives took theirseats around it, with gravity and order; and the boys were ledforward by four natives, armed with spears. Then began what was aregular trial. The boys, although they could not understand a wordof the language, could yet follow the speeches of the excitedorators. One after another arose and told the tale of the treatmentthat he had experienced. One showed the weals which covered hisback. Another held up his arm, from which the hand had been lopped. A third pointed to the places where his ears once had been. Anothershowed the scar of a hot iron on his arms and legs. Some wentthrough a pantomime, which told its tale of an attack upon somesolitary hut, the slaughter of the old and infirm, and the draggingaway of the men and women into slavery. Others spoke of longperiods of labor, in a bent position, in a mine, under the cruelwhip of the taskmaster. All had their tale of barbarity and crueltyto recite and, as each speaker contributed his quota, the anger andexcitement of the rest rose. 

"Poor devils!" Ned said; "no wonder that they are savage againstus. See what they have suffered at the hands of the white men. Ifwe had gone through as much, you may be sure that we should sparenone. Our only chance is to make them understand that we are notSpanish; and that, I fear, is beyond all hope. "

This speedily proved to be the case. Two or three of the nativeswho spoke a few words of Spanish came to them, calling them Spanishdogs. 

Ned shook his head and said, "Not Spanish. "

For all reply the natives pointed to the uncovered portions oftheir body, pulled back the skins which covered their arms and, pointing to the white flesh, laughed incredulously. 

"White men are Spaniards, and Spaniards are white men, " Tomgroaned, "and that we shall have to die, for the cruelty which theSpaniards have perpetrated, is clear enough. 

"Well, Ned, we have had more good fortune than we could haveexpected. We might have been killed on the day when we landed, andwe have spent six jolly months in wandering together, as hunters, on the plain. If we must die, let us behave like Englishmen andChristians. It may be that our lives have not been as good as theyshould have been; but so far as we know, we have both done ourduty; and it may be that, as we die for the faults of others, itmay come to be considered as a balance against our own faults. "

"We must hope so, Tom. I think we have both done, I won't say ourbest, but as well as could be expected in so rough a life. We havefollowed the exhortations of the good chaplain, and have neverjoined in the riotous ways of the sailors in general. We must trustthat the good God will forgive us our sins, and strengthen us to gothrough this last trial. "

While they had been speaking the natives had made an end of theirdeliberation. Tom was now conducted, by two natives with spears, toa tree; and was securely fastened. Ned, under the guard of theother two, was left by the fire. The tree was situated at adistance of some twenty yards from it, and the natives mostly tooktheir place near the fire. Some scattered among the bushes, andpresently reappeared bearing bundles of dry wood. These were laidin order round the tree, at such a distance that the flames wouldnot touch the prisoner, but the heat would gradually roast him todeath. 

As Ned observed the preparations for the execution of his friend, the sweat stood in great drops on his forehead; and he would havegiven anything to be able to rush to his assistance, and to diewith him. Had his hands been free he would, without hesitation, have snatched up a bow and sent an arrow into Tom's heart, torelease him from the lingering death which awaited him; and hewould then have stabbed himself with a spear. But while his handswere sufficiently free to move a little, the fastenings were tootight to admit of his carrying out any plan of that sort. 

Suddenly an idea struck him, and he began nervously to tug at hisfastenings. The natives, when they seized them, had bound themwithout examining their clothes. It was improbable that men in savageattire could have about them any articles worth appropriating. Theknives, indeed, which hung from their belts had been cut off; butthese were the only articles which had been touched. 

Just as a man approached the fire and, seizing a brand, stoopedforward to light the pyre, Ned succeeded in freeing his handssufficiently to seize the object which he sought. This was hispowder flask, which was wrapped in the folds of the cloth round hiswaist. With little difficulty he succeeded in freeing it and, moving a step closer to the fire, he cast it into the midst of it, at the very moment the man with the lighted brand was approachingTom. Then he stepped back as far as he could from the fire. Thenatives on guard over him, not understanding the movement, andthinking he meditated flight, closed around him. 

An instant later there was a tremendous explosion. The red hotembers were flaming in all directions, and both Ned and the savageswho stood by him were, with many others, struck to the ground. Assoon as he was able, Ned struggled up again. 

Not a native was in sight. A terrific yell had broken from them atthe explosion, which sounded to them like one of the cannons oftheir Spanish oppressors; and, smarting with the woundssimultaneously made by the hot brands, each, without a moment'sthought, had taken to his heels. Tom gave a shout of exultation, asNed rose. The latter at once stooped and, with difficulty, pickedup one of the still blazing brands, and hurried towards the tree. 

"If these fellows will remain away for a couple of minutes, Tom, you shall be free, " he said, "and I don't think they will get overtheir scare as quickly as that. "

So saying, he applied the end of the burning brand to the drywithes with which Tom was bound to the tree. These at once tookfire and flared up, and the bands fell to the ground. 

"Now, Tom, do me the same service. "

This was quickly rendered, and the lads stood free. 

"Now, let us get our weapons. "

A short search revealed to them their bows, laid carefully aside, while the ground was scattered with the arms which the natives, intheir panic, had dropped. 

"Pick them all up, Tom, and toss them on the fire. We will take thesting out of the snake, in case it tries to attack us again. "

In a minute or two a score of bows, spears, and others weapons werethrown on the fire; and the boys then, leaving the place which hadso nearly proved fatal to them, took their way up the mountainside. It was a long pull, the more so that they had the food, water, and large skins for protection from the night air to carry. Steadily as they kept on, with only an occasional halt for breath, it was late before they emerged from the forest and stood upon aplateau between two lofty hills. This was bare and treeless, andthe keen wind made them shiver, as they met it. 

"We will creep among the trees, Tom; and be off at daybreak, tomorrow. However long the journey, we must get across the passbefore we sleep, for the cold there would be terrible. "

A little way down the crest it was so warm that they needed nofire, while a hundred feet higher, exposed to the wind from thesnow-covered peaks, the cold was intense. They kept careful watch, but the night passed quietly. The next morning they were on foot, as soon as the voices of the birds proclaimed the approach of day. As they emerged from the shelter of the trees they threw their deerskins round them, to act as cloaks, and stepped out at their bestpace. The dawn of day was yet faint in the east; the stars burningbright as lamps overhead, in the clear thin air; and the cold wasso great that it almost stopped their breathing. 

Half an hour later the scene had changed altogether. The sun hadrisen, and the air felt warm. The many peaks on either sideglistened in the flood of bright light. The walking was easy, indeed, after the climb of the previous day; and their burdens weremuch lightened by their consumption of food and water. The pass wasof irregular width, sometimes but a hundred yards, sometimes fullya mile across. Long habit and practice with the Indians hadimmensely improved their walking powers and, with long elasticstrides, they put mile after mile behind them. Long before the sunwas at its highest a little stream ran beside them, and they saw, by the course of its waters, that they had passed the highest partof the pass through the Cordilleras. 

Three hours later they suddenly emerged, from a part where thehills approached nearer on either side than they had done duringthe day's walk, and a mighty landscape opened before and belowthem. The boys gave, simultaneously, a loud shout of joy; and thendropped on their knees, in thanks to God, for far away in thedistance was a dark level blue line, and they knew the ocean wasbefore them. 

"How far off should you say it was, Ned?" Tom asked, when they hadrecovered a little from their first outburst of joy. 

"A long way off, " Ned said. "I suppose we must be fifteen thousandfeet above it, and even in this transparent air it looks an immensedistance away. I should say it must be a hundred miles. "

"That's nothing!" Tom said. "We could do it in two days, in threeeasily. "

"Yes, supposing we had no interruption and a straight road, " Nedsaid. "But we must not count our chickens yet. This vast forestwhich we see contains tribes of natives, bitterly hostile to thewhite man, maddened by the cruelties of the Spaniards, who enslavethem and treat them worse than dogs. Even when we reach the sea, wemay be a hundred or two hundred miles from a large Spanish town;and however great the distance, we must accomplish it, as it isonly at large towns that Captain Drake is likely to touch. "

"Well, let us be moving, " Tom said. "I am strong for some hours'walking yet, and every day will take us nearer to the sea. "

"We need not carry our deer skins any farther, " Ned said, throwinghis down. "We shall be sweltering under the heat tomorrow, belowthere. "

Even before they halted for the night, the vegetation had assumed atropical character, for they had already descended some fivethousand feet. 

"I wish we could contrive to make a fire tonight, " Ned said. 

"Why?" Tom asked. "I am bathed in perspiration, now. "

"We shall not want it for heat, but the chances are that there arewild beasts of all sorts in this forest. "

Ned's premises turned out correct, for scarcely had night fallenwhen they heard deep roarings, and lost no time in ascending atree, and making themselves fast there, before they went to sleep. 

In the morning they proceeded upon their journey. After walking acouple of hours, Ned laid his arm upon Tom's shoulder. 

"Hush!" he whispered. "Look there. "

Through the trees, at a short distance off, could be seen a stag. He was standing, gazing intently at a tree, and did not appear tohave heard their approach. 

"What can he be up to?" Tom whispered. "He must have heard us. "

"He seems paralyzed, " Ned said. "Don't you see how he is trembling?There must be some wild beast in the tree. "

Both gazed attentively at the tree, but could see nothing toaccount for the attitude of the deer. 

"Wild beast or no, " Ned said, "he will do for our dinner. "

So saying, he unslung his bow, and fitted an arrow. There was asharp twang, and the deer rolled over, struck to the heart. Therewas no movement in the tree, but Ned placed another arrow in place. Tom had done the same. 

They stood silent for a few minutes, but all was still. 

"Keep your eyes on the tree and advance slowly, " Ned said. "Haveyour sword ready in case of need. I cannot help thinking there issomething there, though what it is I can't make out. "

Slowly, and with the greatest caution, they approached the tree. All was perfectly still. 

"No beast big enough to hurt us can be up there, " Ned said at last. "None of the branches are thick enough to hide him. 

"Now for the stag. "

Ned bent over the carcass of the deer, which lay a few feet onlyfrom the tree. Then suddenly there was a rapid movement among thecreepers which embraced the trunk, something swept between Ned andTom, knocking the latter to the ground, while a cry of alarm andastonishment rose from Ned. 

Confused and surprised, Tom sprang to his feet, instinctivelydrawing his sword as he did so. For a moment he stood, paralyzedwith horror. A gigantic snake had wound its coils round Ned's body. Its head towered above his, while its eyes flashed menacingly, andits tongue vibrated with a hissing sound as it gazed at Tom. Itstail was wound round the trunk of the tree. Ned was powerless, forhis arms were pinioned to his side by the coils of the reptile. 

It was but a moment that Tom stood appalled. He knew that, at anyinstant, by the tightening of its folds the great boa could crushevery bone of Ned's body; while the very closeness of its embracerendered it impossible for him to strike at it, for fear ofinjuring its captor. There was not an instant to be lost. Alreadythe coils were tightening, and a hoarse cry broke from Ned. 

With a rapid spring Tom leaped beyond his friend, and with a blow, delivered with all his strength, severed the portion of the tailcoiled round the tree from the rest of the body. 

Unknowingly, he had taken the only course to save Ned's life. Hadhe, as his first impulse had been, struck at the head as it raiseditself above that of Ned, the convulsion of the rest of the bodywould probably have crushed the life out of him; but by cutting offthe tail, he separated the body from the tree which formed thefulcrum upon which it acted. As swiftly as they had enclosed himthe coils fell from Ned, a writhing mass upon the ground; and asecond blow from Tom's sword severed the head from the body. Evennow, the folds writhed and twisted like an injured worm; but Tomstruck, and struck, until the fragments lay, with only a slightquivering motion in them, on the ground. 

Then Tom, throwing down his cutlass, raised Ned; who, upon beingreleased from the embrace of the boa, had fallen senseless. Alarmedas Tom was at his comrade's insensibility, he yet felt that it wasthe shock, and the revulsion of feeling which caused it, and notany serious injury which he had received. No bones had been heardto crack and, although the compression had been severe, Tom did notthink that any serious injury had been inflicted. 

He dashed some water from the skins over Ned's face, rubbed hishands, spoke to him in a loud voice, and ere long had thesatisfaction of seeing him open his eyes. 

"Thank God!" Tom exclaimed fervently. "There, don't move, Ned. Takeit quietly. It's all right now. There, drink a little water. "

He poured a few drops down Ned's throat, and the latter, whose eyeshad before had a dazed and wondering expression, suddenly sat upand strove to draw his sword. 

"Gently, Ned, gently. The snake is dead, chopped up into pieces. Itwas a near shave, Ned. "

Chapter 14: On the Pacific Coast. 

"A close shave, indeed, " Ned said, raising himself with difficultyfrom the ground. "Another moment, and I think my ribs would havegiven in. It seemed as if all the blood in my body had rushed to myhead. "

"Do you feel badly hurt?" Tom asked, anxiously. 

"No, " Ned said, feeling himself all over. "Horribly bruised, butnothing broken. To think of our not seeing that monstrous boa!

"I don't think, " he continued, "that I can walk any farther today. I feel shaken all over. "

"Then we will camp where we are, " Tom said cheerfully. "We have gota stag, and he will last us for some days, if necessary. There isplenty of fruit to be picked in the forest, and on this mountainside we are sure to be able to find water, within a shortdistance. "

Lighting a fire, the deer was soon cut up, and the lads prepared tospend a quiet day; which was all the more welcome inasmuch as, forthe last three weeks, they had traveled without intermission. Thenext day Ned declared himself well enough to proceed on hisjourney; but his friend persuaded him to stop for another day. 

Late in the evening Ned exclaimed, "What is that, Tom, behind thattree?"

Tom seized his bow, and leaped to his feet. 

"I see nothing, " he said. 

"It was either a native, or a gigantic monkey. I saw him, quiteplainly, glide along behind the tree. "

Tom advanced cautiously, but on reaching the tree he found nothing. 

"You are sure you were not mistaken?" he asked. 

"Quite certain, " Ned said. "We have seen enough of Indians, by thistime, to know them. We must be on the lookout, tonight. The nativeson this side are not like those beyond the mountains. They havebeen so horribly ill treated, by the Spaniards, that they must hateany white face; and would kill us without hesitation, if they got achance. We shall have difficulty with the Spaniards, when we fallinto their hands; but they will at least be more reasonable thanthese savages. "

All night they kept up their fire, and sat up by turns, on watch. Several times they thought that they heard slight movements, amongthe fallen leaves and twigs; but these might have been caused byany prowling beast. Once or twice they fancied that they detectedforms, moving cautiously just beyond the range of the firelight;but they could not be certain that it was so. 

Just as morning was breaking, Ned sprang to his feet. 

"Wake up, Tom!" he exclaimed; "we are attacked;" and as he spoke, an arrow quivered in the tree just over his head. 

They had already discussed whether it would be better to remain, ifattacked, in the light of the fire, or to retreat into the shadow;and concluding that the eyes of the natives would be moreaccustomed to see in darkness than their own, they had determinedto stay by the fire, throwing themselves down on their faces; andto keep the natives at bay beyond the circle of the light of theflames, till daylight. They had, in readiness, heaped a great pileof brushwood; and this they now threw upon the fire, making a hugepyramid of flame, which lit the wood around for a circle of sixtyyards. As the light leaped up, Ned discharged an arrow at a native, whom he saw within the circle of light; and a shrill cry proclaimedthat it had reached its mark. 

There was silence for a while in the dark forest and, each momentthat passed, the daylight became stronger and stronger. 

"In ten minutes we shall be able to move on, " Ned said; "and in thedaylight, I think that the longer range of our bows will enable usto keep them off. The question is, how many of them are there?"

A very short time sufficed to show that the number of the savageswas large; for shrill cries were heard, answering each other, inthe circle around them; and numbers of black figures could be seen, hanging about the trees in the distance. 

"I don't like the look of things, Ned, " Tom said. "It is all verywell. We may shoot a good many before they reach us, and in theopen no doubt we might keep them off. But by taking advantage ofthe trees, they will be able to get within range of their weapons;and at short distances, they are just as effective as are ourbows. "

As soon as it was broad daylight, the lads started through theforest, keeping up a running fight with the natives. 

"It is clear, " Tom said, "we cannot stand this much longer. We musttake to a tree. "

They were on the point of climbing, when Ned exclaimed:

"Listen! I can hear the sound of bells. "

Listening intently, they could make out the sound of little bells, such as are carried by horses or mules. 

"It must be a train to one of the mines. If we can reach that, weshall be safe. "

Laying aside all further thought of fighting, the boys now ran, atheadlong pace, in the direction of the sounds. The natives, whowere far fleeter of foot, gained fast upon them; and the arrowswere flying round them, and several had inflicted slight wounds, when they heard ahead of them the cry of:

"Soldiers on guard. The natives are at hand. Fire in the bushes. "

The boys threw themselves upon their faces as, from the thicketsahead, a volley of musketry was heard. 

"Load again, " was the order, in Spanish. "These black rascals mustbe strong, indeed, to advance to attack us with so much noise. "

Crawling forward cautiously, Ned exclaimed, in Spanish:

"Do not fire, senors. We are two Spaniards who have been carriedaway from the settlements, and have for long been prisoners amongthe natives. "

A cry of surprise was heard, and then the Spaniard in commandcalled them to advance, fearlessly. This they did. Fortunately theyhad, long before, settled upon the story that they would tell, whenthey arrived among the Spaniards. To have owned themselvesEnglishmen, and as belonging to the dreaded buccaneers, would havebeen to ensure their imprisonment, if not execution. Theimperfection of Ned's Spanish, and the fact that Tom was quiteignorant of the language, rendered it difficult for them to pass asSpaniards. But they thought that, by giving out that they had beencarried away in childhood--Tom at an earlier age than Ned--theirignorance of the language would be accounted for. 

It had been a struggle, with both of them, to decide upon tellingan untruth. This is a point upon which differences of opinion mustalways arise. Some will assert that under no circumstances can afalsehood be justified. Others will say that to deceive an enemy inwar, or to save life, deceit is justifiable, especially when thatdeceit injures no one. It was only after very great hesitation thatthe boys had overcome their natural instincts and teaching, andagreed to conceal their nationality under false colors Ned, indeed, held out for a long time; but Tom had cited many examples, fromancient and modern history, showing that people of all nations had, to deceive an enemy, adopted such a course; and that to throw awaytheir lives, rather than tell a falsehood which could hurt no one, would be an act of folly. Both, however, determined that, should itbecome necessary to keep up their character as Spaniards bypretending to be true Catholics, they would disclose the truth. 

The first sight of the young men struck the captain of the Spanishescort with astonishment. Bronzed to the darkest brown by the sunof the plains and by the hardships they had undergone, dressed inthe skins of animals, and carrying weapons altogether uncouth andsavage to the Spanish eye, he found it difficult to believe thatthese figures were those of his countrymen. 

His first question, however, concerned the savages who had, as hesupposed, attacked his escort. A few words from Ned, however, explained the circumstances; and that the yells he had heard hadbeen uttered by the Indians pursuing them, and had no reference, whatever, to the convoy. This consisted of some two hundred mules, laden with provisions and implements on its way to the mines. Guarded by a hundred soldiers were a large number of natives; who, fastened together as slaves, were on their way up to work for theircruel taskmasters. 

When the curiosity of the captain concerning the natives wasallayed, he asked Ned where he and his comrade had sprung from. Nedassured him that the story was a very long one; and that, at aconvenient opportunity, he would enter into all details. In thefirst place he asked that civilized clothes might be given to them;for, as he said, they looked and felt, at present, rather as wildmen of the woods than as subjects of the King of Spain. 

"You speak a very strange Spanish, " the captain said. 

"I only wonder, " Ned replied, "that I speak in Spanish at all. Iwas but a child, when I was carried away; and since that time Ihave scarcely spoken a word of my native tongue. When I reached thevillage to which my captors conveyed me, I found my companion here;who was, as I could see, a Spaniard, but who must have been carriedoff as an infant, as he even then could speak no Spanish, whatever. He has learned now from me a few words; but beyond that, is whollyignorant. "

"This is a strange story, indeed, " the captain said. "Where was itthat your parents lived?"

"I know not the place, " Ned said. "But it was far to the risingsun, across on the other ocean. "

As it seemed perfectly possible that the boys might have beencarried away, as children, from the settlements near Vera Cruz, thecaptain accepted the story without the slightest doubt, and at oncegave a warm welcome to the lads; who had, as he supposed, escapedafter so many weary years of captivity. 

"I am going up now, " he said, "to the mines, and there must remainon duty for a fortnight, when I shall return in charge of treasure. It will be dangerous, indeed, for you to attempt to find your wayto the coast without escort. Therefore you had better come on withme, and return under my protection to the coast. "

"We should be glad of a stay with you in the mountains, " Ned said. "We feel so ignorant of everything European that we should be gladto learn, from you, a little of the ways of our countrymen beforewe venture down among them. What is the nearest town on the coast?"

"Arica, " the captain said, "is the port from which we have come. Itis distant a hundred and thirty miles from here, and we have hadten days' hard journeying through the forest. "

For the next fortnight, the lads remained at the mines. These wereworked by the Spaniards entirely by slave labor Nominal wages were, indeed, given to the unfortunates who labored there. But they wereas much slaves as if they had been sold. The Spaniards, indeed, treated the whole of the natives in the provinces occupied by themas creatures to be used mercilessly for labor, and as having nomore feeling than the lower animals. The number of theseunfortunates who perished in the mines, from hard work and crueltreatment, is beyond all calculation. But it may be said that, ofthe enormous treasures drawn by Spain from her South Americanpossessions, during the early days of her occupation, everydoubloon was watered with blood. 

The boys, who had for nearly six months lived among the Indians, and had seen their many fine qualities, were horrified at thesights which they witnessed; and, several times, had the greatestdifficulty to restrain their feelings of indignation and horror. They agreed, however, that it would be worse than useless to givevent to such opinions. It would only draw upon them the suspicionof the Spaniards, and would set the authorities at the mine and thecaptain of the escort against them, and might prejudice the firstreport that would be sent down to Arica, concerning them. 

During the first few days of their stay, the boys acted their partswith much internal amusement. They pretended to be absolutelyignorant of civilized feeding, seized the meat raw and tore it withtheir fingers, sat upon the ground in preference to chairs, and inevery way behaved as persons altogether ignorant of civilization. Gradually, however, they permitted themselves to be taught, anddelighted their entertainers by their docility and willingness. TheSpaniards were, indeed, somewhat surprised by the whiteness oftheir skin, where sheltered from the sun; and by the lightness oftheir hair and eyes. The boys could hear many comments upon them, and wondering remarks why they should be so much fairer than theircountrymen in general. As, however, it was clearly useless to askthem, none of the Spaniards thought of doing so. 

The end of the fortnight arrived and, under the charge of theescort, the lads set out, together with twenty mules laden withsilver, for the coast. They had no longer any fear of the attacksof the natives, or any trouble connected with their food supply; anample stock of provisions being carried upon spare mules. Theythemselves were mounted, and greatly enjoyed the journey throughthe magnificent forests. 

They were, indeed, a little uneasy as to the examination which theywere sure to have to undergo at Arica, and which was likely to bevery much more severe and searching than that to which thegood-natured captain had subjected them. They longed to ask himwhether any news had been heard of the arrival of an Englishsquadron upon the western coast. But it was impossible to do this, without giving rise to suspicion; and they had the consolation, atleast, of having heard no single word concerning their countrymenuttered in the conversations at the mine. Had Captain Francis Drakeand his companions arrived upon the coast, it was almost certainthat their presence there would be the all-absorbing topic amongthe Spanish colonists. 

Upon their arrival at Arica, the boys were conducted at once to thegovernor--a stern and haughty-looking Spaniard, who received theaccount given by the captain with an air of incredulity. 

"This is a strange tale, indeed, " he said, "and passes allprobability. Why should these children have been kidnapped on theeastern coast, and brought across the continent? It is more likelythat they belong to this side. However, they could not bemalefactors who have escaped into the forest, for their age forbidsany idea of that kind. They must have been stolen. But I do notrecall any such event as the carrying off of the sons of Spaniards, here, for many years back. 

"However, this can be inquired into when they learn to speak ourlanguage well. In the meantime, they had better be assignedquarters in the barracks. Let them be instructed in militaryexercises, and in our language. "

"And, " said an ecclesiastic who was sitting at the table, "in ourholy religion; for methinks, stolen away as they were in theiryouth, they can be no better than pagans. "

Tom had difficulty in repressing a desire to glance at Ned, asthese words were spoken. But the eyes of the governor were fixed sointently upon them, that he feared to exhibit any emotion, whatever. He resolved mentally, however, that his progress inSpanish should be exceedingly small; and that many months shouldelapse, before he could possibly receive even rudimentaryinstruction in religious matters. 

The life in the barracks at Arica resembled, pretty closely, thatwhich they had led so long on board ship. The soldiers receivedthem with good feeling and camaraderie, and they were sooncompletely at home with them. They practiced drill, the use of thepike and rapier; taking very great care, in all these exercises, tobetray exceeding clumsiness. With the bow, alone, they were able toshow how expert they were. 

Indeed, the Spaniards were, in no slight degree, astonished by theextraordinary power and accuracy of their shooting. This Nedaccounted for, to them, by the long practice that he had had amongthe Indians; declaring that, among the tribes beyond the mountains, he was by no means an exceptionally good shot--which, indeed, wastrue enough at short distances, for at these the Indians couldshoot with marvellous dexterity. 

"By San Josef!" exclaimed one of the Spanish officers, afterwatching the boys shooting at a target, two hundred yards distant, with their powerful bows; "it reminds me of the way that thoseaccursed English archers draw their bows, and send their arrowssinging through the air. In faith, too, these men, with their blueeyes and their light hair, remind one of these heretic dogs. "

"Who are these English?" Ned asked, carelessly. "I have heard of nosuch tribe. Do they live near the seacoast, or among themountains?"

"They are no tribe, but a white people, like ourselves, " thecaptain said. "Of course, you will not have heard of them. And, fortunately, you are not likely ever to see them on this coast; butif you had remained where you were born, on the other side, youwould have heard little else talked of than the doings of thesepirates and scoundrels; who scour the seas, defy the authority ofhis sacred majesty, carry off our treasures under our noses, burnour towns, and keep the whole coast in an uproar. "

"But, " said Ned, in assumed astonishment, "how is it that so greata monarch as the King of Spain, and Emperor of the Indies, does notannihilate these ferocious sea robbers? Surely so mighty a kingcould have no difficulty in overcoming them. "

"They live in an island, " the officer said, "and are half fish, half men. "

"What monsters!" Ned exclaimed. "Half fish and half men! How thendo they walk?"

"Not really; but in their habits. They are born sailors, and are soferocious and bloodthirsty that, at sea, they overcome even thesoldiers of Spain; who are known, " he said, drawing himself up, "tobe the bravest in the world. On land, however, we should teach thema very different lesson; but on the sea it must be owned that, somehow, we are less valiant than on shore. "

Every day a priest came down to the barracks, and for an hourendeavored to instill the elements of his religion into the mindsof the now civilized wild men. Ned, although progressing rapidly inother branches of his Spanish education, appeared abnormally dullto the explanations of the good father; while Tom's small stock ofSpanish was quite insufficient to enable him to comprehend morethan a word, here and there. 

So matters might have remained, for months, had not an eventoccurred which disclosed the true nationality of the lads. One daythe ordinarily placid blue sky was over-clouded. The wind roserapidly and, in a few hours, a tremendous storm was blowing on thecoast. Most of the vessels in the harbor succeeded in running intoshelter. But, later in the day, a cry arose that a ship had justrounded the point of the bay, and that she would not be able tomake the port. The whole population speedily gathered upon themole, and the vessel, a small one employed in the coasting trade, was seen struggling with the waves, which were rapidly bearing hertowards a reef, lying a quarter of a mile from the shore. 

The sea was, at this time, running with tremendous force. The windwas howling in a fierce gale, and when the vessel struck upon therocks, and her masts at once went by the board, all hope of safetyfor the crew appeared at an end. 

"Cannot a boat be launched, " said Ned to the soldiers standinground, "to effect the rescue of these poor fellows in that wreck?"

"Impossible!" they all said. "No boat could live in that sea. "

After chatting for a time, Tom and Ned drew a little apart from therest of the crowd, and watched the ill-fated vessel. 

"It is a rough sea, certainly, " Ned said; "but it is all nonsenseto say that a boat could not live. Come along, Tom. Let us pushthat shallop down. There is a sheltered spot behind that rock wherewe may launch her, and methinks that our arms can row her out toyonder ship. "

Throwing off their doublets, the young men put their shoulders tothe boat, and soon forced it into the water. Then, taking theirseats and putting out the oars, they rowed round the corner of thesheltering rock, and breasted the sea which was rolling in. A cryof astonishment broke from the crowd on the mole as the boat madeits appearance, and the astonishment was heightened when it wasdeclared, by the soldiers, that the two men on board were the wildmen of the wood, as they were familiarly called among themselves. 

It was a long struggle before the boys reached the wreck, and itneeded all their strength and seamanship to avoid being swamped bythe tremendous seas. At last, however, they neared it and, catchinga line thrown to them by the sailors, brought the boat up under thelee of the ship; and as the captain, the four men who composed hiscrew, and a passenger, leaped one by one from the ship into thesea, they dragged them on board the boat, and then turned her headto shore. 

Chapter 15: The Prison of the Inquisition. 

Among the spectators on the mole were the governor and otherprincipal officers of Arica. 

"It seems almost like a miracle from heaven, " the priest, who wasstanding next the governor, exclaimed. 

The governor was scowling angrily at the boat. 

"If there be a miracle, " he said, "good father, it is that our eyeshave been blinded so long. Think you, for a moment, that two ladswho have been brought up among the Indians, from their childhood, could manage a boat in such a sea as this? Why, if their story weretrue they could, neither of them, ever have handled an oar; andthese are sailors, skillful and daring beyond the common, and haveventured a feat that none of our people here on shore were willingto undertake. How they got here I know not, but assuredly they areEnglish sailors. This will account for their blue eyes and lighthair, which have so puzzled us; and for that ignorance of Spanish, which they so craftily accounted for. "

Although the assembled mass of people on the beach had not arrivedat the conclusions to which the governor had jumped, they werefilled with astonishment and admiration at the daring deed whichhad been accomplished; and when the boat was safely brought roundbehind the shelter of the rock, and its occupants landed on theshore, loud cheers broke from the crowd; and the lads received aperfect ovation, their comrades of the barracks being especiallyenthusiastic. Presently the crowd were severed by two soldiers, whomade their way through it and, approaching Ned and Tom, said:

"We have the orders of the governor to bring you to him. "

The lads supposed that the governor desired to thank them, forsaving the lives of the shipwrecked men; for in the excitement ofthe rescue, the thought that they had exposed themselves by theirknowledge of seamanship had never crossed their minds. The crowdfollowed tumultuously, expecting to hear a flattering tribute paidto the young men who had behaved so well. But the aspect of thegovernor as, surrounded by his officers, he stood in one of thebatteries on the mole, excited a vague feeling of astonishment andsurprise. 

"You are two English seamen, " he said, when the lads approached. "It is useless lying any longer. Your knowledge of seamanship, andyour appearance, alike convict you. "

For an instant the boys were too surprised to reply, and then Tomsaid, boldly:

"We are, sir. We have done no wrong to any man, and we are not ashamed, now, to say we are Englishmen. Under the same circumstances, I doubtnot that any Spaniard would have similarly tried to escape recognition. But as chance has betrayed us, any further concealment were unnecessary. "

"Take them to the guard house, " the governor said, "and keep aclose watch over them. Later, I will interrogate them myself, inthe palace. "

The feelings of the crowd, on hearing this unexpected colloquy, were very mixed. In many, the admiration which the boys' conducthad excited swallowed up all other feeling. But among the lessenthusiastic minds, a vague distrust and terror was at once excitedby the news that English sailors were among them. No Englishman hadever been seen on that coast, and they had inflicted such terriblelosses, on the West Indian Islands and on the neighboring coast, that it is no matter for surprise that their first appearance onthe western shores of South America was deemed an omen of terribleimport. 

The news rapidly spread from mouth to mouth, and a large crowdfollowed in the rear of the little party, and assembled around thegovernor's house. The sailors who had been rescued had many friendsin the port, and these took up the cause of the boys, and shoutedthat men who had done so gallant a deed should be pardoned, whatever their offense Perhaps, on the whole, this party were inthe majority. But the sinister whisper that circulated among thecrowd, that they were spies who had been landed from English shipson the coast, gradually cooled even the most enthusiastic of theirpartisans; and what at one time appeared likely to become aformidable popular movement, gradually calmed down, and the crowddispersed. 

When brought before the governor, the boys affected no moreconcealment; but the only point upon which they refused to giveinformation was respecting the ships on which they had sailed, andthe time at which they had been left upon the eastern coast ofAmerica. Without absolutely affirming the fact, they led to thebelief that they had passed some years since they left theirvessels. 

The governor presently gazed sharply upon them, and demanded:

"Are you the two whites who headed the negro revolt in Porto Rico, and did so much damage to our possessions in that island?"

Ned would have hesitated as to the answer, but Tom at once said, firmly:

"We are not those two white men, sir, but we know them well; andthey were two gallant and loyal Englishmen who, as we know, didmuch to restrain the atrocities of the Indians. We saw them, whenthey regained their ships. "

It was lucky, indeed, that the governor did not put the questionseparately, instead of saying, "Were you two the leaders?" for inthat case Ned would have been forced to acknowledge that he was oneof them. 

The outspokenness of Tom's answer allayed the governor'ssuspicions. A great portion of his questioning was directed todiscovering whether they really had crossed the continent; for he, as well as the populace outside, had at first conceived the ideathat they might have been landed on the coast as spies. The fact, however, that they were captured far up among the Cordilleras;their dress and their appearance; and their knowledge of the nativetongues--which he tested by bringing in some natives, who enteredinto conversation with them--convinced him that all this portion oftheir story was true. 

As he had no fear of their escaping he said that, at present, heshould not treat them as prisoners; and that their gallant conduct, in rowing out to save the lives of Spaniards in danger, entitledthem to every good treatment; but that he must report their case tothe authorities at Lima, who would of course decide upon it. 

The priest, however, urged upon the governor that he shouldcontinue his instructions to them in the Catholic religion; and thegovernor then pointed out to Ned, who alone was able to conversefluently in Spanish, that they had now been so long separated fromtheir countrymen that they might, with advantage to themselves, become naturalized as Spaniards; in which case he would push theirfortunes to the utmost and, with his report in their favor, theymight rise to positions of credit and honor; whereas, if theyinsisted upon maintaining their nationality as Englishmen, it wasbut too probable that the authorities at Lima would consider itnecessary to send them, as prisoners, to Spain. He said, however, that he would not press them for an answer, at once. 

Greatly rejoiced at finding that they were not, at present, to bethrown into prison; but were to be allowed to continue theirindependent life, in the barracks; the lads took their departurefrom the governor's house, and were most cordially received bytheir comrades. 

For a short time everything went smoothly. The suspicion that theywere spies had now passed away, and the remembrance of theircourageous action made them popular among all classes in the town. A cloud, however, began to gather slowly round them. Now that theyhad declared their nationality, they felt that they could no longereven pretend that it was likely that they might be induced toforsake their religion; and they accordingly refused, positively, to submit any longer to the teaching of the priests. Arguments werespent upon them in vain and, after resorting to these, threats werenot obscurely uttered. They were told, and with truth that, onlytwo or three months before, six persons had been burned alive, atLima, for defying the authority of the church; and that, if theypersisted in their heretical opinions, a similar fate might fallupon them. 

English boys are accustomed to think with feelings of unmitigatedhorror, and indignation, of the days of the Inquisition; and intimes like these, when a general toleration of religious opinionprevails, it appears to us almost incredible that men should haveput others to death, in the name of religion. But it is only byplacing ourselves in the position of the persecutors, of the middleages, that we can see that what appears to us cruelty andbarbarity, of the worst kind, was really the result of a zeal; inits way as earnest, if not as praiseworthy, as that which nowimpels missionaries to go, with their lives in their hands, toregions where little but a martyr's grave can be expected. Nowadayswe believe--at least all right-minded men believe--that there isgood in all creeds; and that it would be rash, indeed, to condemnmen who act up to the best of their lights, even though thoselights may not be our own. 

In the middle ages there was no idea of tolerance such as this. Menbelieved, fiercely and earnestly, that any deviation from the creedto which they, themselves, belonged meant an eternity ofunhappiness. Such being the case, the more earnestly religious aman was, the more he desired to save those around him from thisfate. The inquisitors, and those who supported them, cannot becharged with wanton cruelty. They killed partly to save those whodefied the power of the church, and partly to prevent the spread oftheir doctrines. Their belief was that it was better that one manshould die, even by the death of fire, than that hundreds shouldstray from the pale of the church, and so incur the loss of eternalhappiness. In the Indies, where the priests in many cases showed adevotion, and heroic qualities, equal to anything which has everbeen displayed by missionaries, in any part of the world, persecution was yet hotter than it ever was in civilized Europe. These men believed firmly that it was their bounden duty, at anycost, to force the natives to become Christians; and however we maythink that they were mistaken and wrong, however we may abhor theacts of cruelty which they committed, it would be a mistake, indeed, to suppose that these were perpetrated from mere lightnessof heart, and wanton bloodthirstiness. 

The laws of those days were, in all countries, brutally severe. InEngland, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, the loss of an ear wasthe punishment inflicted upon a man who begged. The second time heoffended, his other ear was cut off. A third repetition of theoffense, and he was sold into slavery; and if he ran away from hismaster, he was liable to be put to death by the first person whomet him. The theft of any article above the value of threeshillings was punishable by death, and a similar code of punishmentprevailed for all kinds of offenses Human life was then held insuch slight regard that we must remember that, terrible as thedoings of the Inquisition were, they were not so utterly foreign, to the age in which they were perpetrated, as would appear to us, living in these days of moderate punishment and general humanity. 

By the boys, however, brought up in England, which at that time wasbitterly and even fiercely anti-Catholic--a state of things whichnaturally followed the doings in the reign of Queen Mary, and thethreatening aspect maintained by Spain towards this country--poperywas held in utter abhorrence, and the Inquisition was the bugbearwith which mothers frightened their children, when disobedient. 

The thought, therefore, of falling into the hands of this dreadedtribunal was very terrible to the boys. They debated, betweenthemselves, whether it would not be better for them to leave Aricasecretly, to make for the mountains, and to take up their lot, forlife, among the natives of the plains, who had so hospitablyreceived them. They had, indeed, almost arrived at the conclusionthat this would be their best plan of procedure. 

They lingered, however, in the hope, daily becoming fainter, of thearrival of Drake's fleet; but it seemed that, by this time, it musthave failed in its object of doubling the Horn. Nearly six monthshad elapsed, since they had been left on the eastern coast; and, according to their calculation of distance, two months should haveamply sufficed to enable them to make the circuit of SouthernAmerica. 

They could not tell that the fleet had been delayed byextraordinary accidents. When off the Cape they had met withstorms, which continued from the 7th of September to the 28th ofOctober, without intermission; and which the old chronicler of theexpedition describes as being "more violent, and of longercontinuance, than anything since Noah's flood. " They had to wastemuch time, owing to the fact that Captain Winter with one of theships had, missing his consorts in the storm, sailed back toEngland, that two other ships were lost, and that Captain Drakewith his flagship, which alone remained, had spent much time insearching for his consorts, in every inlet and island. 

Among those saved, in the boat from the Spanish ship, was a younggentleman of rank and fortune, and owner of large estates nearLima, who had come down upon some business. He took a greataffection for the young Englishmen, and came each day to visitthem, there being no let or hindrance on the part of the governor. This gentleman assured them that he possessed great influence atLima; and that, although he doubted not that the militaryauthorities would treat them with all courtesy, after the manner inwhich they had risked their lives to save subjects of his majesty;yet that, should it be otherwise, he would move heaven and earth intheir favor. 

"There is but one thing I dread, " he said, and a cloud came overhis handsome face. 

"You need hardly say what it is, " Ned said, gravely. "You mean, ofcourse, the Inquisition. "

The Spaniard signified his assent by a silent movement of the head. 

"We dare not speak, above our breath, of that dreaded tribunal, " hesaid. "The very walls appear to have ears; and it is better to facea tiger, in his den, than to say ought against the Inquisition. There are many Spaniards who, like myself, loathe and abhor it; butwe are powerless. Their agents are everywhere, and one knows not inwhom he dare confide. Even in our families there are spies, andthis tyranny, which is carried on in the name of religion, is pastall supporting. 

"But, even should the 'holy office' lay its hands upon you, keep upheart. Be assured that I will risk all that I am worth, and mylife, to boot, to save you from it. "

"Would you advise us to fly?" Ned said. "We can without doubtescape from here, for we are but lightly guarded; and the governor, I am sure, is friendly towards us. "

"Whither would you fly?" asked the young Spaniard. 

"We would cross the mountains to the plains, and join the Indiansthere. "

"It would be a wretched life, " the Spaniard said, "and would cutyou off from all kindred, and friends. I can give you no advice. Tome, I confess, death would be preferable, even in its worst forms. But to you, fond of exercise, and able to cause yourself to berespected, and feared, by the wild Indians of the Pampas, it mightbe different. 

"However, you need not decide, yet. I trust that, even should theworst befall you, I may be able, at the last moment, to give youthe opportunity of choosing that life, in preference to death inthe dungeons of the Inquisition. "

It was about ten days from the date of the governor's writing thata ship came in from Lima, and the same evening the governor came into them, with a grave face. He was attended by two officials, dressed in the deepest black. 

"Senors, " he said, "it is my duty, in the first place, to informyou that the governor of Lima, acting upon the report, which I senthim, of the bravery which you manifested in the matter of the wreckhere, has agreed to withdraw all question against you, touchingyour past connection with the English freebooters; and to allow youfreedom, without let or hindrance, and to further your passage tosuch place as opportunity may afford, and where you may be able tomeet with a ship from your own country. That is all I have to sayto you. "

Then the men in black stepped forward and said, "We arrest you, inthe name of the holy Inquisition, on the charge of heresy. "

The young men glanced at the governor, believing that he wassufficiently their friend to give them a sign, if resistance wouldbe of any avail. He replied to the unspoken question by an almostimperceptible shake of the head; and it was well that the boysabandoned the idea, for the door opened and a guard of six men, armed to the teeth, although in plain dark clothes, entered. Thesewere the alguazils of the holy office, the birds of night, whoseappearance was dreaded even by the most bigoted Spaniards; and atwhose approach mothers clasped their children closer to theirbreast, and men crossed themselves, at the thought that theirpassage boded death to some unhappy victim. For it must beremembered that the Inquisition, framed at first only for thediscovery and punishment of heresy, later became an instrument ofprivate vengeance. Men denounced wives of whom they wished to berid, wives husbands; no relations of kin were sufficient to ensuresafety. The evidence, sometimes true, was more often manufacturedby malice and hate; until at last even the most earnest and sincereCatholics trembled when they thought that, at any moment, theymight be denounced and flung into the dungeons of the Inquisition. 

Brave as the lads were, they could not avoid a thrill of horror, atthe presence of the familiars of this dreaded body. They were, however, cheered by the thought of the promises of the youngSpaniard, in whose honesty and honor they had great faith; and witha few words of adieu to the governor, and thanks to him for what hehad done in their behalf, they followed the officers of theInquisition along the streets of Arica, and suffered themselves tobe placed on board the boat, which lay alongside the mole. 

Although it was late in the evening, their passage was notunobserved. Many of the soldiers recognized, in the two menmarching, surrounded by the black guard of the Inquisition, theirlate comrades; and, confident in their numbers, these did nothesitate to lift their voices, in loud protest, against thisseizure of men who had behaved so gallantly. In the darkness, too, they feared not that their faces would be recognized, and theircurses and threats rose loud in the air. 

People looking out from their doors, to hear the cause of theuproar, were variously affected. Some joined in the movement of thesoldiers; but more shrank back with dread into their houses, ratherthan be compromised with so dreaded a body. 

The threats, however, did not proceed to open violence; and as theyoung men, themselves, gave no sign of attempting an effort forfreedom, their comrades contented themselves with many shouts ofgood wishes, mingled with curses upon their captors; and the ladswere embarked, without the alguazils having to use the swords whichthey had drawn in readiness for the expected fray. 

"You are witness, senor officer, " Ned said, "that we came withoutresistance; and that, had we chosen, we could, with the assistanceof the soldiers, have easily broken from the hold of your men. Weare willing, however, to proceed with you to Lima; where we doubtnot that the justice of our judges will result in our acquittal. Noone can blame us that we are of the religion of our fathers. Had webeen born Catholics, and then relapsed into heresy, it would havebeen reasonable for you to have considered our case; but as we buthold the religion which we have been taught, and know indeed of noother, we see not how, in any man's eyes, blame can rest upon us. "

"I take note, " the officer said, "of the docility with which youhave remained in our hands; and will so far testify in your favorTouching the other matter, it is beyond my jurisdiction. "

The vessel in which the boys were embarked was a slow one and, twodays after leaving Arica, they saw a small sailing craft pass them, at no great distance, sailing far more rapidly than they themselveswere going. The boys gave no thought to this occurrence, until theyarrived at the harbor of Lima. A large number of ships were hereanchored and, after the solitude of the sea, which they had enduredduring their voyage from England, this collection of fine galleonsgreatly pleased the boys, who had never seen so large a number ofships collected together, there being nigh forty sail then inharbor. 

As the officers of the Inquisition scarcely ever pass through thestreets in the daytime, owing to the known hostility of the mass ofthe population, no attempt at a landing was made, until nightfall. The officer in charge was however surprised, upon reaching thelanding place, to find a large crowd assembled, who saluted hisparty with hisses and groans, and loud cries of "shame!" Thosebehind pressed forward, and those in front were forced into theranks of the alguazils; and it seemed, at one time, as if theprisoners would be separated from their guards. 

A man in a rough peasant's dress was forced in contact with Ned, and said hastily, in a low voice to him:

"Keep up your heart. When preparations are made, I will act. "

Ned recognized the voice of the young Spanish gentleman, whom hehad left at Arica; and guessed immediately that he had takenpassage in the swift-sailing caravel, in order to be able to reachLima before the vessel containing the prisoners. Ned had, inconfidence, in his talks with him, informed him that he stillhoped, although his hopes had now fallen almost to zero from thelong tarrying of the fleet, that the English admiral would arrive;and that he should be able to go on board, and so rejoin hiscountrymen. This expectation, indeed, it was which had preventedNed and Tom making their escape, when they could have done so, andtaking to the mountains; for it was certain that some time, atleast, would elapse before stringent measures would be takenagainst them. Another effort would, without doubt, be made topersuade them to abandon their religion; and every day might bringwith it the arrival of the English vessels. 

The young men were conducted to a dark and sombre building, whichbore the appearance of a vast monastery. The interior was even moredismal in its appearance than the walls without. A solitary figuremet them at the doorway. Their guards entered, and the gates wereclosed behind. 

The officer in charge handed to the newcomer a paper; and thelatter, receiving it, said, "I accept the charge of the prisoners, and your duties are at an end, concerning them. "

Motioning them to follow, he led them through some long darkcorridors, into a room much better furnished and provided than theyhad expected. Here, placing a lamp upon the table, and pointing totwo manchets of bread and a vessel of water, which stood on thetable; and to two truckle beds, in the corner of the room, he leftthem without a word. Ned had already agreed with his companion thatthey would not, when once within the building, say a word, to eachother, which they would not have heard by their jailors; for theywere well aware that these buildings were furnished with listeningplaces, and that every word which prisoners said would beoverheard, and used against them. They comforted themselves, therefore, with general observations as to their voyage, and to theroom in which they now were; and to the hopes, which theyentertained, that their judges would take a favorable view of theirconduct. 

Then, with a sincere prayer to God, to spare them through thedangers and trials which they might have to undergo, they lay downfor the night; and, such is the elasticity and strength of youth, they were, in spite of the terrible position in which they wereplaced, in a few minutes fast asleep. 

The next day the door of the apartment opened, and two attendants, dressed in black from head to foot, and bearing white wands, entered, and motioned to them to follow them. Through more longcorridors and passages they went, until they stopped at some thickcurtains, overhanging a door. These were drawn aside, the doorbehind them was opened, other curtains hanging on the inside wereseparated, and they entered a large apartment, lighted artificiallyby lamps from above. 

At a table at the end of the room were seated three men, also inblack. They were writing, and for some time did not look up fromtheir work. The attendants stood motionless by the side of thelads; who, in spite of their courage, could not but shudder at thegrim silence of this secret tribunal. 

At last the chief inquisitor laid down his pen and, lifting hiseyes towards them, said:

"Your names are Edward Hearne and Thomas Tressilis. You are Englishsailors who, having crossed from the other side of the continent, made your way to Arica; where you did, as I am told, a braveaction, in saving the lives of some Spanish sailors. "

Tom assented gravely to the address. 

"You are accused, " the inquisitor went on, "of being steeped in theerrors of heresy; and of refusing to listen to the ministrations ofthe holy father, who tried to instruct you in the doctrines of thetrue church. What have you to say to this?"

"It is true, sir, " Ned said, "every word. We were born Protestants, and were brought up in that church. Had we been born in Spain weshould, no doubt, have been true members of your church. But it ishard that men, once ingrained in a faith, should change it foranother. It were like asking a tiger to become a leopard. We areunlearned men, and in no way skilled in the exercises of theology. We accepted what we were taught, and would fain die in the samebelief. Doubtless your priests could give us arguments which weshould be unable to refute, whatever might be done by learned menof our church; and we would pray you to suffer us to hold to thecreed in which we have been reared. "

"It is impossible, " the inquisitor said, "that we should permit youto go on, straightway, in the way of damnation. Your bodies are asnothing to the welfare of your souls; and to save the one it were, indeed, for your good that the other were tormented. We will not, however, press you now to recant your errors. You shall be attendedby a minister of the true religion, who will point out to you theerror of your courses; and in three days we shall expect an answerfrom you. If you embrace the faith of the Holy Church you may, ifyou choose to remain here, rise to posts of honor and wealth; forwe have heard good things of your courage and prudence. If, however, you remain stubborn, we shall find means to compel you todo that which we would fain that you should do of your free will;and if you still defy, at once, the kindness and the chastisementof the church, you will receive that doom which awaits all who defyits authority. "

The attendants now touched the lads on the arm, in token that theaudience was over, and led them back to the room in which they hadfirst been confined. When left alone the boys examined thisclosely, although seeming to be looking without motive at thewalls. The windows were placed high up from the ground, far beyondtheir reach, and were thickly barred. 

The door was of massive oak; and the room, although in appearancebut an ordinary apartment, was truly a dungeon as safe, and asdifficult to break out of, as if far below the surface of theearth. Later on, when an attendant came in with the bread andwater, which formed the substance of each meal, as he placed it onthe table he said, in a low muttered whisper:

"Hope always. Friends are working. "

This intimation greatly raised the spirits of the prisoners, asthey felt that their friend the Spaniard had already succeeded incorrupting some, at least, of the familiars of the Inquisition; andthat no means would be spared to secure their escape, should theworst occur. 

For three days they were visited for many hours daily by a priest, who endeavored to explain to Ned the points of difference betweenthe two religions, and to convince him of the errors of that ofEngland. Ned, however, although but a poor theologist, gave answer, to all his arguments, that he could in no way reply to thereasonings of the priest; but that he was, nevertheless, convincedof their error, and sure that a divine of his church would havefound replies to difficulties to which he could see no outlet. Thepriest strove earnestly with him, but at the end of the third dayhe retired, exasperated, saying angrily that he now left them toother hands. 

Chapter 16: The Rescue. 

The next day they were again brought before the tribunal, and thegrand inquisitor, without this time entering into any length ofspeech, informed them briefly that he gave them another three days;and that if, at the end of the third day, their obstinacy did notyield, he would use the means at his disposal--and he pointed tovarious instruments, hanging on the walls or ranged on the table. Of these, although the lads were ignorant of their uses, theyentertained no doubt, whatever, that they were the instruments oftorture of which they had heard--thumb screws, iron gags, the boot, the rack, and other devilish inventions. They made no reply to theaddress, and were taken away, this time, down several windingstairs to a black and noxious dungeon, far below the general levelof the earth. 

No ray of light entered this cell. The walls were damp withmoisture. In the corner the boys discovered, by the sense offeeling, a small pile of rotten straw; which had, without doubt, formed the bed of some other unfortunate, who had before tenantedthe prison. Here, at least, they had no fear of being overheard;but as the ingenuity of the inquisitors was well known, they agreedto say no word of the hopes they still cherished; but to talk ofother matters, purely personal to themselves. Here, as hour afterhour passed, they strengthened each other in their resolutions, byan agreement that no torture should wring from them a recantationof their faith, and by many prayers for strength and support fromabove. 

Once a day the door opened, and an attendant brought in bread andwater, which he placed in silence on the ground. The second day, ashe did so, he placed a bundle by the side of the bread, andwhispering, "Be prudent. Use these only as the last resource. Friends are preparing to help you, " retired as noiselessly asusual. 

When left in darkness again, the lads seized upon the parcel. Itwas large and heavy and, to their great delight, they found that itcontained two daggers and two brace of heavy pistols. 

"I wonder, " Ned said, in a whisper to Tom, "that our friend doesnot contrive to get us passed through the prison. But I supposethat he finds that only one or two, perhaps, of the attendants arecorruptible; and that our jailor, although he might free us fromthis cell, could not pass us through the corridors and out of thebuilding. "

"Let us see, " Tom said, "if we can make our way into any cell whichmay adjoin this. If it is empty we might, perchance, make ourescape. "

All night the boys labored with their daggers, having first tappedthe wall all round, to hear if any difference of sound gave anintimation that a hollow space was behind. They could not perceivethis; but fancying that, upon the one side, there was some veryslight difference, they attempted to remove the stones there. 

All through the night and next day they continued their labor; andsucceeded, with great difficulty, in removing two of the stones ofthe wall. Behind these, however, was a mass of rubble, formed ofcement so hard that the daggers failed to make any impression, whatever, upon it; and after laboring through the whole day, theywere forced to abandon the design, and replace the stones as theyhad before been; filling up the interstices with the mortar whichthey had dug out, so that no trace of the task upon which they wereemployed should remain. 

That night, when the door opened, two figures, as before, presentedthemselves; and they knew that their summons before the dreadedcourt was at hand. With their daggers and pistols concealed withintheir vests, they followed their guides; each, with a grasp of hishand, assuring the other of his steadfastness and faith. They hadresolved that, sooner than submit to torture, which would cripplethem for life, they would fight to the last, and die resisting. 

This time they found in the audience hall, in addition to the threejudges, four men; clothed also in black, but evidently of aninferior order. These were standing, ranged along by the wall, inreadiness to obey the orders of the judges. Their attendants fellback to the door, and the prisoners remained, standing alone, inthe center of the room. 

"Acting in all kindness, " the judge said, "we have given you ampletime to retract, and to consider your position; and we now callupon you to consent, formally, to abandon your accursed heresies, and to embrace the offer which the holy church kindly makes to you;or to endure the pains which it will be necessary that we shouldinflict, in order to soften your hardness of heart. "

"We are perfectly resolved, " Ned said, "to maintain the religion ofour fathers. As Englishmen, we protest against this outrage. Whenyour countrymen fall into our hands, no man dreams of endeavoringto compel them to abandon their faith. They are treated ashonorable prisoners; and if any outrage be attempted upon ourbodies, sooner or later, be assured, the news of it will come tothe ears of our English captains; and for every drop of blood ofours shed, a Spanish life will answer. "

"You are insolent, " the inquisitor said, coldly. "It is rash tothreaten men in whose power you are. These walls reveal no secrets, and though the town were full of your English pirates, yet wouldyour doom be accomplished; without a possibility of rescue, andwithout your fate ever becoming known, beyond these four walls. 

"Bethink you, " he said, "before you compel me to use the means atmy disposal; for men have spoken as bravely and as obstinately asyou, but they have changed their minds, when they felt their bonescracking under the torture. We would fain abstain from injuringfigures as manly as yours; but, if needs be, we will so reduce themto wrecks that you will envy the veriest cripple who crawls foralms, on the steps of the cathedral here. "

The boys remained silent, and the inquisitor, with an air of angryimpatience, motioned to the men ranged along by the wall to seizetheir prisoners. 

The lads saw that the time for action was come. Each produced hispistol from his breast, the one leveling his at the head of thegrand inquisitor, while the other faced the foremost of thoseadvancing towards them. 

"One step nearer, " Ned said, "and the two of you are dead men. "

A silence as of death fell in the chamber. The judges were tooastonished even to rise from their seats, and the familiars pausedin their advance. 

"You see, " Ned said to the grand inquisitor, "that you are notmasters of the situation. One touch upon my trigger, and the deathwith which you threaten me is yours. Now write, as I order you, apass by which we may be allowed to quit these accursed walls, without molestation. "

Without hesitation, the judge wrote on a piece of paper therequired order. 

"Now, " Ned said, "you must come with us; for I put no faith, whatever, in your promises; for I know the ways of your kind, thatpromises made to heretics are not considered sacred. You are, yourself, my best safeguard; for be assured that the slightestinterruption to us, upon our way, and I draw my trigger, and sendyou to that eternity to which you have dispatched so many victims. "

The judge rose to his feet, and Ned could see that, quiet as heappeared, he was trembling with passion. Tom had, at the firstalarm, retreated to the door; so as to prevent the escape of theattendants stationed there, or of any of the others, to give thealarm. He now opened it, and Ned was about to pass out with theinquisitor when, glancing round, he saw that one of the otherjudges had disappeared, doubtless by some door placed behind thearras, at the end of the room. 

"Treachery is intended, " he muttered to the inquisitor; "butremember that you will be the first victim. "

Slowly Ned passed along the corridors, the inquisitor between thetwo Englishmen, the attendants following in a group behind, uncertain what course to pursue, and without orders from theirsuperior, when at last they came to a door. This was locked, andNed ordered the inquisitor to have it opened. 

"I have not the keys, " he said. "They are in the hands of theattendant whose duty it is to attend to this portion of thebuilding. "

"Call them, " Ned said impatiently. 

The inquisitor struck on the closed door with his hands, and calledaloud, but no answer was returned. 

"Bid these men behind you force it in, " Ned said. 

The men advanced, but as they did so a small side door in thepassage, behind Ned, opened noiselessly, and suddenly a thickblanket was thrown over his head, while an arm struck up the handwhich had the pistol. He drew the trigger, however; and the grandinquisitor, with a groan, sank to the ground. At the same instant anumber of men rushed through the door, and threw themselves uponthe lads, and were joined by the attendants standing behind. 

A desperate struggle ensued. Tom shot the two first men who sprangupon him, and for some minutes the lads maintained a desperatestruggle. Again and again, the crowd of their assailants pulled oneor other of them to the ground; but it was not until their strengthwas utterly exhausted, by their struggles, that both were secured, and bound hand and foot. Then, at the order of one of the otherjudges; who, now that all danger was over, appeared upon the scene, they were lifted bodily, carried back to their dungeon, and castupon the ground. 

Panting and breathless, the lads lay for some time, too exhaustedto speak. 

"I am afraid that I missed that rascally chief inquisitor, " Nedsaid. "Did you notice, Tom?"

"I scarcely saw, for at the same moment I was struck from behind;but I fancy that he fell, when your pistol exploded. "

"In that case, " Ned said, "we may have a respite, for a day or two. He will feel inclined to be present at the ceremony of torturing, himself. 

"On one thing I am determined. We will not be taken by the men inblack, and submit to having our limbs wrenched, without an effort. I should think that, if we snatch up some of the iron instrumentslying about, we can manage to make such a resistance that they willhave to kill us, before we are overcome. If I could kill myself, Icertainly would do so. I do not think I am a coward, Tom, but Iconfess that the sight of those horrible instruments makes my bloodrun cold. "

"I feel with you, Ned. Death itself were nothing; but to be torn, limb from limb, is something horrible. "

The day passed, without any visit being paid to them. No food wasbrought in, and they were left, as if forgotten, by their jailors. Thus they were unable to tell the hour and, as it was perfectlydark, it was by guesswork that they at last lay down to sleep onthe damp stones. 

Presently they were awoke by the tramp of numerous footsteps. Thenthere was a tremendous battering at the door. 

"What on earth are they doing?" Ned exclaimed. "Have they lost thekey, and are they going to break open the door, and finish with us, now? Get ready. We will make a fight at once, and try and end it. "

Presently the door gave way before the heavy blows which werestruck upon it; and, to the astonishment of the lads, a band ofIndians, naked to the waist and holding torches, burst into thecell. 

"Here they are!" exclaimed one of them, in Spanish. 

"Quick, there is not a moment to be lost. Follow us;" and, stoopingdown, he cut the cords which bound them. 

Bewildered and confused with the sudden light, and by theunexpected irruption, the boys followed the speaker; and, closelysurrounded by the Indians, made their way down the passages and outinto the courtyard. There was no resistance, or interference. Thefamiliars had, apparently, fled at the sudden attack upon the jail, and no one appeared to bar their exit. 

The great gates of the courtyard stood uninjured, but the posterndoor had been battered in. Another body of natives, armed withspears and bows and arrows, were standing round the entrance; and agood many of the people of the neighborhood, roused by the suddentumult, were standing at the doors. These looked on, apparently, with mere curiosity, and with no desire to interfere with what wasgoing on. 

Indeed, the Inquisition was never popular with the great body ofthe Spaniards; over whom its secret proceedings, and terriblecruelties, hung like a dark cloud, as none could ever say that theymight not be the objects of denunciation. 

It was clear that the Indians were acting upon a fixed plan; for, the moment that those from within the prison sallied out, allformed in a compact body, and at a brisk slinging trot started downthe street; the lads being kept well in the center, so as toconceal them from the gaze of the public. Not a word was spoken, till they had issued from the town. For another quarter of a miletheir hurried march continued; and then, without a word, the wholeof the escort, with the exception of one man, turned up a crossroadand vanished into the darkness. 

"Heaven be praised that I have saved you, senors!" said the Indianwho remained. "Do you not recognize me? I am Don Estevan, whoselife you saved at Arica. I feared that I might be too late to findyou unharmed; but it required time to get the necessary forcetogether. 

"You recognized me, of course, on the pier when you landed. Theinstant I heard of your arrest, I chartered a swift-sailing countrycraft, and arrived here the day before you. I was the bearer of aletter, signed by many of the soldiers in garrison at Arica, totheir comrades here; saying how bravely you had behaved, and thatyou had become good comrades in the regiment, and urging them to doanything in their power to save you from the Inquisition. This Ithought might be useful, as they would be sure to be called out, incase of an attack upon the Inquisition; and I prayed them to be asslow as possible in their movements, in case of any sudden alarm. This will account for the fact that none of them arrived upon thespot before we had finished our business, just now. 

"But there is not a moment to delay. I have horses two miles awayin readiness, and we must make for there. They will be sure to puton bloodhounds in pursuit, and we may have to ride for it. "

The boys briefly expressed their intense gratitude to theirpreserver, for his efforts in their behalf, Ned adding, "I fear, Don Estevan, that your generous deed of tonight will involve you infearful danger. "

"I have taken every precaution, " the young Spaniard said. "I didnot charter the vessel in my own name, and came up in disguise. Allmy friends believe me to be still at Arica, and no one, so far as Iknow, has recognized me here. I was obliged to go to my estate, which lies a hundred miles up the country. There I armed my peonsand vaqueros, and a number of Indians who were living near, to whomI have always shown kindness. None of them knew that it was thedungeon of the Inquisition which they were to attack, but believedthat it was merely a prison they were about to force; for the powerof superstition is very great in this country, and although a greatmany of the men may lead wild and godless lives, they tremble atthe thought of lifting their hands against that mysterious andawful body, the Inquisition. 

"News travels slowly, indeed, in this country; and it is not likelythat the fact that the prison of the Inquisition has been brokenopen will ever reach the men on my estate. The priest of thevillage is a worthy man; and he has, I know, no sympathy withbigotry and cruelty. Consequently, if any of them should, in theirconfession, tell him that they have been engaged in breaking aprison, he will perchance guess what prison it was, and may imaginethat I had a hand in it. But I feel sure that the knowledge sogained would go no further. 

"I might, had I chosen, have had the horses brought to the pointwhere we separated from my men. But in that case the hounds mighthave followed upon the main body, and so some clue would have beengained as to the direction from which they came. As it is, theywill follow us up, at any rate until we take horses. We will makeour track visible, for some distance, so that the pursuit may becarried on. Before it is over, they will have lost all track of therest of their assailants; and will not, indeed, be able to tracethe direction in which they went. They, too, have horses at a shortdistance, and will speedily regain the estate. "

"How did you know in which cell we were confined?"

"Through the jailor. The man who attended you was once employed bymy father. I met him, the day I arrived from Arica, and bribed himto convey the arms to you; with which I thought that, should theybring you to trial and torture before I could collect my force, youmight make a resistance; for I judged that you would rather diethan suffer mutilation and agony. When you disclosed your arms, today, he slipped at once from the building, as he knew that hewould be suspected. Changing his clothes in a house near, hemounted his horse and rode to meet us, conveying the news that thecrisis had arrived. How it ended he could not tell; but he hopedthat some delay might occur, in resuming proceedings against you. "

By this time they had reached their horses, which were tied in aclump of trees, at a short distance from the road. 

"They are fine animals, " Don Estevan said, "and we may reckon uponshowing our heels to any of those who pursue us; for I can assureyou that the chase is likely to be a hot one. "

"Whither do you intend to go?"

"I am thinking of making for Arica. Before we reach that town youcan, if you choose, strike to the hills and join the nativesbeyond, as you proposed when at Arica; or, should you prefer it, you can, in disguises, enter Arica and remain there, for a time, until all possibility of your friends appearing before that placebe at an end. 

"My absence will not have been noticed, for I mentioned to friendsthere that I was going into the interior, to investigate a mine, ofwhose existence I had heard from some Indians. When I return, therefore, I shall say that the mine was not sufficientlypromising, in appearance, for me to care about asking for aconcession from the government. I shall, of course, pretend to beextremely vexed at the time that has been wasted; and I do not seethat any suspicion can fall upon me, as having been concerned inthe affair at Lima. 

"We will walk our horses at a slow pace, in order to save them, asfar as possible; and to ascertain whether our pursuers havecorrectly followed our steps. When we once hear them, we can thenput on our best speed; and as they will not know that we are but ashort distance ahead, they will go at a moderate pace. Besides, thespeed of bloodhounds, when tracking, is by no means great. "

An hour later, they heard a faint sound in the distance. Instinctively they checked their horses, and again, in the darknessof the night, the deep distant bay of a hound was heard. 

"Just as I thought!" Don Estevan exclaimed. "They have got thebloodhounds, and I should think, by the sound, that they must havejust reached the spot where we mounted. The hounds will be puzzlednow; but the sagacity of these creatures is so great that I am byno means sure that they will be unable to follow us by the track ofthe horses. Now let us set spur. "

For the next four or five hours they proceeded, at a steady gallop, towards the south. The country was flat; the road sandy, but even;and the cool night air was exhilarating, indeed, after theconfinement in the dark and noisome dungeon at Lima. So rejoicedwere the boys, with their newly-recovered freedom, that it was withdifficulty they restrained themselves from bursting into shouts ofjoy. But they were anxious that no sounds should be heard, by thevillagers of the little hamlets lying along the road. The sound ofthe horses' hoofs on the sandy track would scarcely arouse asleeping man; and the fact that their tracks would be plainlyvisible in the sand, when daylight came, caused them no concern;as, so far, they had made no effort to deceive their pursuers. 

Soon after daylight arrived they found themselves upon a stream, which ran down from the mountains and crossed the road. 

"Now, " Don Estevan said, "it is time to begin to throw them off ourtrack. They will believe that the party consist solely of Indians, and our turning east will seem as if we intended to take refuge inthe mountains. Let us then strike up the river for awhile, land ata spot where the horses' hoofs will be clearly visible, and thenpursue a course to the southeast, taking us nearer and nearer tothe hills. 

"Three leagues hence is another stream. This we will enter, andthey will make sure that we have pursued our former tactics--thatwe have followed it up, and again struck for the hills. Instead ofdoing this, we will follow it down for a mile or two; and quit itat some spot where the bank is firm, and will leave no marks of ourfootsteps. Then we will strike across the country, and regain theroad some seven or eight leagues further south. "

The plan appeared a capital one, and was followed out as arranged. Late in the evening, they were again in the vicinity of thesouthern road. In their wallets was a plentiful supply ofprovisions, and they had filled their water bottles at the laststream which they had crossed. Entering a grove of trees, theyunsaddled their horses and allowed them to crop the foliage andshrubs; while they threw themselves down upon the soft earth, stiffand wearied with their long journey. 

"We will travel by night, always, " Don Estevan said. "I do notthink that any suspicion, whatever, will arise that we have againstruck south; but should any inquiry be made, it is as well that noone along the road shall have seen three mounted men. "

For another two days they journeyed, as proposed, by night; restingby day in quiet places and, so far as they knew, without havingbeen seen by any of the scattered population. It was in the middleof the third night, as they were cantering slowly along, that theyheard the tread of a horse, at full gallop, approaching from thesouth. 

"You had better withdraw from the road, " Don Estevan said, "so thatbut one horseman will be met. I will stop the rider, and hear whyhe gallops so fast. It may be that news has preceded us, and it isas well to gather what intelligence we can. "

The boys withdrew from the road, Don Estevan proceeding ahead. Theyheard the sound of the galloping hoofs pause, as their rider metthe Spaniard. There was a talk for a few minutes, and then thehorseman again rode forward at full speed. Don Estevan paused for alittle while, to allow him to get beyond earshot, and then rejoinedhis companions. 

"I have great news, " he said, "and it is for you to decide whetherit will alter your plan of proceeding. The man whom I have just metis a messenger, dispatched by the governor of Arica to Lima, towarn the governor there that an English ship, under the notedfreebooter Francis Drake, has put into that harbor; and has startedagain, sailing for the north, after exacting certain contributions, but otherwise refraining from injuring the town. "

The boys gave a shout of joy, for they had begun to fear that theexpedition must have met with some disaster, in doubling Cape Horn, and been compelled to return. 

"What will you do?" the Spaniard asked. 

"Return to Lima!" the boys exclaimed, simultaneously. "We shall bethere before the admiral can arrive, and can then rejoin ourcomrades. "

"That will indeed be your best plan, " Don Estevan said; "but youmust be disguised thoroughly. However, you are not likely to be soclosely investigated as you otherwise would be, at Lima; for youmay be sure that, when the messenger arrives there, the town willbe in such a ferment of excitement, at the approach of yourcountrymen, that our little affair will, for the time, be entirelyforgotten. "

"I trust, " Ned said, "that we shall be able to do something torender your security more perfect; for, if I mistake not, when theadmiral hears of the doings of the officials of the Inquisition, how many people they have burned to death lately at Lima, and whatfrightful cruelties they have perpetrated in that ghastly prison, he will burn the place to the ground and hang up the judges; inwhich case we may be sure that no further inquiry will ever bethought of, concerning the attack on the prison. What do you adviseus to do, senor? For it is clear that your best course is to returnto Arica, direct. "

"I cannot think of doing that, " the generous young Spaniardreplied. "A few days' longer absence will pass unnoticed, especially as people will have plenty of other matters to think, and talk, about. I do not see how you can possibly obtain disguiseswithout my assistance; and as our pursuers will long since havebeen thrown off our track, and will probably have given up thesearch and have returned to Lima, convinced that we already havecrossed the mountains and are beyond their reach. I think thatthere is little danger in my nearing the city. 

"Come, let us turn our horses' heads, at once. "

In a few minutes, they were returning by the route they hadhitherto traveled They were already dressed as young Spaniards. Thedisguises had been brought by their rescuer, and assumed at thefirst halt. He himself had also washed the paint from his face andhands, and had assumed European garb, in order that any inquiryabout three mounted Indians might be baffled. 

"There is now, " he said, "no longer any occasion for us to ride bynight. We are journeying north, and any inquiries which may ever beset on foot will certainly point only to men going south; andwhereas our Indian disguises might have been suspected, I am now inmy proper character, and my passing through can excite no rumor orcomment. "

Don Estevan had, indeed, assumed the garb of a Spanish proprietorof rank, while the boys were dressed as vaqueros; and as theypassed through villages, in the daytime, kept their horses half alength behind that of their leader. They avoided, on their rideback, putting up at any of the posadas, or village inns, on theirroad; sleeping, as before, in the woods. Their marches were long, but were performed at a much slower rate of speed, as they werecertain that they would reach Lima long before the admiral's ship, even should he not pause at any place on the way. 

It was upon the sixth day after their rescue from prison that theyagain approached Lima. After much consultation, they had agreed tocontinue in their Spanish dresses, taking only the precaution ofsomewhat staining their faces and hands, to give them the colornatural to men who spend their lives on the plains. Don Estevan, himself, determined to enter the city with them after nightfall;and to take them to the house of a trusty friend, where they shouldlie, concealed, until the news arrived that the English ship wasoff the port. He himself would at once mount his horse, and retracehis steps to Arica. 

The programme was carried out successfully. No one glanced at thehidalgo as, with his vaqueros, he rode through the streets of Lima. There were no lights, in those days, save those which hung beforeshrines by the roadside; or occasionally a dim oil lamp, suspendedbefore the portico of some mansion of importance. 

The friend to whom Don Estevan assigned them was a young man, ofhis own age; a cousin, and one, like himself, liberal in hisopinions, free from bigotry, and hating the cruelties perpetratedin the name of religion by the Inquisition. He heard with surprisethe narrative which Don Estevan related; for the latter had notvisited him during his short stay in the city, and was supposedstill to be at Arica. Great was his astonishment, indeed, when hefound that the attack upon the prison of the Inquisition, which hadcaused such intense excitement in the city, had been planned andexecuted by his cousin; and his expressions of approval of the deedwere warm and frequent. He assured the boys that he would doeverything in his power to make them comfortable until the arrivalof the English ship. 

A discussion took place as to whether it was better that theyshould appear as friends of his, who had come in from their countryestate; or whether they should continue their disguise as vaqueros. There were objections to either plan. In the first place, theattendants in waiting would detect the shortcomings in Ned'sSpanish, and would be astonished at the silence of his companion. Upon the other hand, it would seem strange that they should be keptapart from the servitors of the house. Finally, it was agreed thatthey should appear as men of rank, but that Tom should feignsickness, and therefore keep his room; Ned for the most partremaining shut up with him, and taking his meals there. 

This course was followed out, and when the arrangement was completethey took a hearty leave of the noble young Spaniard, who at onceremounted his horse and started on his weary ride back again toArica. 

Chapter 17: The Golden Hind. 

The lads were all anxiety to know what course had been determinedupon, with reference to the arrival of the English vessel. Theywere told that a large fleet was assembled in the harbor, but thatgreat dissension existed, among the authorities, as to whetherresistance should be offered or not. 

"Surely, " Ned said, "they will never allow one vessel to enter aharbor, thronged with shipping, and with a strong garrison on shoreready to take part in the defense!"

Their host flushed a little, and said:

"You English must form but a poor opinion of Spanish courage. Onshore, however, we have proved, on the battlefields of theContinent, that we can hold our own against all comers. But I ownto you that your sea dogs have caused such a panic, among oursailors of the western isles, that they are looked upon asinvincible, and our men appear to be paralyzed at the very name ofthe English buccaneers. "

"Why we are particularly anxious to know, " Ned said, "is that, ifresistance is to be offered, it is clear that we must be ready toembark in a canoe, and to join the ship before she arrives off theharbor; as otherwise, if she is beaten off we may have noopportunity, whatever, of regaining her. "

"I think, " the Spaniard said, "that when the time comes, it isprobable that no resistance may be offered; and that the valor ofthose who, so long as the ship is at a distance, are anxious tofight, will evaporate very rapidly. The citizens, too, are for themost part opposed to resistance; for they argue that, if theEnglish conquer, they are likely to lay the town in ruins; whereas, if unopposed, they may content themselves with certain exactionsupon the richer citizens, as has been their custom in the west. "

During the days that elapsed, many arguments took place, betweenthe Spaniard and Ned, as to the lawfulness of the war which theEnglish buccaneers carried on with the colonies of a nation atpeace with their own, the Spaniard saying that they approached verynearly to the verge of piracy. Ned had never given the subject muchconsideration before. He had done as others did, and had regardedthe Spaniards as lawful prey, their cruelty towards the nativesforming, in the eyes of the English sailors, a justification forany treatment which they might inflict upon them. He was, however, forced to confess that, now the other side was presented to him, the conduct of his countrymen was really indefensible; and heblushed as he thought of the various acts of sacrilege in churches, and other deeds of plunder, in which he had taken part. He assuredhis friend that, in the future, neither he nor his companion wouldever share in such deeds again. 

It was upon the evening of the 15th of February, two days aftertheir return to Lima, that their host entered with the news that aship was seen in the distance approaching the port, and that it wasthe general opinion of the mariners that she was the dreadedEnglish pirate. He had already made arrangements that a small boatshould be lying at one end of the mole. He told them that he couldnot venture to engage rowers, as the fact of the escape of twowhite men from the town might be noticed, and inquiries made. Theboys assured him, however, that they were perfectly able to rowthemselves; and that the smaller the number in the boat, the lesschances there would be of their being received by a random shotfrom their friends. 

It was just nightfall when the English ship entered the harbor, where thirty Spanish vessels were lying, all prepared for defenseThe Golden Hind entered the port and dropped her anchor in themidst; and the quiet resolution and confidence, which this actbetrayed, struck such a panic into the minds of the Spanishcaptains, that not one dared be the first to fire a gun at theintruder. Half an hour after the Golden Hind came to anchor, a boatwas seen approaching, and was met by the hail, "Who goes there?"

The joyful shout of "Friends, your comrades, Ned Hearne and TomTressilis, " was received by a cry of incredulity, and astonishment, by those on board the English vessel. 

Two minutes later, the lads were on deck receiving the heartyembraces and congratulations of all the messmates; Reuben Gale andGerald Summers being almost beside themselves with joy, at thereturn to them of the comrades they believed to be so long agodead. The admiral himself was greatly moved at seeing them; fortheir gallantry during the preceding voyage, and their eager zealto do all in their power for the expedition, had greatly raisedthem in his affections. 

They were soon seated in the cabin, which was thronged by as manyof the officers and gentlemen adventurers as could find room there. A brief narrative was given of their adventures, since leaving thefleet upon the other side of the continent; and loud were theexpressions of surprise, and approval, at the manner in which theyhad gone through the various dangers and difficulties which theyhad encountered; Tom insisting, generously, that the credit wasentirely due to the sagacity and coolness of his friend. 

When the story of the scene in the dungeons of the Inquisition wastold, and Captain Drake was informed that large numbers of personshad been burned alive in Lima, by the Inquisition, he was filledwith fury; and at once dispatched two boat loads of men, armed tothe teeth, to the shore, with orders to burn down the prison, torelease any prisoners found there, and to offer them a safe passageto Europe; and also to hang all officials who might be found withinthe walls. Ned acted as guide. 

The streets of Lima were deserted, as the news of the landing of aparty from the English ship spread through the town; shops wereclosed and windows barred, and it was as through a city of the deadthat the band passed rapidly along, until they reached the prisonof the Inquisition. Here the doors were broken down, and theEnglish sailors entered the ghastly prison. The cells were found tobe tenanted only by natives, most of them men who had been capturedin the hills, and who had refused to accept the Catholic religion. These were all loosed, and allowed to depart in freedom for themountains, taking with them a store of such provisions for the wayas could be found within the walls. 

The sight of the torture room roused the fury of the sailors to theutmost pitch and, breaking into the part wherein dwelt theprincipal inquisitors, these were seized and hung from theirwindows. The contents of the various rooms were then heapedtogether, a light applied, and in a few minutes a glow of flametold the people of Lima that the dreaded prison of the Inquisitionwas no more. 

The party then returned through the streets to the ship, and tookpart in the further operations commanded by the admiral. Proceedingfrom vessel to vessel, they took out all goods which they fancied, and which were either valuable, or might be useful to them in theirfurther voyaging. They hewed down the masts of all the largestships and, cutting their cables, allowed them to drift on shore. 

No more astonishing scene was ever witnessed than that of thirtyships, backed by a garrison and considerable population on shore, allowing themselves to be thus despoiled and wrecked by the crew ofone; and this a vessel inferior in size, and in the numericalstrength of her crew, to many of those within the harbor. 

The next day a party landed and stripped many of the churches oftheir valuables, and also levied a contribution upon the principalinhabitants. Ned and Tom, not thinking it worth while at this timeto enter into a controversy, with the comrades to whom they hadbeen so recently restored, as to the legality of their acts, simplydeclined to make part of the party who landed; alleging that theyhad had enough of the shore of the South American continent for therest of their lives. 

The 15th of February, the date upon which the Golden Hind arrivedat the port of Lima, was indeed one to be remembered throughout thelives of the rescued seamen. Their future had appeared well-nighhopeless. On the one side, the dungeon of the Inquisition andprobably a death by fire. On the other, a life passed in the midstof savages, away from all possibility of ever rejoining theirfriends, or returning to their country. Now they were once againamong those delighted to see them, and proudly trod the decks ofthe Golden Hind as gentlemen adventurers, having a good share inthe booty, as well as in the honor, which would accrue to all onboard. 

So far, indeed, the plunder had been but small. Upon their way downto the Cape they had gleaned nothing, and since rounding it theyhad only touched at Valparaiso, where they had taken all that theyrequired in the way of wines, stores, and provisions of all kinds, besides much gold and, it is sad to say, the rich plunder of thechurches, including golden crosses, silver chalices, and altarcloths. Nowadays it gives one a positive shock to hear of Englishsailors rifling churches; but in those rough times, acts ofsacrilege of this kind awakened but little reprobation. 

The following day they hove the anchor and sailed northwards. Inthe port they had obtained news that, on the evening before theyarrived, a ship laden with much treasure from Panama had appeared, but receiving news of the approach of the English, had again setsail. All determined that, if possible, the treasures on board theCacafuego should pass into the hold of the Golden Hind. 

Spreading all sail, they pressed northward. On the 20th of Februarythey touched at the port of Paita, but did not find her there. Onthe 24th they passed the port of Guayaquil, and on the 28th crossedthe line. On the 1st of March a sail was descried ahead and, sailing towards her, they found that she was indeed the vessel ofwhich they were in search; and of which they had heard not only atLima, but from a ship which they took at Paita, laden with wine;and from another, on board of which they found eighty pounds weightin gold, in Guayaquil. 

The Cacafuego had no thought that the solitary ship which was seenapproaching was that of Captain Drake; but taking her for aSpaniard, made no effort to fly. When, upon her coming close andhailing her to surrender, they discovered their mistake, thecaptain made a bold fight. Hastily loading his carronades, hepoured a volley into the Golden Hind, and did not surrender hisship until one of his masts had fallen by the board, and he himselfwas wounded. Then, finding further resistance useless, he hauleddown his flag. 

The booty taken was even greater than had been expected. Of goldand silver, alone, there was on board her to the value of 750, 000pounds, equal to a vastly larger sum in these days; besides immensequantities of precious stones, silver vessels, and other valuables. For six days they lay alongside the Cacafuego, transferring hercargo to the Golden Hind; and at parting, Captain Drake wasconsiderate enough to give the captain a letter to Captain Winter, or any of the other captains of the fleet, should they come northand meet her, begging that she should be allowed to pass withoutinterruption; or that, should they have need of any of the fewarticles left on board her, they would pay double the value. Healso, in exchange for the valuables transferred, was good enough tobestow upon the master a little linen, and some other commodities. 

As it was now certain that the whole coast would be thoroughlyalarmed, and the Governor General at Panama would be prepared, witha powerful fleet, to resist the Golden Hind should she stir in thatdirection, Captain Francis determined to sail boldly out to sea, and then to shape his course so as to strike the coast again, farnorth of the Spanish possessions. His object, in thus undertaking avoyage which would seem likely to yield but little profit, was thathe hoped he might find a passage round the north of America, and sonot only shorten his own return journey home, but open a mostvaluable country for trade, for his own countrymen. 

On the 7th of March, before putting out to sea, he touched at theIsland of Cano, off the coast of Nicaragua. Here they had an alarmwhich startled even the boldest. As they lay at anchor they feltthe shock of a terrible earthquake, which almost brought down themasts of the ship; and for a moment all thought that she had beenstruck by some hostile machine, or had fallen down on a rock. Thepumps were manned, and it was happily found that she made no water. 

Here they made their last prize on the American coast--a ship whichhad come across from China. She was laden with linen, China silk, and China dishes. Among the spoil is enumerated a falcon made ofgold, with a great emerald set in his breast. 

It was not until the 15th of April that they again touched theland, and landed at Guatulco; whence, after a stay of a few hours, they departed; "not forgetting, " the chronicler says, "to take withthem a certain pot, of about a bushel in bigness, full of royals ofplate, together with a chain of gold, and some other jewels; whichwe entreated a gentleman Spaniard to leave behind him, as he wasflying out of town. "

They then steered out to sea, and did not see the land again until, after sailing 1400 leagues, they came, on June 3rd, in sight ofland in 42 degrees north latitude. 

Before going further, the adventures of the fleet must be brieflyrelated from the day, being the 21st of June, when the attack wasmade upon them by the Patagonians, and the boys were driven intothe wood. Captain Francis, and those of the crew on shore with him, soon beat off the natives; inflicting some loss upon them. Thesetook to the woods, in which they could not be followed; and CaptainFrancis, mourning for the loss of his three adventurers, and of thegunner killed by his side; and despairing of ever recovering thebodies of those who were, as he believed, cut off and murdered;embarked on board ship, and sailed down the coast. A few days laterhe put in to another bay, and there remained some time. 

Here a strange scene was enacted, which has cast a shadow over thereputation of the great sea captain. Calling his officers together, he accused one of them, Captain Doughty, of treachery. He allegedthat the plots against him were commenced before leaving Plymouth;and yet, as he had promoted Captain Doughty to the command of oneof the ships, when upon the voyage, it is difficult to understandhow he can, at that time, have believed that he was unfaithful. Nor, again, does it appear in what way his treachery could haveinjured the admiral, for as all the officers and crew were devotedto him, Captain Doughty might have tried, in vain, to lead themaside from his authority. He professed, indeed, the highest regardfor the man he accused, and spoke to the captains of the greatgoodwill and inward affection, even more than brotherly, which heheld towards him. And yet, he averred that it was absolutelynecessary that Captain Doughty should be put upon his trial. 

Captain Doughty, it is said, stricken with remorse at his conduct, acknowledged himself to have deserved death; for that he hadconspired not only for the overthrow of the expedition, but for thedeath of the admiral, who was not a stranger, but a dear and truefriend to him; and he besought the assembly to take justice intotheir hands, in order to save him from committing suicide. 

The forty officers and gentlemen who formed the court, afterexamining the proofs, judged that "he had deserved death, and thatit stood by no means with their safety to let him live, andtherefore they remitted the matter thereof, with the rest of thecircumstances, to the general. "

Then Captain Drake offered to the prisoner either that he should beexecuted there and then, or that he should be left alone when thefleet sailed away, or that he should be sent back to England, thereto answer his deeds before the lords of her majesty's council. Captain Doughty asked for twenty-four hours to consider hisdecision, and then announced his preference for instant execution, saying that death were better than being left alone in this savageland, and that the dishonor of being sent back to England would begreater than he could survive. 

The next day Mr. Francis Fletcher, the pastor and preacher of thefleet, held a solemn service. The general and the condemned manreceived the sacrament together, after which they dined "also atthe same table together, as cheerful in sobriety as ever in theirlives they had done afore time, each cheering the other up, andtaking their leave by drinking each to other, as if some journeyonly had been in hand. " After dinner, Captain Doughty came forth, kneeled down at the block, and was at once beheaded by the provostmarshal. 

Such is the story of this curious affair, as told by thechroniclers. But it must be remembered that these were favorable toCaptain Drake, and it certainly seems extraordinary that, upon sucha voyage as this, Captain Doughty could not have been deprived ofhis command and reduced to the rank of a simple adventurer; inwhich he could, one would think, have done no harm whatever to theexpedition. 

At the island where this execution took place the fleet abode twomonths, resting the crews, wooding, watering, and trimming theships, and bringing the fleet into a more compact compass;destroying the Mary, a Portuguese prize, and arranging the whole ofthe crews in three ships, so that they might the more easily keeptogether. On August the 17th they set sail, and on the 20th reachedthe entrance to the Straits, Cape Virgins. Here the admiral causedhis fleet, in homage to the Queen, to strike their foresails, acknowledging her to have the full interest and honor in theenterprise; and further, in remembrance of his honored patron, SirChristopher Hatton, he changed the name of the ship in which hehimself sailed from the Pelican to the Golden Hind, this animalforming part of the chancellor's armorial bearings. 

They now entered the narrow Straits of Magellan, which are in manyplaces no wider than a river; and in the night passed a burningmountain, which caused no little surprise to those who had neverbeheld anything of the kind. Here all were astonished by the sightof huge numbers of penguins, which were then for the first timediscovered by Englishmen. These strange birds, with their longbodies, short necks, and absence of wings, greatly astonished them;and were so tame that, in the course of an hour or two, they killedno less than three thousand of them, and found them to be excellentfood. One of these islands the admiral christened Saint George. 

Sailing on for some days, they came to a bay in which they foundmany natives, who came out in a canoe whose beauty and form wereconsidered, by all, to be far superior to anything that they hadhitherto beheld; which was the more singular, inasmuch as thesepeople were of a very low type. However, they appear in those daysto have been more advanced in civilization than their descendantsnow are. 

On the 6th of September they entered the South Sea, Drake havingbeen the fourth commander who had sailed through the Straits. Thefirst passage was made by Magellan in 1520, the second by Loyasa in1526, the third by Juan de Ladrilleros from the Pacific side. Inthis voyage the English commander had far better weather than hadbeen experienced by his predecessors, accomplishing in a fortnighta voyage which had taken them some months. 

His good fortune, however, here deserted them; for upon the veryday after they entered the South Sea, a contrary wind fell uponthem, and increased to a powerful hurricane. This augmented ratherthan decreased in force, and on the night of September the 30th theMarigold, Captain John Thomas, was separated from the rest of thefleet, and was never heard of, after. 

Until the 7th of October they did not again see land, being drivenfar to the south. They then discovered an island, and entering aharbor came to anchor. The shelter, however, was a poor one, andthe gale blew so furiously that, in the night, the Elizabeth wasblown from her anchors, and lost sight of the Golden Hind. It is aquestion whether this event was not partly caused by the captain, Winter, who certainly behaved as if he had the fixed intention ofreturning to England. He never made any serious effort to rejointhe Golden Hind; but, after remaining for some little time in thosequarters, he sailed for England, reaching home in safety somemonths afterwards. 

They christened the bay "The Parting of Friends, " and the GoldenHind was driven down again into 55 degrees south latitude. Freshgales fell upon them and, as has been said, it was not till Octoberthe 28th, after fifty-two days of almost unexampled bad weather, that the sky cleared, and they were able to renew their journey. They searched the islands in all directions for their missingfriends, and in remembrance of them the admiral gave them the nameof the Elizabethedes. 

Hoping that Captain Winter had sailed north, the Golden Hind's headwas turned in that direction, with great hope that they might meether in latitude 30 degrees; which had been before appointed as aplace of rendezvous, should the fleet happen to be separated. Touching at many points, they inquired everywhere of the natives, but could hear no word of any ship having been seen before. 

At the island of Mocha they had a misadventure. The island wasthickly inhabited by many Indians, whom the cruel conduct of theSpaniards had driven from the mainland. With these people theadmiral hoped to have traffic, and the day after his landing theybrought down fruit and vegetables and two fat sheep, receiving inreturn many little presents. They seemed to be well content, andthe next morning early, all being ready for a general traffic, theadmiral repaired to the shore again, with two-thirds of his men, with water barrels to fill up the ship. As they were peaceablyengaged in this task the natives, to the number of five hundred, suddenly sprang from an ambush, and with their arrows shot verygrievously at the English. 

The general himself was struck in the face, under his right eye andclose by his nose. Nine other persons of the party were all woundedgrievously. The rest gained the boats, and all put off. None of thewounded died; which, considering that there was no surgeon on boardthe ship, was looked upon by the mariners as a special miracle intheir favor. 

There was a great talk of returning to shore, to punish the men whohad so treacherously attacked them. But the admiral, seeing thatmany of the men were hurt, and believing that the attack had beenthe result of the cruel treatment bestowed upon the natives by theSpaniards, with whom they had naturally confounded our men, determined to leave them alone; and the same night sailed north, seeking some convenient spot where the men could land, and obtain asupply of fresh provisions. 

Such a place they found at Philip's Bay, in latitude 32 degrees. Here they came to an anchor; and an Indian, described as a comelypersonage of a goodly stature, his apparel being a white garmentreaching scarcely to his knees, came on board in a canoe. His armsand legs were naked; his hair upon his head very long, and withouta beard; of very gentle, mild, and humble nature, and tractable tolearn the use of everything. He was courteously entertained and, receiving gifts, returned to the shore; where his companions, beingmuch pleased with his reception, at once did all that they couldfor the fleet, and brought down provisions and other thingsdesired. 

The natives also offered to guide them to a better harbor where, the people being more numerous, they could obtain a greater storeof the things desired. The offer was accepted, and on the 4th ofDecember, piloted by him, they came to a harbor in such a place aswas wished for. This was the Spanish harbor of Valparaiso, andhere, indeed, they found all that they desired, and that withoutpayment. The Spaniards, having no idea of the English being in thevicinity, received them with all honor; but as soon as the mistakewas discovered they fled, and the town fell into their hands. In aship in the harbor, called the Grand Captain, 1800 jars of wine anda large quantity of gold were found. The churches were plundered oftheir ornaments and relics, and the storehouses of the city laidunder contribution of all things desired. 

Sailing again on the 19th of December, they touched to thesouthward of the town of Coquimbo, where fourteen of them landed. The Spaniards here, however, appeared to be bolder than theircomrades in other towns; for a hundred of them, all well mounted, with three hundred natives, came up against them. This force beingdescried, the English retreated, first from the mainland to a rockwithin the sea, and thence to their boat. One man, however, RichardMinnioy, refused to retire before the Spaniards; and remained, defying the advancing body, until they arrived. He, of course, fella victim to his obstinacy; and the Spaniards, having beheaded thebody, placed it against a post, and used it as a target for theIndians. At nightfall they left it, and the English returned toshore in their boat, and buried it. 

The next day, finding a convenient place, they remained for amonth; refitting the ships and resting the crews, obtaining anabundance of fish and other provisions such as they required; freshwater, however, being absent. 

Sailing along, they came to Iquique and, landing here, they lightedupon a Spaniard who lay asleep, and had lying by him thirteen barsof silver. Thinking it cruel to awaken him, they removed the money, and allowed him to take his sleep out in security. Continuing theirsearch for water they landed again, and near the shore met aSpaniard, with an Indian boy, driving eight "Peruvian sheep, " asthe chronicler calls them; these being, of course, the llamas, which were used as beasts of burden. Each sheep bore two leathernbags, in each of which was fifty pounds weight of refined silver. The chronicler says:

"We could not endure to see a gentleman Spaniard turned carrier so;and therefore, without entreaty, we offered our services, andbecame drivers; only his directions were not so perfect that wecould keep the way which he intended, for almost as soon as he wasparted from us we, with our new kind of carriages, were come untoour boats. "

Beyond this Cape lay certain Indian towns, and with the natives ofthese, who came out on frail rafts, they trafficked knives, beads, and glasses, for dried fish. Here they saw more of the llamas, which are described at great length by the historians of theexpedition; who considered, and rightly, that they wereextraordinary and most useful animals. If however this assertion, that upon one of their backs "did sit at one time three well-grownand tall men, and one boy" be true, they must have beenconsiderably larger in those days than at present. 

It was but a few days later that they arrived at Arica, at whichplace also they gleaned considerable booty, and thence proceeded toLima, which they reached seven days after leaving Arica. 

After their long voyage out to sea they again bore north, andreached the land at the Bay of San Francisco. Here they complainedbitterly of the cold; which is not a little singular, inasmuch asthe time of the year was June, a period at which the heat at SanFrancisco is, at present, excessive. It must be assumed, therefore, that some altogether exceptional season prevailed during thisportion of the voyage. 

Here they were well north of the Spanish possessions, and fellamong a people who knew nothing of the white man. A native in acanoe speedily came out to the ship, as soon as she cast anchor;and, standing at a long distance, made delivery of a very prolixoration, with many gestures and signs, moving his hand, turning andtwisting his head and body, and ending with a great show ofreverence and submission. He returned to shore. Again, and for athird time, he came out and went through the same ceremony; afterwhich he brought a little basket of rushes, filled with an herbwhich is called there tambac, which he threw into the boat. Then heagain returned to shore. 

The people came out, many of them in boats, but would not approachthe vessel; and upon the third day the vessel, having received aleak at sea, was brought to anchor nearer the shore, andpreparations were made to land her stores. 

Chapter 18: San Francisco Bay. 

After his experience of the treachery of the native, the admiraldetermined to build a fort to protect the party on shore. Thepeople, seeing these preparations, appeared in large numbers andapproached, but their attitude expressed astonishment rather thanhostility. They then, laying down their arms, gathered round thelittle party of white men; but as they brought their women withthem, the admiral concluded that no hostility was intended, andallowed them freely to mix with the whites. Their attitude anddeportment showed that they looked upon them as gods, payingworship in the most abject manner. In order to show them that hismen were but human, the admiral ordered them to eat and drink, thatthe people might observe that they were but men, as they. Even thisfailed to convince them and, during the whole time that theyremained there, they were treated as being creatures of celestialorigin. 

Two days later, the natives returned in great numbers. A leader attheir head again delivered a long and tedious oration, "to which, "according to the chronicler, "these people appear to be muchaddicted. " This oration was delivered with strange and violentgestures, the speaker's voice being extended to the uttermoststrength of nature, and his words falling so thick, one in the neckof another, that he could hardly fetch his breath again. 

When he had concluded, the people bowed to the earth, giving a longcry of "Oh, " which appears to have answered to our "Amen. " Then themen came forward, and the women went through a number of exercises, which appear to have shocked and appalled our seamen. 

"As if they had been desperate, they used violence againstthemselves, crying and shrieking piteously, tearing their fleshwith their nails from their cheeks in a monstrous manner, the bloodstreaming down over their bodies. Then, holding their hands abovetheir heads so that they might not save their bodies from harm, they would with fury cast themselves upon the ground; neverrespecting whether it were clean or soft, but dash themselves inthis manner on hard stones, knobby hillocks, stocks of wood, andprickly bushes, or whatever else were in their way; iterating thesame course again and again, some nine or ten times each, othersholding out for fifteen or sixteen times, till their strengthfailed them. "

The admiral, horrified by this cruel exhibition of reverence, ordered his men to fall to prayers; and signified to them that theGod whom we did serve did not approve of such measures as they hadtaken. 

Three days later the king himself came down, and the ceremonieswere repeated. The king then offered to the admiral the monarchy ofthat land, and perceiving that this would please them, and havingin mind the honor and glory of her majesty, Captain Francisaccepted the crown, and with many ceremonies was installed king ofthat country, taking possession of the land in the name of theQueen. It is not a little singular that this, one of the richestand most valuable portions of the United States, should thus havebecome by right, alike, of discovery and of free gift of thepeople, a possession of England. 

For some days the people continued their cruel exercises uponthemselves, and so fixed were they in their idolatry that, evenwhen forcibly prevented acting this way, they would, immediatelythey were released, set to with even redoubled fury to cut andinjure themselves. 

After a time, their worship took a new form. All the people of thecountry having wounds, shrunken limbs, or diseases of any kind werebrought down to be cured; and the people were much grieved that aninstantaneous cure could not be effected, but that our menproceeded, by the application of lotions, plasters, and unguents, to benefit those who had anticipated immediate remedy. 

Altogether, the account given by the voyagers of the people of thispart of America is most favorable They appear to have been of atractable, free, and loving nature, without guile or treachery. They were finely built men, and one of them could carry easily, uphill and down, a weight which two or three Englishmen couldscarcely lift. They were swift at running, and could catch a fishin the sea, if it were in water within their depth. 

When the ship was repaired, the admiral, with many of his officers, made a journey into the interior, and found that it was a goodlycountry, with a very fruitful soil. There were many thousands oflarge and fair deer, grazing in herds. This country was christened, by the admiral, Albion; partly from the color of its cliffs, partlyin remembrance of his country. On the shore a monument was set up, and on it a plate of brass was affixed, engraven with the Queen'sname, the date of the arrival of the ship, and of the free givingup of the province and kingdom into her majesty's hand; and a pieceof current English money was fastened beneath a hole made in thebrass plate, so that it might remain as a proof that the Englishhad taken possession of this land, to which the Spaniards had neverapproached. 

As the stores were being taken on board again, and the natives sawthe preparations for embarkation, the joy with which the arrival ofthese white beings had been received was changed into sorrow, andall the people went about mourning and crying. For many days thiscontinued, and the parting, when the ship set sail on the 23rd ofJuly, was a very sorrowful one, the people climbing to the top ofthe hills, so as to keep the ship in sight as long as they could, and making great fires and burning thereon sacrifices to thedeparting gods. 

The admiral had now made up his mind to abandon the search for apassage round the north of America. The cold had become evengreater, while they remained in the bay. The natives themselveswere wrapped in black cloths, and huddled together for warmth; andthose in the ship suffered exceedingly. Moreover, the shores of thecountry trended far more to the west than had been expected, andthe admiral concluded that, far to the north, the shores of Americaand Asia must unite. He thought, too, that in that country must bevery lofty mountains, covered with snow; for so alone could heaccount for the exceeding coldness of the wind. Believing, therefore, that no passage could be made in that way, and seeingthat the ship had already gone through heavy tempests, and the men, although still of good heart, yet were longing for a return homeafter their great labors, he steered to the west, making theMoluccas his aim. 

During the voyage from Lima along the coast of South America, theboys had met with no special adventures. Upon the day after theycame on board ship, Ned and Tom were called by the admiral into hiscabin, and there recounted to him, at great length, all theadventures that they had gone through. He wondered greatly at theirrecital, and commended them exceedingly for the prudence andcourage which they had shown. The account of the strange places, never before trodden by the foot of white men, which they had seen, he ordered his secretary to write down, at full length, that itmight be delivered to her gracious majesty, together with therecord of the voyage of the Golden Hind; and he predicted that theQueen would take great pleasure in this record of the first journeyacross the continent. 

"As to you, " he said, turning to Ned, "you seem to be fated to getinto adventures, and to find your way out of them. I have notforgotten the strange passage in the Island of Puerta Rico; and Ipredict that, if you go on as you have begun, you will come togreat things. "

Warmly, also, did he praise Ned's companion on the journey; but thelatter modestly ascribed all the success, which had attended theirjourney, to the knowledge of native life which Ned had gained amongthe negroes, and to his courage and prudence. 

"Nevertheless, " said the admiral, "there is praise due also to you, for you have known when to subordinate yourself to one younger inyears, although older in experience. This virtue is rare, and verycommendable; and I doubt not that, had you not so freely given upyour own wishes and inclinations to those of your comrade, youmight both have perished miserably. "

He further expressed his high opinion of Ned's bravery, anddiscretion, by giving him a command in the ship as third officer;finding, on inquiry, that he had learned how to take the altitudeof the sun, and to do other things necessary for the discovery ofthe position of the ship. 

These signs of goodwill on the part of the admiral caused, as mighthave been expected, some jealousy among a considerable portion ofthe equipage. Many, indeed, were glad at the position which Ned hadgained by his enterprise and courage. Others, however, grumbled, and said that it was hard that those who had done their duty onboard the ship should be passed over, in favor of mere youngsters, who had been wandering on their own account on land. Ned himselffelt that there was some reason for this jealousy, upon the part ofthose who had borne the burden of all the great labors, which thoseon board the Golden Hind had undergone; and he spoke to the admiraland expressed his willingness, nay more, his desire, to remain as aprivate gentleman and adventurer on board the ship. This, however, Captain Francis would not hear of. 

"Merit has to be rewarded, " he said, "wheresoever it is found. These men have done their duty. All indeed on board the ship havewrought nobly, for their own safety and for the honor of hermajesty the Queen. But you have gone beyond this; and have, by yourjourney across the continent, brought fame and credit to thecountry. It is right that men who discover strange lands intowhich, some day, the power of Christianity and civilization mayenter, should receive honor and credit of their countrymen. Ofthose who seek to do these things many perish, and those whosurvive should be held in honor"

Most of all delighted, at the success and honor which had befallenNed, were his three friends. Two of them considered that they owedtheir lives to him. All regarded him as their leader, as well astheir comrade. But Reuben Gale grumbled much that he had had noshare in the adventures which had befallen his three friends. 

"You have all three strange histories to tell. You have seenwonderful things, and have journeyed and fought with wild men andSpaniards; while I, with equal goodwill, have never had the chanceof doing more than join in the taking of Spanish caravels, wherethe resistance was so poor that children might have done thebusiness. "

Ned laughed, and promised him that the next adventure he got intohe would, if possible, have him as his comrade. 

"We have a long voyage yet, " he said. "We have not gone much morethan a third of the circumference of the world and, before we reachEngland, strange things may happen yet. We left Plymouth with anoble fleet of six ships. Now there remains but one, andfifty-eight men. At the same rate we shall be reduced to a cockboat, and four men, before we reach England. So keep up your heart, there is plenty of time before us. "

So great was the confidence which they felt in Ned that Reuben wascheered with this promise; although he knew, in his heart, thatthese adventures fell upon Ned not from any effort of his own, butby the effect of accident; or, as we may say, Providence. 

The young men liked not their stay in San Francisco Bay. Those whowere best-looking and youngest were especially chosen out by thewomen as objects of their adoration, and the lads were horrified atthe way in which these poor creatures beat and tore themselves, andgroveled upon the ground; and so, being sick at heart at thesemummeries, and at receiving a worship fit only for the Creator ofthe world, they remained on board ship, as much as possible, duringthe time that they tarried there. 

Except for a group of islands which they passed the day aftersailing west, the Golden Hind saw no more land from the 23rd ofJuly until September 30th, sixty-eight days in all, when they fellin sight of some islands, lying about eight degrees to thenorthward of the line. As soon as the ship was seen a great numberof canoes came out, having in them some four, some six, somefourteen, or even twenty men, paddling rapidly and bringing cocoas, fish, and fruits. 

The beauty and workmanship of these canoes astonished the voyagers. They were made out of one tree of great length, hollowed with fireand axe; and being so smooth, both without and within, that theyshone like polished wood. The bow and stern were alike in shape, rising high and falling inwards almost in a semicircle, and beingcovered with white and glistening shells, for ornament. Thesecanoes had upon either side outriggers--that is, pieces of caneextending six or seven feet beyond the side, and to which werefixed spars of very light wood, so that the boat could in no wiseoverturn. 

These people evinced no fear of the English, and it was clear that, although they might not themselves have seen a ship before, thepresence of the Portuguese in these seas was known to theislanders, and the manner of their vessels. 

The nature of these people was very different from that of thegentle savages on the western coast of America. They did not tradehonestly, as these had done; but obtained as much as they could, and then pushed off from the side of the ship, without handing upthe goods which they had bargained to give; and behaved so rascallythat the admiral, seeing that their intentions were altogetherevil, ordered a gun to be fired, not with the intent of hurtingany, but of frightening them. The roar of the cannon was followedby the instant disappearance of every native from the fleet ofcanoes, amid the laughter of those on board ship. For a long timenone could be seen, each as he came above water keeping on thefurther side of his canoe, and then paddling with it astern, sothat the ship, as she floated on, left them gradually behind. Whenthey thought that they were in safety they again took their placesin the canoes, and finding that none were hurt, again paddledalongside the ship, and made pretense to barter. Some of themindeed came on board with their wares, but while pretending to beengaged in honest trade, they stole the daggers and knives from themen's girdles, and pillaged whatever they could lay their handsupon. 

The admiral, being wroth at this conduct, had some of these menseized and flogged; and then, driving the rest into their canoes, hoisted sail and went onwards, christening the place the "Island ofThieves, " so as to deter all passengers, hereafter, from evervisiting it. 

Passing through many other islands they made for Tidore, theprincipal place in the Moluccas. But as they passed the Island ofMotir, which was then called Ternate, a deputy, or viceroy, of theking of that island came off to the ship in a great canoe, andentreated the admiral to anchor at that island, and not at Tidore;assuring him, in the name of the king, that he would be wondrousglad to see him, and to do all that the admiral could require. Hehimself promised to return to the king at once, who would get allin readiness; whereas, if they went on to Tidore, where thePortuguese held sway, they would find in them deceit and treachery. 

On these persuasions Captain Drake resolved to run into Ternate;where, next morning, he came to anchor. The admiral then sent aparty, consisting of Ned and three other adventurers, to the king;bearing the present of a velvet cloak, as a testimony of his desirefor friendship and goodwill; with the message that he shouldrequire no other thing at his hands but that he might be allowed, by traffic and exchange of merchandise, to obtain provisions; ofwhich, after his long voyage across the seas, he had now but smallstore. 

As the boat rowed to shore, it was met by a large canoe coming outwith a message, from the king, that he had heard from his viceroyhow great was the nobleness of the captain, and of the Queen whomhe served; and that he, who was the enemy of the Portuguese, whomhe had expelled from his dominions, would gladly agree to aid him, and to enter into treaties by which all ships of his nation mightcome to Ternate, and trade for such things as they required, allother white men being excluded. 

On arriving at the shore, the deputation were met by manypersonages. They were dressed in white cloths of Indianmanufacture, and the party marveled much at the difference betweentheir stately manners and ways, and those of the people whom theyhad lately left. Accompanied by these personages, and with greathonor, they were conducted to the interior of the island; where, ina house surprisingly large for a people so far removed fromcivilization, and which, indeed, they afterwards learned had beenbuilt by the Portuguese, they found the king, who received themwith much honor He was a tall and stout man, with much dignity inhis manner. It was clear that his authority among his people wasvery great, for even the nobles and councilors whom he had sent togreet them bowed to the dust in his presence. 

Ned had consulted with his comrades on the way, and had agreedthat, as the messengers of the admiral, and therefore in some wayas the representatives of the Queen, it was their duty to comportthemselves as equal, at least, in dignity to this island monarch. Therefore while all the people knelt in the dust in humility, theywalked straight to his majesty, and held out their hands in Englishfashion. His majesty was in no whit offended at this: and indeed, by his manner, strove to express his respect. A certain amount ofconversation was carried on with him, for in the island were anItalian and a Spaniard; who, having been made prisoners by thePortuguese, had escaped to Ternate. These men, acting asinterpreters, conveyed to the king the messages sent by theadmiral; and in return informed Ned that the king was, in all ways, most anxious to express his pleasure to the admiral; and that, onthe morrow, he would himself visit him on board ship. He also, as apledge, delivered his own signet ring to Ned, to carry on board. 

Having returned on board ship with these messages, they waited forthe morrow, when three large canoes put off from the shore. Inthese were the greatest personages on the island. They sat in thecanoes in accordance with their rank, the old men in the stern. Next to these were divers others, also attired in white, but withdifferences in the way in which the clothes were worn. These alsohad their places under the awning of reeds. The rest of the menwere soldiers, who stood ranged on each side. On the outside ofthese, again, sat the rowers. These canoes must have in some wayresembled the old Roman triremes, for it is said that "there werethree galleries on either side of the canoe, one being buildedabove the other; and in each of these galleries were an equalnumber of benches, whereon did sit the rowers, about the number offourscore in each canoe. "

In the fore part of each canoe sat two men, one holding a drum andthe other a piece of brass; whereon both at once struck, markingthe time for each stroke. The rowers, on their part, ended eachstroke with a song, giving warning to those on the prow to strikeagain; and so, rowing evenly, they came across the sea at greatspeed. 

Each of these canoes carried a small cannon, of about a yard inlength. All the men, except the rowers, had swords, daggers, andshields, lances, bows, and arrows, and some had guns. 

These canoes came up to the ship and rowed round her in solemnprocession, to the great admiration of all on board, who had neverbeheld a sight like this. But the admiral said that the vesselsreminded him of the descriptions which he had read of the greatbarges of Venice. As they rowed they did homage to the admiral, thegreatest personages beginning, first standing up and bowing theirbodies to the ground, the others following in order of rank. Then amessenger came on board, signifying that they had come before theking, who had sent them to conduct our ship into a betteranchorage, and desiring that a rope might be given them out thatthey might, as their king commanded, tow the ship to the placeassigned. 

Very shortly the king himself came out, having with him in hiscanoe six grave and ancient fathers, and did himself at once make areverent kind of obeisance. He was received in the best mannerpossible. The great guns thundered, and as these had been filledwith a large quantity of small shot, they tore up the water in thedistance, and made a fine show for these people. The trumpets also, and other instruments of music, sounded loudly, whereat the kingwas much delighted, and requested that the music might come into aboat. The musicians, at Captain Francis' orders, so did, and layingalongside the king's canoe, were towed behind the ship by therowers in the three first canoes. 

The king and many others came on board, and were bountifullyentertained, many presents being given to them. When the anchoragewas reached the king asked leave to go on shore, promising thatnext day he would again come on board, and in the meantime sendsuch victuals as were requested. Accordingly, at night and the nextmorning large quantities of hens, sugarcanes, rice, figos--whichare supposed to have been plantains--cocoas, and sago were sent onboard. Also some cloves for traffic; but of these the admiral didnot buy many, as he did not wish the ship to be crowded with goods. 

At the time appointed, all things being set in readiness, theadmiral looked for the king's return; but he failed to keep hispromise, to the great discontent and doubt on the part of the crew. The king's brother came off, to invite Captain Drake to land andvisit him; but this brother, who seemed to be an honest gentleman, himself, whispered a few words in confidence to the admiral, warning him that it would be better that he should not go on shore. With his free consent the admiral retained this nobleman as apledge, and then although, in consequence of the king's bad faith, he resolved not to land himself, he sent many of his officers, whowere conducted with great honor to the large and fair houseinhabited by the king, where at least a thousand people weregathered. 

The king was seated in a great chair of state, and many complimentswere exchanged between him and the English. The king was nowattired in his full state; having, from the waist to the ground, arobe of cloth of gold; with many rings of plated gold on his head, making a show something like a crown. On his neck he had a chain ofperfect gold, the links very large. On his left hand were adiamond, an emerald, a ruby, and a turquoise, and on his right handmany beautiful gems. Thus it will be seen that the king of theseislands was a potentate of no mean grandeur. 

Most of the furniture and decorations of the court were obtainedfrom the Portuguese, during the time that they inhabited theisland. Had they not followed the tyrannous ways of their people, they might have remained there in fair comfort; but, desiring toobtain the entire authority, they had killed the late king. Thiscruelty, however, had brought about a different end to that whichthey had expected; for the people, headed by the king's eldest son, had risen against them in great force, had killed many, and haddriven the rest from the island; placing the king's son upon thethrone, who had become the deadly enemy of the Portuguese, and wasnow preparing an expedition to drive them from Tidore. 

The religion of these people was that of the Mussulmans, and therigor with which they fasted--it being, at the time of the Englishvisit, one of their festivals--greatly astonished those who sawthem; for, during the whole time, they would eat nothing betweenmorning and night; but the appetite with which they devoured manymeals, throughout the night, almost equally astonished the British. 

While the Golden Hind lay in the harbor of Ternate, they received avisit from a Chinese gentlemen of high station, and who wasassuredly the first Chinaman who ever came in contact with one ofour race. His reason for being at the Moluccas was singular. He hadbeen a man of great rank in his own country, but was accused of acapital crime; of which, though innocent, he was unable to freehimself. He then implored the emperor to allow him to leave thecountry, placing the proof of his innocence in the hands ofProvidence; it being a bargain that, if he could bring back to theemperor strange and wonderful tidings of things new to him, such ashe had never heard of, he should be restored to his place andhonors, and held to be acquitted of that crime. If such news couldnot be gained by him he was to remain in exile, and to be accountedguilty of that of which he was accused. 

Coming on board, he very earnestly entreated the admiral to givehim the account of his adventures, from the time of leaving hiscountry. This Captain Drake willingly did; and the Chinaman, ingreat delight, exclaimed that this was fully sufficient for him tobear back to the emperor. He gave a very warm and pressinginvitation to Sir Francis to bring the ship to China, where heassured him of a welcome at the hands of the emperor. 

Had Captain Drake been able to accede to this proposition, it isprobable that our dealings with the East, on a large scale, mighthave begun some centuries earlier than they did; but the GoldenHind was much battered by the voyage she had gone through, being, indeed, not a new ship when she started. The crew, too, were alllonging to get home, and the treasure which had been gathered fromthe Spaniards was ample for all their desires. The admiral, therefore, although truly he longed to see this country, and toopen relations between it and the Queen, was yet forced to declinethe invitation, and so to depart on his westward voyage. 

The Golden Hind now made slow progress through the water, herbottom being foul with weeds and other things which had attachedthemselves to it during its long voyage. The captain thereforedetermined to enter the first harbor in an uninhabited island thathe came to, for at none of the places at which he had hithertotouched had he ventured to take this step. However friendly theinhabitants might have appeared, some causes of quarrel might havearisen; and with the ship hauled up and bent over, it might havefallen into the hands of the natives, and so been destroyed, andall return to England cut off from him. 

Five days after leaving Ternate he found such a place and, fetchingup in a small harbor, the whole party landed, pitched tents, andentrenched themselves. Then they took the casks and water vesselsashore and thoroughly repaired them, trimmed the ship and scrapedher bottom, and so put her in a state to perform the rest of thevoyage. 

Greatly here were the crew astonished by the first sight offireflies, creatures which were new to them all. This islandswarmed with crayfish, of a size sufficient to satisfy four hungrymen at dinner. These creatures never went into the sea, but keptthemselves on land, digging holes in the roots of the trees, andthere lodging, numbers together. Strangely enough, too, thesecrayfish, when they found themselves cut off from their naturalretreats, climbed up trees, and there concealed themselves in thebranches. 

On December the 12th they again set sail, being now among theCelebes, where they found the water shoal and coasting verydangerous. The wind, too, was high and contrary, and theirdifficulties greater than anything they had found. On January the9th the wind, however, came aft, and they appeared to have found apassage out of these dangers, sailing then at full speed. 

They were, at the first watch at night, filled with consternationat a crash, followed by silence; and the vessel was found to haverun high upon a reef, of which the surface had presented noindication. 

Not since the Golden Hind had left England had her strait been assore as this. The force with which she had run upon the reef seemedto have carried her beyond all hope of extrication. All consideredthat death was at hand, for they hardly hoped that the ship couldhold long together. The admiral at once, to still the confusionwhich reigned, ordered all to prayers; and the whole, kneeling onthe deck, prayed for mercy, preparing themselves for imminentdeath. Presently, having finished praying, the admiral addressedthem in a consoling speech; and then, their courage being muchraised, all bestirred themselves to regard the position. 

The pumps were first tried and the ship freed of water, and totheir great joy they found that the leakage was no greater thanbefore, and that the rocks had not penetrated through the planks. This appeared to all on board to be an absolute miracle, wrought intheir favor; for it seemed impossible to them that, running at sohigh a rate of speed, the vessel could have failed to break herselfagainst the rocks. It is probable that, in fact, the ship hadstruck upon a newly-formed coral reef; and that the coral--which, when first made, is not very hard--had crashed to pieces under theshock, and so she lay in safety upon the bed of pounded fragments. 

Chapter 19: South Sea Idols. 

When order and tranquility were perfectly restored, the admiralordered a boat to be lowered and soundings to be taken, intendingto put out the anchors ahead, and to get her off by working uponthem with the windlass. It was found, however, that under theforefoot of the vessel the water deepened so rapidly that, at adistance of a few fathoms, no soundings could be obtained. Thisplan, therefore, was abandoned. 

The prospect seemed dark, indeed. The ship's boats would, at most, only carry half the men on board; and if the ship had to beabandoned, the whole of her treasures must be lost, as well as manylives. 

"There is an island far away to the south, " the admiral said. "Ifthe worst come, we must seek refuge on that. It will be well tosend a boat to examine it, and see what capabilities it offers forthe purpose. Then if the weather holds fair we can make severaltrips, and land our men, and a portion at least of our valuables. "

"Will you let me go, sir, with my three friends?" Ned asked. "Thecanoe which we took from our last halting place will carry the fourof us and, as she paddles swiftly, we may be back before manyhours. "

"The idea is a good one, " Captain Drake said. "Make for the island. It is, I should say, fifteen miles off. When you have reached it, see if there be water, fuel, and other necessaries, and whether thelanding be good. If you should come upon any natives, parley withthem. Take a few articles as presents, and explain to them, if theywill come out here with their canoes and aid to bring the thingsashore, we will give them presents, which will make them wealthybeyond their grandest dreams. 

"Be careful, my boys. I know that you will be brave, if necessary;but care and caution are the great things, and remember that oursafety depends upon yours. "

The young men speedily lowered the canoe, under the shelter of thelee side of the ship, took some beads, calicoes, and otherarticles, and then, seating themselves in the boat, paddled rapidlyaway. At first they felt a little awkward in using the paddles, inwhich they had had no practice, whatever. But being powerful men, and accustomed to the use of oars, they soon fell into regularstroke, and the light boat danced rapidly over the waters. Thedistance was further than Captain Drake had imagined, the clearnessof the air making the land appear nearer than it really was; and itwas only after three hours of hard work that they neared it. 

It turned out to be an island of about a mile in length, so far asthey could judge. A reef of coral ran round it. The center of theisland was somewhat elevated, and was covered with coconut trees;and it was this, alone, which had enabled it to be seen, from sogreat a distance, from the deck of the Golden Hind. 

Paddling round the reef, they came to an opening and, enteringthis, found themselves in perfectly smooth water, and were soon onshore. 

"Our best way to look for water, " Ned said, "will be to follow thebeach all round the island. If there is any stream, we must thencome upon it. We had better take our arms, and haul up the canoe. "

Ned, although the youngest of the party, being an officer of theship, was naturally in command. 

"It will be hard, " Reuben said, "if we do not meet with someadventure. This is the first time that I have been out with you, Ned. The others have had their share, and it will be hard upon meif, when I get home, I have not some tale to tell my friends. "

"I hope that it will not be so, " Ned said, "for more than storytelling depends upon our success. I fear the Golden Hind is fixedfast, and that all the fruits of our expedition are lost, even ifour lives be saved. Everything depends upon the report we may makewhen we return; and anything that should occur to delay us, or toprevent our bearing back tidings of this place to the admiral, would be bad fortune, indeed. "

"I don't mean, " Reuben said, "anything that would prevent ourreturning. But we might do something, and yet return safely. "

A walk round the island showed no signs of water; nor, althoughthey searched for some hours, walking backwards and forwards acrossit, could they find any sign of a pool. It was clear that therewere no fresh-water springs on the island, and that the vegetationdepended entirely upon the rain that fell in the regular season. But they discovered, from the top of the island, another and muchlarger one; lying, still again, some fifteen miles to the south. 

After much deliberation, they determined to make for this; as itwas of importance that they should have some news, of a place towhich the goods could be transported, to carry back to the ship. This island was much higher, and there appeared every probabilitythat water, and all they required, would be found there. Accordingly, taking their place in the canoe, they again paddledout through the entrance to the reef, and steered their course fortheir new discovery. 

This was a large island, measuring at least, as they judged fromthe view of the one side, twenty miles round. The shores weresteep, and they rowed for some time before they succeeded infinding a place where a landing could be effected. Then a deep baysuddenly opened out, and into this they rowed. 

Scarcely had they fairly entered it when, from some bushes near theshore, two large war canoes, crowded with natives, shot out andmade towards them. The lads at first grasped their muskets, but Nedsaid:

"Let the arms be. We are here to make peace with the natives, andmust take our chance. "

They stood up in the canoe, holding up their arms in token ofamity. The canoes came alongside at racing pace, the nativesuttering yells of joy. The canoe had evidently been seenapproaching the island, and preparations had been made to seize it, immediately on its arrival. 

Ned held up in his hands the beads and pieces of cloth. But thenatives were too excited for pause or negotiation. In an instantthe boys were seized and placed on board the canoes, two in each. They were tenderly handled, and were clearly objects of venerationrather than of hostility. The moment that they were on board, thecontents of the canoe were transferred to the large boat; and itwas then cast adrift, and the two war boats, at full speed, madeout through the passage. 

Ned endeavored, in vain, to attract the attention of the leaders ofthe savages to his gestures; and to explain to them that there wasa vessel, from which he had come, at a short distance off; andthat, if they would accompany him thither, they would obtain largequantities of the beads and cloth which he showed them. Thenatives, however, were too much excited to pay any attention to hisefforts; and with a sigh of despair he sat down by the side ofReuben, who was in the same boat with him; as the canoes, onemerging from the bay, turned their heads to the southwest, andpaddled steadily and rapidly away from the island. 

"Whither can they be going to take us?" Reuben said. 

"They must belong to some other island, " Ned answered, "and be awar party, which has come on plundering purposes here. What amisfortune! What terribly bad luck! They have clearly never seenwhite men before, and regard us as superior beings; and so far aswe are concerned, it is probable that our lives are safe. But whatwill the admiral think, when night comes on and we do not return?What will become of our comrades?"

And at the thought of their messmates, left without help in soperilous a position, Ned fairly broke down and cried. 

For some hours the natives continued their course withoutintermission, and gradually an island, which had at first seemedlike a low cloud on the horizon, loomed up nearer and nearer; andat last, just as night fell, they landed upon its shores. Here in abay a village of huts, constructed of the boughs of trees, had beenraised; and the arrival of the war canoes was greeted, with wildand prolonged cries, by the women and children. All prostratedthemselves in wonder and astonishment when the white men, in theirstrange attire, were brought on shore; and Ned saw that hissuspicions were correct, and that they were regarded by theircaptors as gods. Further proof was given of this when they wereescorted to a large shed, composed of a roof of thatch supported onfour upright posts, which stood in the center of the village. 

Under this were placed some of the hideous effigies which the SouthSea Islanders worship, and which are affixed to the prow of theirboats; and may be seen in the British Museum, and in other placeswhere collections of Indian curiosities are exhibited. Theseeffigies were carved in the shape of human beings, with enormousgoggle eyes, splashes of bright paint, and strange and immenseheaddresses of brilliant colors. 

Here the lads were motioned to sit down, and the natives broughtthem offerings of cocoas, and other fruits. The boys could hardlyhelp laughing at their strange position, surrounded by thesehideous idols. 

"You wanted an adventure, Reuben, and you have got one, indeed, "Ned said. "You are translated into a heathen god and, if you everget home, will have your story to tell, which will astonish thequiet firesides in Devonshire. "

"Ought we not to refuse to accept this horrid worship?" Geraldsaid. 

"I think not, " Ned replied. "It can do no harm; and we are, atleast, better than these wooden idols. So long at least as we aretaken for gods, our lives are safe. But I would not say as much ifthey once became convinced, by our actions, that we are men likethemselves. "

"But we cannot sit here, all our lives, among these idols, " Reubensaid. 

"I agree with you there, Reuben; but patience does wonders, and Iam not troubled in the least about ourselves. Sooner or later, away of escape will present itself; and when it does, be assuredthat we will use it. Patience is all that we require, now. It is ofour poor shipmates that I am thinking. "

As night fell, great bonfires were lighted. The natives indulged inwild dances round them, and feasting and festivities were kept upall through the night. Four watches were stationed, one at eachpost of the temple; and the boys saw that, for the present, atleast, all thought of escape was out of the question. Andtherefore, stretching themselves at full length on the sand, theywere speedily asleep. 

For some days, the position remained unchanged. The boys were wellfed, and cared for. Offerings of fruit, fish, and other eatableswere duly presented. A perfumed wood which, according to the nativeideas, personified incense, was burned in large quantities roundthe temple, and nearly choked the boys with its smoke. 

Upon the fifth day, it was clear that some expedition was beingprepared. Four large war canoes were dragged down and placed in thewater; and the great idols, which stood in the bow of each, wereremoved and carried up to the temple, and placed there in position. Then the boys were motioned to come down to the beach. 

"I do believe, " said Tom, bursting into a shout of laughter, "thatthey are going to put us in the bows of their canoes, in place oftheir old gods. "

The others joined in the laughter, for to act as the figurehead ofa canoe was indeed a comical, if an unpleasant situation. 

When they reached the boats, the boys saw that their suspicionswere correct, and that the natives were preparing to lash them tothe lofty prows; which rose, some twelve feet above the water, in asweep inwards. 

"This will never do, " Tom said. "If we are fastened like that, ourweight will cut us horribly. Let us show them how to do it. "

Whereupon, with great gravity he took a large piece of flat wood, and motioned to the savages to lash this in front of the bow of oneof the boats, at a height of three feet above the water, so as toafford a little platform upon which he could stand. The natives atonce perceived the drift of what he was doing, and were delightedthat their new deities should evince such readiness to fall in withtheir plans. The additions were made at once to the four canoes;but while this was being done, some of the leading chiefs, withevery mark of deference, approached the boys with colored paints;and motioned, to them, that they would permit them to deck them inthis way. 

Again the boys indulged in a hearty laugh and, stripping off theirupper garments, to the immense admiration of the natives. Theythemselves applied paint in rings, zigzags, and other forms totheir white shirts; painted a large saucer-like circle round theeyes with vermilion, so as to give themselves something theappearance of the great idols; and having thus transmogrifiedthemselves, each gravely took his place upon his perch; where, leaning back against the prow behind them, they were by no meansuncomfortable. 

"If these fellows are going, as I expect, upon a war expedition, "Ned shouted to his friends, as the boats, keeping regularlyabreast, rowed off from the island; amidst a perfect chaos ofsounds, of yells, beatings of rough drums made of skins stretchedacross hollow trunks of trees, and of the blowing of conch shells;"our position will be an unpleasant one. But we must trust tocircumstances to do the best. At any rate, we must wish that ourfriends conquer; for the next party, if we fall into their hands, might take it into their heads that we are devils instead of gods, and it might fare worse with us. "

It was manifest, as soon as they started, that the object of theexpedition was not the island upon which they had been captured, but one lying away to the south. It was a row of several hoursbefore they approached it. As they did so, they saw columns ofsmoke rise from several points of the shore, and knew that theircoming there was observed by the islanders. 

Presently six canoes, equally large with their own and crowded withmen, were observed pulling out, and yells of defiance came acrossthe water. 

"It is clear, " Tom said, "that this island is stronger than ourown; and that it is only on the strength of our miraculous presencethat the islanders expect to conquer their foes; for they wouldnever, with four canoes, venture to attack a place of superiorforce, unless they deemed that their victory was certain. "

With wild yells, which were answered boldly from their own canoes, the enemy approached, and the combat began with a general dischargeof arrows. Then the canoes rowed into each other, and a general anddesperate hand-to-hand combat commenced. The enthusiasm with whichthe inmates of the boys' canoes were animated at first gave themthe superiority, and they not only beat back the attacks of theirfoes but, leaping into their enemy's boats, succeeded in clearingtwo of them of their occupants. Numbers, however, told; and theenemy were, with very heavy clubs and spears, pointed with sharpshells, gradually forcing the adventurers back; when Ned saw that alittle supernatural interference was desirable, to bring mattersstraight again. Giving the word to his friends, he stood up on hisperch and, swinging himself round, alighted in the boat; giving ashe did so a loud British cheer, which was answered by that of hiscomrades. Then, with his arms erect, he began to move along thebenches of the canoe, towards the conflict which was raging oneither side. 

The sudden interference of the four deities, at the head of theboat, was received with a yell of terror by the natives who wereattacking them; which was increased when the boys, each seizing aclub from the hands of a native, jumped into the enemy's canoes, and began to lay about them with all their strength. This was, however, required but for a moment. The sight of so terrible andunexampled an apparition appalled the islanders; who, springingoverboard with yells of despair, swam rapidly towards land, leavingtheir boats in the hands of the victors. 

These indulged in wild yells of triumph, knelt before their goodgeniuses, and then, taking their places, paddled towards the shore. Before they had reached it, however, the defeated savages hadlanded and, running up to their village, had borne the news of theterrible apparitions which had taken part against them. 

The conquerors, on reaching the village, found it deserted;plundered it of a few valuables; carried down all their enemy'sgods in triumph into the canoes; and then, having fired the huts, started again, with the ten canoes, towards their own island. 

Their triumphant arrival at the village was received with franticexcitement and enthusiasm. The sight of six canoes towed in, by thefour belonging to the place, was greeted with something of the samefeeling which, in Nelson's time, Portsmouth more than onceexperienced upon an English vessel arriving with two capturedFrench frigates, of size superior to herself. And when the warriorsinformed their relatives of the interposition of the white gods intheir favor, the latter rose to an even higher estimation in publicopinion than before. They were escorted to their shrine with wilddancing and gesticulation, and great heaps of fruit, fish, andother luxuries were offered to them, in token of the gratitude ofthe people. 

But this was not all. A few hours later a solemn council was heldon the seashore, and after a time a great hurrying to and fro wasvisible in the village. Then, to the sound of their wild music, with dancing, brandishing of spears, and the emission of many wildyells, the whole population moved up towards the shrine. 

"What can they be going to do now?" Tom said. "Some fresh piece ofhomage, I should guess. I do wish they would leave us alone. It isannoying enough to be treated as a god, without being disturbed bythese constant worshippings. "

When the crowd arrived before the shed they separated, and in themidst were discovered four girls. On their heads were wreaths offlowers, and their necks and arms were loaded with necklaces, andshells, and other ornaments. 

"Don't laugh, you fellows, " said Ned. "I do believe that they havebrought us four wives, in token of their gratitude. "

The lads had the greatest difficulty in restraining themselves frommarring the effect of the solemnity by ill-timed laughter. But theyput a great restraint upon themselves, and listened gravely whilethe chief made them a long harangue, and pointed to the fourdamsels; who, elated at the honor of being selected, but somewhatshy at being the center of the public gaze, evidently understoodthat the village had chosen them to be the wives of the gods. 

Although the boys could not understand the words of the speaker, there was no question as to his meaning, and they consultedtogether as to the best steps to be taken, under the circumstances. 

"We must temporize, " said Tom. "It would never do for them toconsider themselves slighted. "

After a short consultation, they again took their places in asolemn row, in front of the shed. Reuben, who was the tallest andmost imposing of the set, and who was evidently considered by thevillagers to be the leading deity, then addressed a long harangueto the chief and villagers. He beckoned to the four girls, whotimidly advanced, and one knelt at the feet of each of the whites. 

Then Reuben motioned that a hut must be built, close to the shrine;and, pointing to the sun, he traced its way across the sky, andmade a mark upon the ground. This he repeated fourteen times, signifying that the girls must be shut up in the hut and guardedsafely for that time, after which the nuptials would take place. 

"You are quite sure, Ned, " he said, pausing and turning round tohis friend, "that we shall be able to make our attempt to escapebefore the end of the fourteen days? Because it would be fearful, indeed, if we were to fail, and to find ourselves compelled tomarry these four heathen women. "

"We will certainly try before the fourteen days are up, Reuben; butwith what success, of course we cannot say. But if we lay our planswell, we ought to manage to get off. "

The villagers readily understood the harangue of Reuben, andwithout delay the whole scattered into the wood and, returning withbundles of palm leaves and some strong posts, at once began toerect the hut. Fires were lighted as the evening came on, andbefore they ceased their labor the hut was finished. 

During this time the girls had remained sitting patiently in frontof the shrine. The lads now offered them their hand, and escortedthem with grave ceremony to the hut. The palm leaves which didservice as a door were placed before it, and the boys proceeded todance, one after the other in solemn order, fourteen times roundthe hut. 

They then signified to the natives that provisions, fruit, andwater must be daily brought for the use of their future wives; andhaving made another harangue, thanking the natives for theirexertions, and signifying future protection and benefits, theyretired under the shelter of the shed, and the village subsided toits ordinary state of tranquility. 

"There are two difficulties in the way of making our escape, " Nedsaid. "In the first place, it is useless to think of leaving thisisland, until we have a sufficient stock, of provisions and waterto put in a canoe, to last us until we can get back to Ternate. Didwe put into any island on the way, our position might be ten timesas bad as it now is. Here at least we are well treated and honoredand, did we choose, could no doubt live here in a sort of heathencomfort, for the rest of our lives; just as many white sailors onthe western isles have turned natives, and given up all thought ofever returning to their own country. 

"The Golden Hind was four days on her journey from Ternate to theplace where she refitted; another two to the spot where she went onthe reef. The wind was very light, and her speed was not above fiveknots an hour. We should be able to paddle back in the course often days, and must take provisions sufficient for that time. 

"The first point, of course, will be to find whether the old shipis still on the reef. If she is not there she may have succeeded ingetting off, or she may have gone to pieces. I trust however thatthe admiral, who is full of resource, has managed to get her off insafety. He will, no doubt, have spent a day or two in looking forus; but finding no signs of us, in the island to which we weresent, or in the other lying in sight to the southward, he will haveshaped his way for the Cape. 

"The first difficulty, then, is to procure sufficient provisions. The next is to make our escape unseen. The four natives who, nightand day, watch at the corners of this shed, mean it as a greathonor, no doubt; but, like many other honors, it is an unpleasantone. Our only plan will be to seize and gag them suddenly, eachpouncing upon one. 

"Then there is the fear that the natives, who are, I must say, themost restless sleepers I ever saw, may in their wanderings up tolook at us find that we have gone, before we are fairly beyondreach of pursuit; for one of their great canoes will travel atleast two feet to our one. 

"Hitherto we have only taken such provisions, from the piles theyhave offered us, as were sufficient for our day's wants, and leftthe rest for them to take away again next morning. In future we hadbest, each day, abstract a considerable quantity; and place itconspicuously in the center of this shed. The people will perhapswonder, but will probably conclude that we are laying it by, tomake a great feast upon our wedding day. 

"As to water, we must do with the calabashes which they bring theday before, and with the milk which the cocoas contain, and whichis to the full as quenching as water. With a good number of cocoas, we ought to be able to shift for some days without other food; andthere is, indeed, an abundance of juice in many of the other fruitswhich they offer us. "

This programme was carried out. Every morning the lads danced insolemn procession round the hut, lessening their rounds by one eachday. Daily the heap of fruit, dried fish, and vegetables under theshed increased; and the natives, who believed that their newdeities were intent upon the thoughts of marriage, had no suspicionwhatever of any desire, on their part, to escape. 

Having settled how to prevent their escape being detected beforemorning, they accustomed themselves to go to sleep with the cloths, woven of the fiber of the palm with which the natives had suppliedthem, pulled over their heads. 

Seven days after the fight with the other islanders, the ladsjudged that the pile of provisions was sufficiently large for theirpurpose, and determined upon making the attempt that night. A canoeof about the size that they desired, which had been used during theday for fishing, lay on the shore close to the water's edge. 

They waited until the village was fairly hushed in sleep. An hourlater they believed that the four guards--or worshipers, for itstruck them that their attendants partook partly of bothcharacters--were beginning to feel drowsy; and each of the boys, having furnished himself with a rope of twisted coconut fiber, stole quietly up to one of these men. 

To place their hands over their mouths, to seize and throw themupon their faces, was but the work of a moment; and wasaccomplished without the least noise, the natives being paralyzedby the sudden and unexpected assault. A piece of wood was shovedinto the mouth of each, as a gag; and secured by a string, passinground the back of the head, and holding it in its place. Their armsand legs were tied, and they were set up against the posts, in thesame position they had before occupied. 

Four of the great effigies were then taken from their places, andlaid down upon the ground and covered over with the mats, so thatto any casual observer they presented exactly the same appearanceas the boys, sleeping there. 

Then, loading themselves with provisions, the boys stole backwardsand forwards, quietly, to the boat. Once they had to pause, as asleepless native came out from his hut, walked up to the shrine, and bowed himself repeatedly before the supposed deities. Fortunately he perceived nothing suspicious, and did not notice theconstrained attitude of the four guardians. When he retired theboys continued their work, and soon had the whole of the store ofcocoas and other provisions in the canoe, together with somecalabashes of water. 

Then with some difficulty they launched the boat and, taking theirplaces, paddled quietly away from the island. Once fairly beyondthe bay, they laid themselves to their work, and the light boatsped rapidly across the waters. In order that they might be sure ofstriking the point where they had left the ship, they made firstfor the island where they had been captured, and when day brokewere close beside it. They then shaped their course northwards, andafter two hours' paddling were in sight of the low island, whichthey had first visited. By noon they reached the spot where, asthey judged, the Golden Hind had gone on the reef; but no signwhatever of her was to be discovered. By the position in which theisland they had left lay they were sure that, although they mightbe two or three miles out in their direction, they must be withinsight of the vessel, were she still remaining as they had left her. 

There had been no great storm since she had grounded; and it wasunlikely, therefore, that she could have gone entirely to pieces. This afforded them great ground for hope that she had beaten offthe reef, and proceeded on her voyage. Hitherto they had beenbuoyed up with the expectation of again meeting their friends; butthey now felt a truly unselfish pleasure, at the thought that theircomrades and admiral had escaped the peril which threatened thedownfall of their hopes, and the termination of an enterprisefairly and successfully carried out, so far. 

There was nothing now for them but to make for Ternate. They foundno difficulty whatever in doing without water, their thirst beingamply quenched by the milk of the cocoas, and the juice of theguavas and other fruits. They paddled for two days longer, workingsteadily all day and far into the night, and passed one or twoislands. 

In the course of the next day's passage they went within a shortdistance of another, and were horrified at seeing, from the narrowbay, a large war canoe put out, and make rapidly towards them. 

They had already talked over what would be their best course insuch a contingency, and proceeded at once to put their plans intoexecution. They had, at starting, taken with them a supply of thepaints used in their decoration; and with these they proceeded totouch up the coloring on their faces and white shirts, and on thestrange ornaments which had been affixed to their heads. Two ofthem now took their place, one at the stern and the other at thebow of the canoe. The other two stood up, and paddled very quietlyand slowly along; and as the canoe approached rapidly, the fourbroke into a song--one of the old Devonshire catches, which theyhad often sung together on board ship. 

The war canoe, as it approached, gradually ceased paddling. Theaspect of this small boat, paddling quietly along and taking noheed of their presence, filled its occupants with surprise. Butwhen the way on their canoe drifted them close to it, and they wereenabled to see the strange character of the freight, a panic ofastonishment and alarm seized them. That a boat, navigated by fourgods, should be seen proceeding calmly along the ocean, alone, wasa sight for which Indian legend gave them no precedent whatever;and after gazing for a while, in superstitious dread at the strangespectacle, they turned their boats' head and paddled rapidly backto shore. 

For an hour or two the boys continued their course, in the sameleisurely manner; but when once convinced that they were out ofsight of their late visitors, they again sat down, and the fourstretched themselves to their work. 

On the evening of that day there was a heavy mist upon the water. The stars were with difficulty seen through it, and the lads wereall convinced that a change of weather was at hand. Beforenightfall had set in, an island had been seen at a short distanceto the north, and they decided at once to make for this; as, ifcaught in mid ocean by a storm, they had little hope of weatheringit in a craft like that in which they were placed; although thenatives, habituated to them, were able to keep the sea in veryrough weather in these little craft; which, to an English eye, appeared no safer than cockleshells. 

The boys rowed with all their strength in the direction in whichthe island lay, but before they reached it sharp puffs of windstruck the water, and the steerage of the canoe became extremelydifficult. Presently, however, they heard the sound of a dull roar, and knew that this was caused by the slow heaving swell, of whichthey were already sensible, breaking upon a beach. 

Ten minutes later they were close to the shore. Had it beendaylight, they would have coasted round the island to search for aconvenient spot for landing; but the wind was already rising, sofast that they deemed it better to risk breaking up their canoe, than to run the hazard of being longer upon the sea. 

Waiting, therefore, for a wave, they sped forward, with all theirstrength. There was a crash, and then they all leaped out togetherand, seizing the canoe, ran her up on the beach, before the nextwave arrived. 

"I fear she has knocked a great hole in her bottom, " Reuben said. 

"Never mind, " Ned replied. "We shall be able to make a shift tomend it. The great point, now, is to drag it up so high among thebushes, that it will not be noticed in the morning by any nativeswho may happen to be about. Until this storm is over, at any rate, we have got to shelter here. "

The canoe, laden as she still was with provisions, was too heavy todrag up; but the boys, emptying her out, lifted her on theirshoulders and carried her inland; until, at a distance of somesixty or seventy yards, they entered a grove of coconut trees. Herethey laid her down, and made two journeys back to the beach tofetch up their provisions, and then took refuge in the grove;thankful that they had escaped on shore in time, for scarcely hadthey landed when the hurricane, which had been brewing, burst withterrific force. 

Seas of immense height came rolling in upon the shore. The trees ofthe grove waved to and fro before it, and shook the heavy nutsdown, with such force that the boys were glad to leave it and tolie down on the open beach, rather than to run the risk of havingtheir skulls fractured by these missiles from above. The sound ofthe wind deadened their voices, and even by shouting they could notmake themselves heard. Now and then, above the din of the storm, was heard the crash of some falling tree; and even as they lay, they were sometimes almost lifted from the ground by the force ofthe wind. 

For twenty-four hours the hurricane continued, and then cleared assuddenly as it had commenced. The lads crept back to the grove, refreshed themselves with the contents of two or three cocoasapiece, and then, lying down under the canoe, which they had takenthe precaution of turning bottom upwards, enjoyed a peaceful sleeptill morning. 

Chapter 20: A Portuguese Settlement. 

The day broke bright and sunny. The first care of the boys was toexamine their canoe; and they found, as they had feared, that ahuge hole had been made, in her bottom, by the crash against therocks on landing. They looked for some time with ruefulcountenances at it; and then, as usual, turned to Ned, to ask himwhat he thought had best be done. 

"There can be no doubt, " he said, "that the natives make a sort ofglue out of some trees or shrubs growing in these islands, and weshall have to endeavor to discover the tree from which they obtainit. We can, of course, easily pull off the bark from some tree, which will do to cover the hole. The great point is to find somesubstance which will make it water tight. "

The grove was a very large one, and appeared to extend along thewhole coast. Seaward, it was formed entirely of cocoa trees, butinland a large number of other trees were mingled with the palms. All day the boys attempted to find some semblance of gum oozingfrom these trees. With sharp pieces of shell they made incisions inthe bark of each variety that they met with, to see if any fluidexuded which might be useful for this purpose, but in vain. 

"If we can kill some animal or other, " Ned said, "we might boildown its sinews and skin and make glue; as Tom and myself did, tomend our bows with, among the Indians on the pampas. But even then, I question whether the glue would stand the action of the water. "

As to their subsistence they had no uneasiness. Besides the cocoas, fruit of all sorts abounded. In the woods parrots and other birdsflew screaming among the branches at their approach, and althoughat present they had no means of shooting or snaring thesecreatures, they agreed that it would be easy to construct bows andarrows, should their stay be prolonged. This, however, they shrankfrom doing, as long as any possible method of escape presenteditself. Were it absolutely necessary, they agreed that they couldburn down a tree and construct a fresh canoe; but they were by nomeans sanguine as to their boat-building capabilities, and werereluctant to give up the idea of continuing their voyage in theirpresent craft, as long as a possibility of so doing remained. 

So they passed four days; but succeeded in finding no gum, or othersubstance, which appeared likely to suit their purpose. 

"I should think, " Reuben said one day, "that it would be possibleto make the canoe so buoyant that she would not sink, even iffilled with water. "

"How would you do that?" Tom asked. "There are many light woods, nodoubt, among the trees that we see; but they would have to remain along time to dry, to be light enough to be of any use. "

"I was thinking, " Reuben said, "that we might use coconuts. Thereare immense quantities upon the trees, and the ground is coveredwith them, from the effects of the late gale. If we strip off thewhole of the outside husk, and then make holes in the little eyesat the top and let out the milk, using young ones in which theflesh has not yet formed, and cutting sticks to fit tightly intothe holes, they would support a considerable weight in the water. Ishould think that if we treated several hundred nuts in this way, put them in the bottom of the canoe, and keep them in their placesby a sort of net, which we might easily make from the fibers of thecocoas, the boat would be buoyant enough to carry us. "

The idea struck all as being feasible, and Reuben was muchcongratulated upon his inventive powers. Without delay, they set towork to carry out the plan. A piece of thin bark was first takenand, by means of a long thorn used as a needle, was sewn over thehole in the canoe, with the fibers of the cocoa. Then a large pileof nuts was collected, and the boys set to work at the task ofemptying them of their contents. It took them some hours' work tomake and fit the pegs. Another two days were spent in manufacturinga net, to stretch across the boat above them. 

The nuts were then placed in the boat, the net put into shape and, choosing a calm night for their trial--for they feared, during thedaytime, to show themselves beyond the margin of the forest--theyplaced it in the water, and paddled a short distance out. 

They found that their anticipations were justified, and that theflotation of the cocoas was amply sufficient to keep the boatafloat. She was, of course, far lower in the water than she hadbefore been, and her pace was greatly deteriorated. This, however, they had expected and, returning to shore, they watched for thenext night. Then, taking in a load of provisions, they started atonce upon their way. 

It was weary work now, for the water-logged canoe was a verydifferent boat to the light bark, which had yielded so easily totheir strokes. Fortunately, however, they met with no misadventure. The weather continued calm. They were unseen, or at least notfollowed, from any of the islands that they passed on their way. But it was ten days after their final start before a large island, which they all recognized as Ternate, was seen rising above thewater. 

"Easy all, " Ned said. "We may be thankful, indeed, that we havearrived safely in sight of the island. But now that we are close, and there is no fear of tempests, had we not better talk overwhether, after all, we shall land at Ternate?"

"Not land at Ternate?" the others exclaimed in consternation; forindeed, the work during the last few days had been very heavy, andthey were rejoicing at the thought of an end to their labors "Why, we thought it was arranged, all along, we should stop at Ternate. "

"Yes, but we arranged that because at Ternate, alone, there seemeda certainty of a welcome. But, as you know, Tidore only lies twelvemiles away from Ternate; and from the position we are now in, itwill not be more than five or six miles farther. 

"You see, when we were there, the king was preparing for a war withthe Portuguese in Tidore, and he would certainly expect us toassist him, and probably to lead his fighting men. "

"But we should have no objection to that, " Reuben said. 

"Not in the least, " Ned replied. "But you see, if we are ever toget back to England, it must be through the Portuguese. Their shipsalone are to be found in these seas, and were we to join the Kingof Ternate in an attack upon them, whether successful or not, wecould never hope to be received in Portuguese ships; and shouldprobably, indeed, be taken to Goa, and perhaps burned there asheretics, if we were to seek an asylum on board. 

"What do you think?"

Viewed in this light, it certainly appeared more prudent to go toTidore, and after some little discussion the boat's head was turnedmore to the west, and the lads continued their weary work inpaddling the water-logged canoe. So slowly did she move that it waslate at night before they approached the island. They determinednot to land till morning, as they might be mistaken for natives, and attacked. They therefore lay down in the canoe and went tosleep, when within about a mile of the island; and the next morningpaddled along its shore until they saw some canoes hauled up, together with an English boat, and supposed that they were at theprincipal landing place of the island. 

On either side of the landing place the cliffs rose steeply up, ata short distance from the beach. But at this point a sort ofnatural gap existed, up which the road ascended into the interiorof the island. There were several natives moving about on the beachas the boys approached, and one of these was seen, at once, tostart at a run up the road. The lads had carefully removed allvestige of the paint from their faces and hands and, having put ontheir doublets, concealed the strange appearance presented beforeby their white shirts. 

No resistance was opposed to their landing; but the nativesmotioned to them that they must not advance inland, until amessenger returned from the governor. The boys were only too gladto throw themselves down full length on the soft sand of the beach, and to dry their clothes in the sun; as for ten days they had beenconstantly wet, and were stiff and tired. 

Presently a native came down at a run, and announced that thegovernor was at hand. Rising to their feet, and making the bestshow they could in their faded garments, the lads soon saw aPortuguese gentleman, attended by four soldiers, coming down theroad between the cliffs. 

"Who are you?" he asked in Portuguese, as he reached them, "andwhence come you?"

"We are Englishmen, " Ned said in Spanish. "We belong to the ship ofCaptain Drake, which passed by here in its voyage of circumnavigation. By an accident, we in the canoe were separated from the ship and leftbehind. We have come to seek your hospitality, and protection. "

"We heard of an English vessel at Ternate, " the governor said, sternly, "some weeks since; and heard also that its captain wasmaking an alliance with the king there, against us. "

"It was not so, " Ned said. "The admiral stopped there for a fewdays to obtain supplies such as he needed; but we are not hereeither to make alliances or to trade. Captain Drake, on starting, intended to voyage round the coast of America; and to return, ifpossible, by the north. After coasting up the western shores ofthat continent, he found that it would be impossible to pass roundthe north, as the coast extended so rapidly toward the north ofAsia. He therefore started to return by the Cape, and on his waypassed through these islands. 

"Had it been part of his plan to make alliances with the King ofTernate, or any other potentate, he would have stopped and done so;and would have given his armed assistance to the king. But hisobject was simply to return, as quickly as possible. Had there beenany alliance made, we should naturally have made for Ternate, instead of this island. But as we have no relations with the king, and seek only means of returning to Europe, we preferred, ofcourse, to come here, where we knew that we should find Christians;and, we hoped, friends. "

There was palpable truth in what Ned said; and the governor, unbending, expressed his readiness to receive and help them. Hethen asked a few more questions about the manner in which they hadbecome separated from their friends; and seeing no advantage inconcealing the truth, and thinking perhaps that it would be well, if an opportunity should offer, that the governor should send avessel to search among the islands near where the wreck took place, and see if any of the crew had sought refuge there, they told himfrankly the circumstances under which they had left the GoldenHind. 

"It would be sad, indeed, " said the Portuguese, "if so grand anexpedition, under so noble a commander, should have been wreckedafter accomplishing such a work. We in these parts are not friendlyto any European meddling. His Holiness the pope granted us alldiscoveries on this side of the Cape, and we would fain trade inpeace and quiet, without interference. But we can admire the greatdeeds and enterprise of your countrymen; and indeed, " he saidsmiling--for the Portuguese are, as a rule, a very small race--andlooking at the bulk of the four young men, which was, indeed, almost gigantic by the side of himself and his soldiers, "I amscarcely surprised, now I see you, at the almost legendary deedswhich I hear that your countrymen have performed on the Spanishmain. 

"But now, follow me to my castle, and I will there provide you withproper appliances. What position did you hold in the ship?"

"We are gentlemen of Devonshire, " Ned said, "and bore a share inthe enterprise, sailing as gentlemen adventurers under CaptainDrake. I myself held the rank of third officer in the ship. "

"Then, senors, " the Portuguese said, bowing, "I am happy to placemyself and my house at your disposal. It may be that you will beable to render me services which will far more than repay anyslight inconvenience or trouble to which I may be put, for we hearthat the King of Ternate is preparing a formidable expeditionagainst us; and as my garrison is a very small one, and the nativesare not to be relied upon to fight against those of the otherisland, the addition of four such experienced soldiers as yourselfwill, in no slight degree, strengthen us. "

The boys replied that their swords were at the service of theirhost; and, well content with the turn things had taken, theyproceeded with him up the road into the interior of the island. 

Upon gaining the higher land, they were surprised at the aspect ofthe island. In place of the almost unbroken forest which they hadbeheld, in other spots at which they had landed, here was faircultivated land. Large groves of spice trees grew here and there, and the natives were working in the fields with the regularity ofEuropeans. The Portuguese method of cultivating the islands whichthey took differed widely from that of the English. Their firststep was to compel the natives to embrace Christianity. Theirsecond to make of them docile and obedient laborers, raising spiceand other products, for which they received in payment calico, beads, and European goods. 

The castle, which stood in the center of a small plain, was builtof stone roughly hewn; and was of no strength which would haveresisted any European attack, but was well calculated for thepurpose for which it was designed. It consisted of a pleasant housestanding in an enclosure, round which was a wall, some fifteen feetin height, with a platform running behind it, to enable itsgarrison to shoot over the top. A ditch of some ten feet in depthand fifteen feet wide surrounded it; so that, without scalingladders to ascend the walls, or cannon to batter holes in them, theplace could be well held against any attack that the natives mightmake upon it. 

The garrison was not a formidable one, consisting only of somethirty Portuguese soldiers, whose appearance did not speak much forthe discipline maintained. Their uniforms were worn and rusty inthe extreme. They were slovenly in appearance, and wore a look ofdiscontent and hopelessness. A large portion of them, indeed, hadbeen criminals, and had been offered the choice of death or ofserving for ten years, which generally meant for life, in theeastern seas. Ned judged that no great reliance could be placedupon this army of scarecrows, in the event of an attack of aserious character. 

"My men would scarcely show to advantage at home, " the governorsaid, noting the glance of surprise with which the boys had viewedthem. "But in a country like this, with such great heat and no realoccasion for more than appearances, it is hopeless to expect themto keep up the smartness which would, at home, be necessary. Thenatives are very docile and quiet, and give us no trouble whatever;and were it not for interference from Ternate, where the people areof a much more warlike nature, the guard which I have would beample for any purposes. I am expecting a vessel which calls hereabout once in six months, very shortly, and anticipate that shewill bring me some twenty more soldiers, for whom I wrote to theviceroy at Goa when she last called here. "

"What is your latest news from Ternate?" Ned asked. 

"I have no direct news, " he said. "What we know we gather from thenatives, who, by means of canoes and fishing boats, are often incommunication with those of the opposite island. They tell me thatgreat preparations are being made, that several of the largest-sizedcanoes have been built, and that they believe, when it is full moon, which is generally the era at which they commence their adventures, there will be a descent upon this island. "

"Then you have seven days in which to prepare, " Ned said. "Have youbeen doing anything to enable you to receive them hotly?"

"I have not, " the governor said. "But now that you gentlemen havecome, I doubt not that your experience in warfare will enable youto advise me as to what steps I had better take. I stand at presentalone here. The officer who, under me, commanded the garrison diedtwo months since; and I myself, who was brought up in a civilrather than a military capacity, am, I own to you, strangealtogether to these matters. "

Ned expressed the willingness of himself and his friends to do allin their power to advise and assist the governor; and with manymutual compliments they now entered the house, where a goodly roomwas assigned to them; some natives told off as their servants; andthe governor at once set two native seamsters to work, tomanufacture garments of a proper cut for them, from materials whichhe had in a storehouse for trading with the neighboring chiefs;who, like all savages, were greatly given to finery. Thus, by theend of the week, the boys were able once more to make a show whichwould have passed muster in a European capital. 

At the governor's request, they had at once proceeded to drill thesoldiers, Ned and Gerald taking each the command of a company offifteen men, as they understood Spanish and could readily makethemselves understood in Portuguese, whereas Tom and Reuben knewbut little of the Spanish tongue. 

"I think, " Tom said the first morning to the governor, after thefriends had discussed the prospect together, "it would be well tothrow up some protection at the top of the road leading from theshore. I should order some large trees to be cut down, and draggedby a strong force of natives to the spot, and there so arrangedthat their branches will point downward and form a chevaux de frisein the hollow way; leaving until the last moment a passage betweenthem, but having at hand a number of young saplings, to fill up thegap. There are, I suppose, other places at which the enemy couldland?"

"Oh, yes, " the governor said. "On the other side of the island theland slopes gradually down to the shore, and indeed it is only fora few miles, at this point, that the cliffs rise so abruptly thatthey could not be ascended. Yet even here there are many pointswhich a native could easily scale; although we, in our accoutrements, would find it impossible. "

While Ned and Gerald drilled their men with great assiduity, astonishing the Portuguese soldiers with their energy andauthoritative manner, Tom and Reuben occupied themselves insuperintending the felling of the trees; and their carriage, bymeans of a large number of natives, to the top of the road. Preparations were also made for blocking up the lower windows ofthe house so that, in case of the enemy succeeding in carrying theouter wall, a stout resistance could be made within. Large piles ofprovisions were stored in the building, and great jars of waterplaced there. 

"Are you sure, " Ned asked the governor one evening, "of the nativeshere? For I own that there appears to me to be a sullen defiance intheir manner, and I should not be surprised to see them turn uponus, immediately those from the other island arrive. If they did so, of course our position at the top of the road would be untenable, as they would take us in the rear. However, if they do so, I doubtnot that we shall be able to cut our way back to the castle, without difficulty. 

"I think that it would be, in any case, advisable to leave at leastten men to hold the castle, while the rest of us oppose thelanding. "

There were in store four small culverins and several light wallpieces. Two of the culverins were placed on the cliff, one at eachside of the path, so as to command the landing. Two others wereplaced on the roof of the castle, which was flat and terraced. Thewall pieces were also cleaned, and placed in position at thecorners of the walls; and the boys, having seen that the musketoonsand arquebuses of the garrison were in excellent order, and readyfor service, felt that all had been done that was possible toprepare for an attack. 

The day before the full moon a sentinel was placed at the cliff, with orders to bring word instantly to the castle, in case anycraft were seen coming from Ternate, the distance from the cliff tothe house being about a mile. A short time after daybreak, nextmorning, the sentry arrived at full speed, saying that a greatfleet of canoes was visible. 

Hurrying to the spot with the governor, the lads made out that theapproaching flotilla consisted of eighteen great war canoes, eachof which, crowded as it was, might contain a hundred men; and inaddition to these were a large number of smaller craft. Theinvading force, therefore, would considerably exceed two thousandmen. 

Reuben had the command of a gun at one side, Tom at the other, andthese now loaded and sighted their pieces, so as to pour a volleyof case shot into the canoes when they arrived within a quarter ofa mile from shore. 

The canoes came along in a dense body, as close together as theycould paddle, their rowers filling the air with defiant yells. Whenthey reached the spot upon which the guns had been trained Tomfired his piece, and its roar was answered by wild screams andyells from the crowded fleet. Reuben followed suit, and thedestruction wrought by the gnus was at once manifest. Three of thegreat canoes were broken to pieces, and their occupants swimming inthe water climbed into the others, among which also a great manymen had been wounded. 

The effect of this reception upon the valor of the natives was veryspeedy. Without a moment's delay they backed off, and were soonseen making out of range of the guns, like a troop of wild fowlscattered by the shot of a fowler. 

"They have a horror of cannon, " the governor said, exultingly, ashe witnessed their departure. "If we had a few more pieces, Ishould have no fear of the result. "

The dispersal of the canoes continued only until they thought thatthey were out of range; for although the lads now sent severalround shot at them, these did not produce any effect, the canoesbeing but small objects to hit at a distance, when on the move, andthe culverins being old pieces, and but little adapted for accurateshooting. 

The fleet were soon seen to gather again, and after a little pausethey started in a body, as before, along the coast. 

"They are going to make a landing elsewhere, " Ned said, "and weshall have to meet them in the open. It is a pity that we have nobeasts of burden to which to harness our pieces; for as these areonly ships' guns, it is impossible for us to drag them at a speedwhich would enable us to oppose their landing. Where are all thenatives?"

At the first alarm a large body of the islanders had assembled uponthe cliff, but in the excitement of watching the approaching enemy, their movements had not been noticed. It was now seen that thewhole of them had left the spot, and not a single native was insight. 

"I think, " Ned said, "we had better fall back and take up aposition near the house, and repel their attack with the assistanceof the guns mounted there. With muskets only, we should not havemuch chance of preventing their landing; and indeed they will rowmuch faster along the coast than we could run to keep up withthem. "

The governor agreed in the justice of Ned's view, and the wholeforce were now ordered to fall back towards the castle. As theyproceeded they saw large bodies of the natives. These, however, kept at a distance; but their exultant shouts showed that they mustbe considered to have gone over to the enemy. 

"I will make you pay for this, " the governor said, stamping hisfoot and shaking his fist angrily in their direction. "Each manshall have to furnish double the amount of spice for half theamount of calico, for the next five years. Ungrateful dogs! When wehave done so much for them!"

Ned could scarcely help smiling to himself, at the thought of themany benefits which the Portuguese had bestowed upon theseunfortunate islanders, whom they had reduced from a state of happyfreedom to one which, whatever it might be called, was but littleshort of slavery. 

It was late in the evening before great numbers of the enemy wereseen approaching, and these, swelled as they were by the populationof the island, appeared a formidable body, indeed, by the side ofthe handful of white men who were drawn up to defend the place. Theenemy, numerous as he was, appeared indisposed to commence a fightat once, but began, to the fierce indignation of the governor, tocut down the groves of spice trees, and to build great fires withthem. 

"I don't think that they will attack until tomorrow, " Ned said, "and it would be well, therefore, to withdraw within the walls, toplant sentries, and to allow the men to rest. We shall want all ourstrength when the battle begins. "

"Do you think, " the governor asked, when they were seated in hisroom, and had finished the repast which had been prepared, "that itwill be well to sally out to meet them in the open? Thirty whitemen ought to be able to defeat almost any number of these nakedsavages. "

"If we had horses I should say yes, " Ned said, "because then, byour speed, we could make up for our lack of numbers; and, wheelingabout, could charge through and through them. But they are so lightand active in comparison to ourselves that we should find itdifficult, if not impossible, to bring them to a hand-to-handconflict. We have, indeed, the advantage of our musketoons; but Iobserved at Ternate that many of the men have muskets, and thesound of firearms would therefore in no way alarm them. With theirbows and arrows they can shoot more steadily at short distancesthan we can, and we should be overwhelmed with a cloud of missiles, while unable to bring to bear the strength of our arms and thekeenness of our swords against their clubs and rough spears. Ithink that we could hold the house for a year against them; but ifwe lost many men in a fight outside, it might go hard with usafterwards. "

When morning dawned the garrison beheld, to their dismay, that theIndians had in the night erected a battery at a quarter of a milein front of the gate, and that in this they had placed theculverins left on the cliff, and a score of the small piecescarried in their war canoes. 

"This is the work of the two white men we saw at Ternate, " Geraldexclaimed. "No Indian could have built a battery according to thisfashion. "

As soon as it was fairly light the enemies' fire opened, and wasanswered by the culverins on the roof of the house. The latter weremuch more quickly and better directed than those of the Indians, but many of the balls of the latter crashed through the greatgates. 

"Shall we make a sortie?" the governor asked Ned. 

"I think that we had better wait for nightfall, " he replied. "Inpassing across this open ground we should lose many men from thecannon shots, and with so small a force remaining, might not beable to resist the onrush of so great numbers. Let us prepare, however, to prop up the gates should they fall, and tonight we willsilence their guns. "

At nightfall the gates, although sorely bruised and battered, andpierced in many places, still stood; being shored up with beamsfrom behind. At ten o'clock twenty of the garrison were let down byropes at the back of the castle, for Ned thought that scouts mightbe lurking near the gates, to give notice of any sortie. With greatprecaution and in perfect silence they made a way round, and werewithin a hundred yards of the battery before their approach wasdiscovered. 

Then, headed by the governor, who was a valiant man by nature, andthe four English, they ran at great speed forward, and were insidethe battery before the enemy could gather to resist them. Thebattle was indeed a hard one; for the Indians, with their clubs, fought valorously. Reuben and Tom, having been furnished withhammer and long nails, proceeded to spike the guns; which they didwith great quickness, their doings being covered, alike, by theirfriends and by darkness. When they had finished their task theygave the signal, and the Portuguese, being sorely pressed, fellback fighting strongly to the castle, where the gates were openedto receive them. In this sortie they lost eight men. 

The next morning at dawn the natives, being gathered in largenumbers, came on to the assault, uttering loud and fierce cries. The cannon on the roof, which were under the charge of Tom andReuben, at once opened fire upon them, while the soldiers upon thewalls shot briskly with their musketoons. The natives, however, appeared determined to succeed and, firing a cloud of arrows, pushed forward towards the gate. Among them were borne, each bysome thirty natives, long trees; and this party, surrounded by themain body, proceeded rapidly towards the gate, which, damaged as itwas, they hoped easily to overthrow. 

The fire of the two culverins was, however, so deadly, and theconcentrated discharge of the musketoons upon them as they advancedso fatal that, after trying several times to approach close to thegate, the natives dropped the great logs and fled. 

Chapter 21: Wholesale Conversion. 

That day and the three which followed passed without adventure. Thenatives were seen ravaging the fields, destroying the plantations, and doing terrible damage, to the intense exasperation of thePortuguese governor. But they did not show any signs of anintention to attack the castle. 

"I believe, " Ned said on the fourth day, "that they have determinedto starve us out. They must know that, however large our stock ofprovisions, they will not last forever; and indeed they will havelearned, from the men who bore them in, something of the amount ofstock which we have. It will last, you say, for two months; whichwould be little enough, were it not that we are expecting the shipyou spoke of. If that comes shortly we shall, with the additionalforce which it is bringing; and the crew, who will no doubt aid; beable to attack them in the open. But were it not for that, ourposition would be a bad one. "

"I fear, " Tom said, "that even when the ship arrives, evil may comeof it. "

"How is that, Tom?" Ned asked. 

"The captain will know nothing of what is passing on shore; and ifhe lands his men incautiously upon the beach, and advances in thisdirection, the natives will fall upon them and, taking them bysurprise, cut them to pieces; and our last hope will then be gone. "

"But we might sally out and effect a diversion, " Reuben said. 

"Yes, " Tom replied; "but, unfortunately, we should not know of thearrival of the ship until all is over. "

It was clear to all that Tom's view was the correct one, and thatthe position was much more serious than they had anticipated. Forsome time the governor and the four young men looked at each other, blankly. The destruction of the reinforcements, which would befollowed no doubt by the capture of the ship by the war canoes, andthe massacre of all on board, would indeed be fatal to their hopes. After what they had seen of the determination with which the enemyhad come up to attack the gate, they were sure that they wouldfight valiantly, outside. 

The question of sallying forth was again discussed, and all were ofopinion that, unequal as the fight would be, it were better toattempt to defeat the enemy than to remain quiet, and allow them totriumph over the coming reinforcements. 

"Upon what day do you think the ship will arrive?" Ned said, afterconsiderable thought. 

"I cannot say to a day, " the governor replied; "but she should behere this week. There is no exact time, because she has to touch atseveral other islands. She leaves Goa always on a certain day; butshe takes many weeks on her voyage, even if the wind be favorableShe might have been here a week since. She may not be here foranother fortnight. But unless something unforeseen has occurred, she should be here by that time; for the winds are steady in theseregions, and the rate of sailing regular. "

"The one chance appears to me, " Ned said, after thinking for sometime, "is to give them warning of what is happening here. "

"But how is that to be done?" asked the governor. 

"The only possible plan, " Ned said, "would be for one of us--and Ishould be ready to accept the duty, knowing more perhaps of theways of natives than the others--to steal forth from the castle, tomake for the shore, and to lie concealed among the woods until thevessel is in sight. If then I could find a canoe, to seize it andpaddle off to the ship; if not, to swim. "

The other lads eagerly volunteered to undertake the work; but Nedinsisted that he was better suited to it, not only from hisknowledge of the natives, but from his superior powers in swimming. 

"I may have, " he said, "to keep myself up in the water for a longtime, and perhaps to swim for my life, if the natives see me. It iseven desirable, above all things, that whosoever undertakes thework should be a good swimmer; and although you have long ago givenup calling me The Otter, I do not suppose that my powers in thewater have diminished. "

After long consultation, it was agreed that this plan offered morechances of success than any other. 

"It would be most desirable, " Gerald said, "that we should havesome notice, here, of the ship being in sight; in order that wemight sally out, and lend a hand to our friends on their arrival. Iwill, therefore, if you will allow me, go with Ned; and when theship is in sight, I will make my way back here, while he goes offto the vessel. "

"But it will be impossible, " Ned said, "to make your way back herein the daytime. I can steal out at night, but to return unnoticedwould be difficult, indeed. "

"But when you see the ship, Ned, and get on board, you might warnthem to delay their landing until the next morning; and in thenight I might enter here with the news, and we might sally out atdaybreak. "

This plan appeared to offer more advantages than any other; and itwas agreed, at last, that the two lads should, having darkenedtheir skins and put on Indian dress, steal out that night from thecastle and make for the shore. Tom and Reuben regretted much thatthey could not take part in the enterprise; but the governorassured them that, even were it desirable that four shouldundertake the mission, they could not be spared, since theirpresence would be greatly needed in the castle should the natives, before the arrival of the ship, make an attack upon it. 

That night Ned and Gerald, according to the arrangement, stole outfrom the castle. Their skins had been darkened from head to foot. Round their waists they wore short petticoats, reaching to theirknees, of native stuff. They had sandals on their feet; for, as Nedsaid, if they were seen close by the natives they were sure to bedetected in any case, and sandals would not show at a shortdistance, while they would enable them to run at full speed, whichthey certainly could not do barefooted. They took with them a bagof provisions, and each carried a sword. Reuben had pressed uponthem to take pistols also; but Ned said that, if cut off anddetected, pistols would be of no use, as nothing but running wouldcarry them through; while should a pistol be fired inadvertently, it would call such a number of assailants upon them that theirescape would be impossible. A thrust with a sword did its worksilently, and just as well as a pistol bullet. 

The natives apparently had no fear of any attempt at a sally fromthe castle, for there was nothing like a watch set round it;although near the entrance a few men were stationed, to givewarning should the garrison sally out to make a sudden attack uponthe invaders. The natives were, for the most part, scattered aboutin small parties, and once or twice the lads nearly fell in withthese; but by dint of keeping their ears and eyes open they steeredthrough the dangers, and arrived safely upon the coast, at a pointtwo miles to the west of the landing place. 

Here the cliff had nearly sloped away, the height being only sometwenty or thirty feet above the water, and being practicable inmany cases for descent; while behind lay a large wood in whichconcealment was easy, except in the case of an organized search, ofwhich they had no fear, whatever. 

The next morning they made along the shore as far as the pointwhere the native war canoes had been pulled up, in hopes of findingsome canoe small enough for Ned to use for rowing off to the ship. But none of them rowed less than twelve or fourteen paddles, and socumbrous a boat as this would be overtaken in a very short time, should it be seen making out from shore. Ned therefore determinedto swim out, especially as they observed that a watch was kept, both day and night, near the canoes. 

Five days passed in concealment. The coconuts afforded them bothfood and drink. Occasionally they heard the boom of the culverinsat the castle, and knew that the natives were showing within range;but as these shots were only heard at times, they were assured thatno persistent attack was being made. 

It was late in the afternoon of the fifth day that the ladsobserved a sail in the distance. It was indeed so far away that, asthe light was fading, they could not say with absolute certaintythat it was the longed-for ship. They both felt convinced, however, that they had seen a sail; and watched intently, as night darkened, for some sign of its passage. 

It was four hours later when they saw, passing along at a distanceof about half a mile, a light on the ocean which could be no otherthan that on board a ship. 

"Now is the time, " Ned said. "I will keep along the shore, underthe cliff, until I get nearly to the landing; and will then strikeout. Do you make for the castle, and tell them that the ship hasarrived, and that we will attack tomorrow; but not at daybreak, aswe proposed, but at noon. "

As Ned proceeded on his way along the shore, he saw suddenly blazeup, far ahead at the landing place, a small bonfire. 

"Ah!" he muttered to himself. "The natives have seen the ship, too;and are following the usual custom, here, of making a fire to showthem where to land. I trust that they will not fall into thesnare. "

When, however, he had reached within a quarter of a mile of thelanding, he saw a small boat come suddenly within its range oflight, and two white men step out of it. They were received, apparently, with much respect by the natives assembled there, andat once advanced up the road; while the boat, putting off, disappeared in the darkness. 

"They will be murdered, " Ned said to himself, "before they havegone a hundred yards. The natives were crafty enough to allow themto land without hindrance, in order that no suspicion might ariseamong those on board ship. "

In the stillness of the night he thought that he heard a distantcry. But he was not sure that his ears had not deceived him. Farout he could see a faint light and, knowing that this marked theplace where the ship was moored, he prepared to strike out for it. 

It was a long swim, and further than he had expected; for in thedarkness the captain, unable to see the land, had prudentlyanchored at a considerable distance from it. Even, however, had itbeen several times as far, Ned could have swum the distance withoutdifficulty; but the whole way he could not forget that those seasswarmed with sharks, and that any moment he might have to encounterone of those hideous monsters. He had left his sword behind him, but carried a dagger and, as he swam, kept his eyes in alldirections, in order that he should not be attacked unprepared. 

The ocean was however, fortunately, at that time deserted by thesebeasts; or if they were in the neighborhood, the quiet, steady, noiseless stroke of the swimmer did not reach their ears. 

As he neared the ship his heart rose, and he sang out blithely, "Ship ahoy!"

"Hullo!" was the reply. "Where are you? I cannot see your boat. "

"I am swimming, " Ned answered. "Throw me a rope, to climb up theside. I have a message from the governor for the captain of theship. "

A minute later Ned stood upon the deck of the Portuguese vessel, the soldiers and sailors looking on wonderingly at him, his bodybeing white, but his face still colored by the preparation. 

The captain himself soon appeared. 

"I am the bearer of a message to you, senor, from the governor, "Ned said. "It is here in this hollow reed. He gives you but fewparticulars, but I believe tells you that you may place everyconfidence in me, and that I have detailed instructions from him. "

The captain split open the little reed which Ned handed to him, andtaking out a paper coiled within it, opened it, and by the light ofa lantern read:

"We are in a very critical position, and it will need at oncecourage and prudence to come out of it. I have sent my friend DonEduardo Hearne, an English gentleman of repute, to warn you againstthe danger which threatens, and to advise you on your furtherproceedings. He will give you all particulars. "

The captain invited Ned to follow him to his cabin and, calling inthe officers, asked for an explanation of this singular visit. Nedbriefly entered into an account of the landing of the natives ofTernate, and of the present situation; and the captain rejoiced atthe escape, which he had had, from falling into an ambuscade. Thishe would assuredly have done, had he landed the troops in themorning as he had intended, and marched them inland, fearing nodanger, and unprepared for attack. 

Ned explained that the plan was that the troops on board the shipshould land, and fight their way into the interior; and that, simultaneously, the garrison should sally out and attack thenatives in the rear; and fight their way towards each other, untilthey effected a junction. They could then retire into the castle, where their future plans could be arranged. 

"I have, however, " Ned said, "ventured to modify that plan, andhave sent word to the governor that we shall not attack until noon, instead of landing at daybreak, as before arranged. We have beenexamining the position where the canoes are lying. They are allhauled up on the beach, in a compact body. It is in a quiet creek, whose mouth you would sail past without suspecting its existence. Icannot say, of course, the depth of water; but these creeks aregenerally deep, and I should think that there would be enough waterfor the ship to float. At any rate, should you not like to venturethis, your pinnace might row in, carrying a gun in her bow, andmight play havoc among the canoes. Or, better still, if you couldsend two boat loads of men there, tonight, and could manage to landand destroy a portion of the canoes, and launch and tow out theothers, I think that we should have a fair chance of getting peace. The natives would be terrified at the loss of their canoes, andwould be likely to make any terms which would ensure their returnto their island. "

The captain at once agreed to the proposition. The three boats ofthe ship were lowered, and the sailors and soldiers took theirplaces; only two or three being left on board ship, as there was nofear, whatever, of an attack from the shore during the night. Nedtook his place in the leading boat of the captain, and acted asguide. They coasted along at a short distance from the land, untilNed told them to cease rowing. 

"We must, " he said, "be close to the spot now; but it is needfulthat one boat should go forward, and find the exact entrance to thecreek. "

Rowing very quietly, the boat in which he was advanced, untilwithin a few yards of the shore; and then proceeded quietly along, for a distance of a few hundred yards, when the black line of shoredisappeared, and a streak of water was seen stretching inland. Quietly they rowed back to the other two boats, and the threeadvancing, entered the creek together. 

Before starting, each officer had been assigned his work. The crewof one of the boats, consisting principally of soldiers, were toland, to advance a short distance inland, and to repulse anyattacks that the natives might make upon them. Another party wereto stave in all the small canoes and, this done, they were toassist the third boat's crew in launching the war canoes into thewater. 

As they approached the spot they were hailed, in the Indian tongue, by someone on shore. No reply was given, and the hail was repeatedlouder. Then, as the boats rowed rapidly up to the place where thecanoes were hauled up, a shrill yell of alarm was given, which wasre-echoed in several directions near; and could be heard, growingfainter and fainter, as it was caught up by men inland. 

The moment the boats touched the shore the men leaped out. Thesoldiers advanced, and took up the position assigned to them todefend the working parties; while the rest set to, vigorously, tocarry out their portion of the work. The war canoes were heavy, andeach required the efforts of the whole of the crew to launch herinto the water. It was, therefore, a work of considerable time toget fifteen of them afloat; and long ere this had been done, thenatives, called together by the alarm, were flocking down in greatnumbers. 

They were, however, in entire ignorance as to the number of theirassailants; and the fire which the soldiers opened, with theirarquebuses, checked them in their advance. Feeling sure that theircanoes were being destroyed, they filled the air with yells oflamentation and rage; discharging such volleys of arrows at random, in the direction of the Portuguese, that a great number of thesewere wounded. Indeed, the natives pressed on with such audacitythat a considerable portion of the workers had to go forward, toassist the soldiers in holding them at bay. 

At last, however, the whole of the canoes were in the water, andevery other boat disabled. The canoes were tied together, fiveabreast, and one of the boats towed these out of the harbor, whilethe crews of the others remained, keeping the natives at bay; forit was felt that if the whole were to embark at once, while stillencumbered with the canoes, they would be able to get out of thecreek but slowly; and would, for the most part, be destroyed by thearrows of the natives. 

When the boat had towed the canoes well out to sea, it cast themadrift and returned up the creek. Then, covered by the muskets ofthe soldiers, the others took their places, in good order andregularity, until at last all were in the boats. The soldiers wereordered to stand up, and to keep up a steady fire upon the shore;while the sailors laid to, with a hearty goodwill. 

The natives rushed down to the shore in great numbers, and althoughmany of them must have fallen under the fire of the soldiers, theyyet waded into the water, in their anxiety to seize the boats, andpoured large numbers of arrows into them. 

When the three boats gained the open sea there were few, indeed, ofthe Portuguese who had not received wounds, more or less severe, bythe arrows; and several had been killed, in addition to others whohad fallen on shore. The soldiers had suffered much less severelythan the sailors; for although they had been more hotly engaged, their breast pieces and steel caps had protected them, and theywere principally wounded in the limbs. 

The canoes were now picked up, and with these in tow the partyreturned to the ship. Here their wounds were dressed, by a priestwho accompanied the vessel in her voyages, landing at the differentstations, and ministering to the garrisons of the islands. He hadsome knowledge of the healing art, and poured soothing oils intothe wounds inflicted by the arrows. The men were much alarmed lestthese arrows should be poisoned, but Ned assured them that none ofthose who had been wounded, during the attacks on shore, had diedfrom the effects; and that, although it was the custom in many ofthese islands to use poisoned weapons, the people of Ternate, atleast, did not practice this barbarous usage. 

Morning was just breaking as the party gained the ship, and thecaptain was glad that Ned had postponed the landing until midday;as it gave the tired men time to rest, and prepare themselves forfresh labors. 

As soon as the shore could be seen, it was evident that thedestruction and carrying off of the canoes had created an immenseimpression. The cliff was lined with natives, whose gesticulations, as they saw their canoes fastened to the stern of the ship, werewild and vehement. 

A little before noon the boats were hauled up alongside, thesoldiers took their places in them with loaded arquebuses, and asmany sailors as could be spared also entered, to assist in theiradvance. The ship carried several pieces of artillery, and thesewere loaded, so as to open fire before the landing was effected, inorder to clear the shore of the enemy. This was soon accomplished, and the natives who had assembled on the beach were seen, streamingup the road through the cliff. 

This was the most dangerous part that the advancing party wouldhave to traverse, as they would be exposed to a heavy fire, fromthose standing above them, on both flanks. They would havesuffered, indeed, very severely, had not the captain turned hisguns upon the masses gathered on the high ground and, by one or twolucky shots plumped into the middle of them, created such an effectthat the fire of arrows kept up upon the troops, as they advanced, was wild and confused. 

Several of the sailors were severely wounded, but the soldiers, well sheltered by their mail, pressed on and gained the levelground; their blood being fired, as they went, by the spectacle ofthe dead bodies of their first officer and supercargo, who hadlanded the night before. 

Here the natives were assembled in great force and, as they werenow out of sight of those on board ship, the guns could no longerrender assistance to the little party. These showed a good front asthe masses of the enemy approached them, and charged boldly atthem. 

The natives, however, maddened by the loss of their canoes, andfeeling that their only hope was in annihilating their enemies, came on with such force, wielding heavy clubs, that the array ofthe Portuguese was broken, and in a short time each was fightingdesperately for himself. Several had been stricken down and, although large numbers of the natives had been killed, it was plainthat the victory would in a few minutes be decided; when suddenly agreat shout was heard, and a volley of musketry was poured into therear of the natives. 

The hard-pressed whites gave a cheer, for they knew that assistancehad arrived from the castle. The natives, whose attention had beendirected to the attack in front, were taken completely by surprise;and as both the parties of whites simultaneously charged, largenumbers were unable to escape and were cut down, while the restfled precipitately from the spot. 

Very hearty were the congratulations of the Portuguese, as theforces came together. Gerald had safely reached the castle, aftersome narrow escapes. He, having fallen among some sleeping natives, had been attacked and forced to trust to his speed. 

After a short consultation it was decided to press the enemy, andto leave them no time to recover from the demoralization caused bythe loss of their boats, and the junction of the two parties ofwhite men. The forces were, therefore, divided into two equalparts, and these started in different directions. Clump after clumpof trees was searched, and the enemy driven from them. At firstsome resistance was made; but gradually the natives becamecompletely panic stricken, and fled without striking a blow. 

Until nightfall the two parties continued to hunt, and shoot down, a large number of the natives. Then they returned to the castle. They now had a consultation as to the terms which they should grantthe natives; for they had no doubt that victory had declareditself, finally, in their favor Some were for continuing the strifeuntil the enemy were exterminated; but the governor of the islandwas opposed to this. 

"In the first place, " he said, "mixed up with the Ternate peopleare all the natives of this island, and to exterminate them wouldbe to leave us without labor, and to ruin the island. In the nextplace, the havoc which has been already wrought in our plantationsis such that it will take years to repair; and the longer thisfighting goes on, the more complete will be the destruction. Ithink, then, that we should grant them the easiest terms possible. They will be only too glad to escape, and to get back to their ownland, and will be long before they invade us again. "

"I think, " the officer who had arrived with the reinforcements ofsoldiers said, "it would be well, senor, if you were to consultwith the priest who is on board. He is a man who has the ear of thecouncil at Goa. He was but recently arrived, and knows but littleof the natives; but he is full of zeal, and it would be well, Ithink, were we to make an arrangement of which he would perfectlyapprove; so that his report, when he reached Goa, should bealtogether favorable"

The governor agreed to this proposal, and decided to send a partydown to the shore, in the morning, to bring the priest up to thecastle. 

Early in the morning, a large crowd of natives were seen at a shortdistance. In their hands they held boughs of trees, and waved themto express their desire to enter into negotiations. The governor, however, fired two or three shots over their heads, as a signal tothem to keep farther away, as their advances would not be received. Then, while a party went down to the shore to fetch the priest, heagain sallied out and drove the natives before him. 

When the holy father arrived another council was held, and he wasinformed that the people were ready to treat, and asked what, inhis opinion, should be the terms imposed upon them. He heard thearguments of the governor, in favor of allowing them to return totheir island, but he said:

"In my opinion it is essential, above all things, that they shouldbe forced to accept Christianity. "

At this the Englishmen, and indeed the two Portuguese officers, could with difficulty repress a smile; but the governor at once sawthat a wholesale conversion of this sort would do him much goodwith the authorities at Goa, and he therefore willingly fell intothe priest's views. 

The next morning the natives again appeared with their greenboughs; and the governor, with the officer, the priest, and a bodyof ten soldiers, went out to meet them. The King of Ternateadvanced, and bowed himself submissively to the ground, andexpressed his submission; and craved for pardon, and for permissionto return with his people to Ternate, promising solemnly that neveragain would they meddle with the Portuguese settlement. 

The governor, who spoke the language fluently, having been therefor some years, uttered an harangue reproaching him with his folly, and wickedness, in wantonly declaring war against the Portuguese. He pointed to the destroyed plantations, and asked if anypunishment could be too great for the ruin caused. 

The king and his councilors offered to pay large tributes, annually, of spice and other products, until the ruined plantationswere again in bearing. 

"This will not repay us for the losses we have suffered, and forthe evil spirit which you have introduced into this island. 

"We have, however, " the governor said, "only your interests atheart; and therefore we have decided to pardon you, and to allowyou to return to your island, upon the condition that you and allyour people embrace Christianity, and pay such a tribute as we mayimpose. "

The king had no understanding of the meaning of what was proposedto him, and the governor said that he and his people were, in themorning, to assemble before the castle, and that the holy father, who had been sent on purpose to turn them from the wickedness oftheir ways, would then explain the doctrines of Christianity tothem; that if they accepted and believed what he said, pardon wouldbe theirs; if not, they would be hunted down until all weredestroyed. 

Next morning the assembly took place in front of the castle gate. The King of Ternate, surrounded by all his principal councilors andwarriors, took his place, while the fighting men stood around him. The priest mounted on the platform of the wall, the governorstanding beside him to interpret. 

The Englishmen, much amused at the ceremony, stood at a shortdistance off. They did not wish to be recognized by any of thepeople of Ternate, as it was possible that some English vesselsmight again come into these seas, and they did not desire that thepleasant remembrance of the visit of the Golden Hind should beobliterated, by the sight of some of its crew in alliance with thePortuguese. 

The priest began an elaborate explanation of the Christianreligion, which he continued for the space of two hours; to thesurprise and astonishment of the natives, who could not, of course, comprehend a single word that he said. Then he paused, and turningto the governor said:

"Will you translate this, for the benefit of these benightedheathens?"

"I fear, " said the governor, "that it will be impossible for me todo full justice to your eloquent words; and, indeed, that thesepoor wretches would scarcely take in so much learning and wisdomall at once; but in a few words I will give them the sense of whatyou have been telling them. "

Then, lifting up his voice, he addressed the king. 

"There is only one God. These idols of yours are helpless, anduseless. We have brought ashore those from your war canoes, whichmy men will now proceed to burn, and you will see that your godswill be unable to help themselves. Indeed, they are not gods, andhave no power. God is good, and hates wickedness. All men arewicked. Therefore He would hate all men; but He has sent His Sondown, and for His sake pardons all who believe in Him. 

"Now, if you believe in Him, as I tell you, you will be pardonedboth by us and by God. If you do not believe, we shall kill youall, and you will be punished eternally. Now you have the choicewhat to do. "

The matter, thus pithily put, did not require much consideration. After a short consultation between the chiefs, the king demandedwhat ceremonies would have to be gone through, to becomeChristians; and was informed, by the governor, that the onlyceremony would be that he would have to declare himself aChristian; that the priest would make upon him the sign of a crosswith his finger, and would sprinkle him with water; and that, whenthis was done, he would be a Christian. 

Much relieved to find that the entry into this new religion was soeasy, the king and his people at once agreed to accept Christianity. The governor informed them that the priest thought that they werehardly yet prepared, but that on the morrow the ceremony should takeplace, after a further explanation. 

The next day a great altar was erected outside the walls of thecastle, gay with banners and wax lights. Before this the King ofTernate and his people assembled, the gunners on the wallsstanding, with lighted matches, by their cannon in case of trouble. The priest then made another long oration, which was again brieflyand emphatically translated by the governor. The king and all hispeople then knelt and, according to the instruction of the priest, made the sign of the cross. The priest then went along between thelines of the people, sprinkling them with holy water, and thisbeing done the ceremony was declared complete, and the King ofTernate and his people were received into the bosom of the Church. Then, escorted by the soldier, they were taken down to theseashore. 

The two white men were permitted to depart with them. The governorhad, at first, insisted that these should be put to death. Theypleaded, however, that they had acted under force; and, Nedinterceding for them, their lives were granted on the conditionthat they should, on reaching Ternate, at once embark for someother island, and never return to Ternate. 

The canoes were brought alongside and, there being now no fear ofany attempt at resistance, as the entire body of invaders had givenup their arms, they were allowed to enter the canoes, and to paddleaway to their own island; with numbers greatly diminished fromthose which had landed, to the attack of Tidore, a week before. 

The governor and the priest were, alike, delighted at thetermination of the war; the former because he was really anxiousfor the good of the colony which had been entrusted to him, andbelieved that it would now progress peaceably, and withoutdisturbance. He believed, too, that his successful resistance, toso large a body of enemies, would insure him the approval of theviceroy at Goa; and that the report of the priest would also obtainfor him the valuable protection and patronage of the ecclesiastics, whose power in the eastern seas was even greater than it was athome. 

Tidore was the furthest of the Portuguese settlements, and theship, having now made her round, was to return direct to Goa. Thepriest hesitated whether to remain, or to return in her. He hadmade it one of the conditions of peace with Ternate that amissionary should be received there, a place of worship erected, and that he should be allowed to open schools, and to teach thetenets of his religion to all; and he hesitated whether he would, himself, at once take up that post, or whether he would report thematter at Goa, where perhaps it might be decided to send a priestwho had acquired something of the language of the Southern Seas. Hefinally decided upon the latter course. 

The governor furnished the lads with letters, recommending themmost warmly to the viceroy, and stating the great services whichthey had rendered to him in the defense of the island; saying, indeed, that had it not been for their prudence, and valor, it wasprobable that the natives would have succeeded in destroying thesmall body of Portuguese, and in massacring the reinforcementslanded from the vessel. The priest also, while viewing the youngmen with the natural horror of a Portuguese ecclesiastic forheretics, was yet impressed with the services that they hadrendered; and considered their own shortcomings to be, in a greatmeasure, atoned for by the wholesale conversion which had, to someextent, been effected by their means. 

Bidding a hearty adieu to the governor, they took their places onboard ship and sailed for Goa. It was a six weeks' voyage, but thevessel was well furnished with provisions and, after theirhardships, the boys greatly enjoyed the rest and tranquility onboard. In due time they found themselves lying off the mouth of theriver up which, at a short distance from its mouth, the capital ofPortuguese India was situated. 

Chapter 22: Home. 

The captain, who was accompanied by the priest, rowed up the riverto report the arrival of the ship and the events of his voyage tothe authorities, and to place in their hands the letter of thegovernor of Tidore. Twenty-four hours later the captain returned, with orders for the ship to sail up the river; and that, on theirarrival, the young Englishmen were to be landed and conducted tothe presence of the viceroy himself. 

The young adventurers, much as they had traveled, were greatlystruck with the appearance of Goa. It was, indeed, a city ofpalaces, most solidly built of stone, and possessing an amount ofmagnificence and luxury which surpassed anything they had everseen. In the streets a few Portuguese, magnificently dressed andescorted by guards, moved among a throng of gaily attired natives;whose slight figures, upright carriage, and intelligent facesstruck the boys as most pleasing, after their experience of theislanders of the South Seas. The immense variety of turbans andheadgear greatly astonished them, as well as the magnificence ofthe dresses of some of these, who appeared to be men of importanceand who were attended by a retinue of armed followers. 

The young men were escorted by two officers of the viceroy, who hadcome on board ship as soon as she dropped anchor, to conduct themto his presence. At the sight of these officials the nativeshastily cleared the way, and made every demonstration of respect, as the party passed through them. 

The vice-regal palace was a magnificent building, surpassing anyedifice the boys had ever seen, and they were still more struck bythe luxury of the interior. They were led through severalvestibules, until at last they arrived in a large chamber. At atable here the viceroy was seated, while around him were a largenumber of the councilors and leading men of the place. The viceroyrose as the young men advanced, and bowed profoundly. 

"You are, I hear, Englishmen; and I am told, but I can scarcelybelieve it, that you belong to the ship of the Captain Drake whoseexploits in the West Indies, against the Spaniards, have made himso famous. But how, belonging to him, you came to be cast on anisland in the South Seas is more than we are able to understand. "

No news of the expedition had reached the Portuguese, and thesurprise of the viceroy was only natural. 

"The Golden Hind, sir, the vessel in which we were gentlemenadventurers, rounded Cape Horn, sailed up the American coast, andthen, keeping west, crossed through the islands; and has, we trust, long since rounded the Cape of Good Hope and arrived in England, having circumnavigated the globe. "

An expression of surprise broke from the assembled Portuguese. Buta frown passed over the face of the viceroy. 

"What was the object of your captain, in visiting these seas?" heasked "They are the property of Portugal, and without thepermission of his majesty, no ship of any other nation may passthrough our waters. "

"I can assure you, " Ned said, "that there was no object, either ofconquest or of trade, on the part of our admiral in visiting theseseas. When he rounded the Cape his object was to discover, ifpossible, a passage round the northern coast of America back toEngland. But when we went north we found the cold was great, andthat the land stretched away so that it would join with Asia to thenorth. Being convinced, then, that no passage could be obtained inthat way, he sailed for England round the Cape of Good Hope, fearing the dangers of a passage round the Horn, by which he loston our passage out two of his ships, and was well-nigh wreckedhimself. He only abode in the islands of the South Seas for a fewdays, to get provisions and water, and then sailed straight forhome. "

Assured by this explanation, the viceroy now begged the boys to sitdown, and he and his council listened with admiration andastonishment to the records of the expedition, and especially tothe passage across America of two of the young men before him. Thedepredations which had been committed upon the Spaniards excited noindignation among the Portuguese; for these nations were rivals, and although they did not put their contentions to the test of thesword, each was glad enough to hear of any misfortune befalling theother. 

The viceroy now assured the young men that he was proud to welcomethe members of so gallant a crew as that of the great Englishnavigator. 

"England and Portugal, " he said, "did not clash, and were alwaysnatural allies. "

He trusted they would always remain so, and in the meantime heshould be glad to treat the boys with all honor, and to forwardthem home by the first ship which might be sailing. 

Apartments were now assigned to them in the palace, and here theywere delighted to find a stock of clothes suited for them. 

For the next fortnight they passed a pleasant time at Goa. Theywere the objects of much attention on the part of the Portuguese, and all vied in the attempt to make their stay pleasant to them. They found that the town of Goa occupied but a small space, andthat it was strongly fortified, and the Portuguese made no attemptto conceal their very high estimate of the fighting power of thenatives. One young officer, who was specially told off to accompanythe lads, and who spoke Spanish fluently, was particularly frank inhis description of the state of affairs. 

"All these gaily dressed natives that one sees in the streets are, I suppose, Christians?" Ned asked. 

"No, indeed, " the other said surprised. "What should make you thinkso?"

Ned replied that, in America, he had found that the Spaniardsinsisted on all the natives at once embracing Christianity, on painof death. 

"The Spaniards, " the young Portuguese said, "are lords and mastersthere. The natives are weak and timid, and able to offer noresistance, whatever. That is very far from being our positionhere. We are, I can assure you, only here on sufferance. You canhave no idea of the power of some of these native sovereigns ofIndia. The Mahrattas, who live beyond the mountains you see on thehorizon, could pour down such hosts of armed men that, if theycombined against us, no resistance that we could offer would belikely to be successful. And yet they are but one among a score ofwarlike peoples. 

"So long as we do not attempt to proselytize, and are content toappear as merchants and traders, no general feeling exists againstour residence here. But I can assure you that, if it became knownin India that we were forcing the natives to accept Christianity, the footing which we have obtained here would be speedily lost. These people have regular armies. They may not, indeed, be trainedas are ours at home but individually they are very brave. They haveartillery of heavy caliber. 

"In the South Seas, as you know, we endeavor to convert theheathen. The people there are degraded savages by the side of theseIndians. But we do not adopt the strong methods which the Spaniardshave done. We have, in Portugal, a good deal of your Englishfreedom of opinion, and the Inquisition has never gained any firmfooting amongst us. "

Upon one occasion the boys had the satisfaction of seeing a grandIndian durbar; for the chief, on the corner of whose territory thePortuguese had built their town with his permission, came in to seethe viceroy. The boys were surprised at the magnificence of hiscavalcade, in which elephants, camels, and other animals took part, and in which the trappings and appointments were gorgeous, indeed, while the dresses of the chiefs absolutely shone with jewels. Theattendants, however, made but a poor show, according to Europeanideas. 

There was at this time, in European armies, no attempt at regularuniform, but there was a certain resemblance between the attire andarms of the men who fought side by side. When upon the marchregularity and order were maintained, and the men kept together instep. Nothing of this kind was apparent among the troops whoaccompanied the Indian chief. They marched along by the side of theelephants, and in groups ahead and in rear of them, in a confuseddisorder; and it seemed to the lads that a mere handful of Europeantroops would rout such a rabble as this. They said as much to theirPortuguese friend, but he told them that the people on the coastcould scarcely be considered as a fair sample of those who dwelt inthe hill country behind. 

"The climate here, " he said, "is much more relaxing. Vegetation isextremely abundant, and all the necessities of life can be obtainedin the easiest manner. Consequently the people here are enervated, and cannot be compared to the horsemen of the plains. The seat ofthe Indian power lies at Agra and Delhi--sometimes one andsometimes the other. The emperors there can take the field with twohundred thousand men, if necessary; and even these, with all theirpower, have difficulty in maintaining their authority throughoutIndia. You may judge, therefore, of the power of the variousterritorial chiefs. "

A fortnight later, to their great delight, the lads heard that avessel would start in three days for Lisbon. She was taking home alarge cargo of spice, and articles of Indian manufacture, and anumber of invalided soldiers. She was said to be a slow sailer, butas no other was likely to start for some months, the lads did nothesitate to avail themselves of the offer of the viceroy. 

At parting he presented them each with a sword set with diamonds, and also purses of money, in token of his appreciation of the valordisplayed by them in the defense of Tidore. 

"It is, " the viceroy said, "an honor to us to honor the members ofthe greatest marine expedition which has yet been made. WePortuguese may boast that we have been among the foremost inmaritime discovery, and we can therefore the more admire the featsof your valiant Captain Drake. "

The ship, the Maria Pia, was a large one, far greater, indeed, thanthe Golden Hind, and the boys felt that in a floating castle ofthis description, their voyage ought to be a safe and pleasant one. The captain had received instructions to do all in his power tomake the voyage agreeable to them. A handsome cabin had been placedat their disposal, and their position on board was altogether anhonorable one. 

The result justified their expectations. The voyage, although long, passed without incident. The Maria Pia experienced fine weatherround the Cape and, catching the trade winds, made her coursenorthward, and arrived off the mouth of the Tagus without accidentor adventure of any kind. 

Sailing up the river, she fired a salute with her guns, which wasanswered by those of the fort at the entrance. The news had beensignaled to the capital of the arrival of a ship from the Indies, and officials boarded her, as soon as she cast anchor. The captainat once went on shore, and reported to the minister of the Indiesthe news which he had brought from Goa, and gave an account of hisvoyage. He delivered a letter from the viceroy, stating that he hadgiven a passage to four English gentlemen, who had formed part ofCaptain Drake's equipage, and who had rendered very great servicesin defeating an attack upon the island of Tidore by the people ofTernate, of which matters, the viceroy added, the gentlemen wouldthemselves give a full account. 

The minister at once sent on board an official, to request theyoung men to land; and upon their so doing, he received them withgreat courtesy, and gave a grand banquet the next day, at which theBritish minister was present. 

The lads were delighted, upon landing, to receive the news that theGolden Hind had arrived safely in England four months before, andthat all Europe was ringing with the great feat which she hadaccomplished. The lads found that they were received, by thedistinguished company which met them at the table of the minister, with much honor and respect, and this was heightened upon theirgiving a detailed account of the adventures which had befallen themsince leaving England. The British minister offered them a passageto England in one of the Queen's ships; and having provided themamply with money, they were enabled to make a good appearance, andto enter with zest into the round of festivities of which they weremade the objects during their stay. They were presented to theking, who received them most graciously, and presented each with asword of honor. 

Three weeks later they sailed up the Thames, and upon landing inLondon at once inquired for the residence of Captain Drake. Thisthey had no difficulty in discovering, as he was the hero of thehour. 

It was with great pleasure that they were received by thecommander. He expressed but little surprise at seeing them; for, ashe told them, he made sure that sooner or later they would arrive, and had given orders that, upon the division of the great sumswhich had been gained by the Golden Hind on her voyage, theirshares should be scrupulously set aside. 

"You had twice before, " he said to Ned, "appeared after we had allgiven you up as dead; and I could not believe that the four of you, together, could all have succumbed. 

"We got off the reef the next day, shifting her cargo all upon oneside and hoisting some sail, so that the wind bore her down, herkeel lifted from the reef upon which she had fastened, and withoutdamage she went into deep water. We spent four days in looking foryou. We landed at the island to which you had been directed, andsearched it thoroughly. We then went to an island further to thesouth, and spent three days in cruising round its shores. We landedand captured some natives, but could not learn from them that theyhad seen any traces of you, whatever. Most on board conceived thatthe canoe must have upset, and that you must have been drowned; butI never believed this, and felt convinced that, from some unknownreason, you had been unable to return to the ship, but that sooneror later you would arrive. 

"From that point all went well with us. We had a rapid voyage downto the Cape, and coasted along it at a short distance. The weatherwas fair, and we turned our head north without loss of time; andso, by the help of Providence, and a fair wind, we made our courseto England, where our gracious sovereign has been pleased toexpress her approval of our doings. 

"I told her something of your journey across the south of theAmerican continent, and she was pleased to express her sorrow atthe loss of such gallant and promising gentlemen. I am sure thather majesty will receive, with pleasure, the news of your return. 

"Now, tell me all that has happened since I last saw you. "

Ned recited the history of their adventures, and Captain Francisapproved of the course which they had taken, in making for Tidoreinstead of Ternate. He was greatly amused at their experiences asSouth Sea deities, and said that henceforth, let them be lost wherethey would, or for as long as they might be, he would never againfeel any uneasiness as to their fate. He invited them to take uptheir abode with him, while they stayed in London; and althoughthey were eager to return to Devonshire, he told them that hethought they ought to wait until he had communicated with theQueen, and had seen whether she would wish to see the gentlemen inwhom she had kindly expressed interest. 

Captain Drake had received the honor of knighthood from the Queen'shand on his return from his voyage, and was now Sir Francis Drake, and was for the time the popular idol of the people, whose nationalpride was deeply gratified at the feat of circumnavigation, now forthe first time performed by one of their countrymen. 

Captain Drake dispatched a letter to her majesty at Westminster, and the following day a royal messenger arrived, with an order thathe should bring the four gentlemen adventurers with him, andpresent them to her majesty. The young men felt not a little awedat the thought of being received by Queen Elizabeth. But upon theirpresentation by Sir Francis, the Queen received them with so muchcondescension and grace that their fears were speedily removed. 

"I thought, " she said to Captain Drake, "that I should see fourhuge and bearded paladins. You told me indeed that they were young, but I had not pictured to myself that they were still beardlessstriplings, although in point of size they do credit to theirnative country. 

"I love to listen to tales of adventure, " she continued, "and begthat you will now recite to me the story of those portions of yourvoyage, and journeyings, of which I have not heard from the lips ofSir Francis. "

Then, modestly, Ned recited the story of their journey acrossAmerica, and afterwards took up the narrative at the point whenthey left the ship, and her majesty was pleased to laugh hugely atthe story of their masquerading as gods. When they had finished sheinvited them to a banquet, to be given at Greenwich on thefollowing day, gave them her hand to kiss, and presented each witha diamond ring, in token of her royal favor. 

The following day they went down in the barge of Sir Francis Drake, which formed part of the grand cortege which accompanied hermajesty on her water passage to Greenwich. There a royal banquetwas held, with much splendor and display; after which a masque, prepared by those ingenious authors Mr. Beaumont and Mr. Fletcher, was enacted before her. 

Three days later they embarked upon a country ship, bound forPlymouth, and after a rough tossing in the Channel, landed there. They were received with much honor by the mayor and dignitaries ofPlymouth, for Sir Francis had already written down, giving a briefaccount of their adventures, and of the marks of esteem which theQueen had been pleased to bestow upon them; and Plymouth, as therepresentative of the county of Devon, rejoiced in giving a heartywelcome to her sons, who had brought so much credit upon them. 

After a stay of a few hours the lads separated, Tom and Reuben eachstarting for their respective homes, while Ned, who had no familyof his own, accompanied Gerald, in whose home he was looked uponalmost as a son, and where the welcome which awaited him was ascordial as that given to Gerald. The share of each of theadventurers in the Golden Hind was a very large one, and Nedpurchased a nice little property and settled down upon it, havinghad enough of the dangers of the seas, and resolving no more toleave his native country, unless his duty to his Queen shoulddemand his services. 

That time was not long in arriving, for towards the end of 1586 allEurope rang with the preparations which Philip of Spain was makingto invade England. The Devonshire gentlemen who had fought on theSpanish Main, and who but lightly esteemed Spanish valor at sea, atfirst scoffed at the news, but soon no doubt could be entertained. Early in 1587 Sir Francis Drake wrote, to his friends who hadfought under him, that her majesty had honored him with acommission to beat up the Spanish coast, and invited them toaccompany him. The four friends hastened, with many others, to obeythe summons; and on joining him at Plymouth, he was pleased toappoint each to the command of a ship. Some weeks were spent inearnest preparation, and in March a fleet of thirty vessels setforth, full manned and equipped. 

Accustomed as the young men were to see great Spanish ships takenby single boats, and a whole fleet submissive before one ship, itseemed to them that with such an armament they could destroy thewhole navies of Spain, and even then that little glory would bedivided between each vessel. 

Upon the 18th of April the fleet was off Cadiz, and Sir Francismade the signal for the captains of the fleet to go on board theflagship. There he unfolded to them his plan of forcing theentrance to the port, and destroying the Spanish fleet gatheredthere. Cadiz was one of the strongest places of Spain, and theenterprise would, to most men, have seemed a desperate one. But tomen who had fought in the Spanish Main it seemed but a light thing. 

As they left the admiral's cabin, Ned invited his three friends todine on board his ship, the Sovereign; and a right merry gatheringit was, as they talked over their past adventures, and marveled tofind themselves each commanding a ship, about to attack the fleetof Spain in its own harbor. 

Upon the following day the fleet sailed boldly towards the port ofCadiz, where the people could scarce believe that the Britishintended to force the entrance to the fort. When they saw that suchwas indeed their purpose, they opened fire with all theirbatteries, great and small. The English ships sailed on, unheedingtheir reception, and delivering their broadsides as they neared theport. 

Although they had been in many fights, this was the first greatbattle at which the friends had been present; and the roar and dinof the combat, the sound of their own guns and of those of theenemy, the crash and rending of wood, and the cheers of the sailorsin no little surprised them. The Spanish gunners in their hasteshot but badly, and with Sir Francis Drake's ship leading the way, the fleet forced the entrance into the port. As they entered theywere saluted by the cannon of the Spanish vessels within, butwithout more ado they lay these aboard. 

So mightily were the Spaniards amazed by the valor, and boldness ofthe English that they fought but feebly, jumping over for the mostpart, or making their way in their boats to shore. Then Sir Franciscaused fire to be applied to the Spanish ships, and thirty greatwar vessels were destroyed before the eyes of the townspeople, while the English fleet sailed triumphantly away. 

Then, following the line of coast as far as Saint Vincent, theadmiral captured and burned a hundred other ships, and destroyedfour great land forts. 

Looking into the Tagus, the King of Portugal having been forced bySpain to aid her, Captain Drake captured the Saint Philip, thelargest ship of their navy; which was, to the gratification of thesailors, laden with a precious cargo. 

After these exploits the fleet returned to England in triumph, having for the time crippled the forces of Spain. Philip, however, redoubled his preparations. The fleets of Naples and Sicily, ofVenice and Genoa, were added to those of Spain. The dockyardsworked night and day, and by the end of the year all was inreadiness. 

In England men had not been idle. A great army was raised of peopleof every rank and condition, Catholics as well as Protestantsuniting in the defense of the country; while in every port round, the din of preparation was heard. The army was destined to combatthe thirty thousand Spanish soldiers commanded by the Duke of Parmain the Netherlands, where a fleet of transports had been preparedto bring them across, when the great armada should have cleared thesea of English ships. By dint of great efforts, 191 English shipsof various sizes, these mostly being small merchantmen--merepygmies in comparison with the great Spanish galleons--werecollected, while the Dutch dispatched sixty others to aid in thestruggle against Spain. 

On the 29th of May the Spanish armada sailed from the Tagus but, being delayed by a storm, it was not till the 19th of June that itsadvance was first signaled by the lookout near Plymouth. Then fromevery hill throughout England beacon fires blazed to carry thetidings, and every Englishman betook himself to his arms, andprepared to repel the invaders. 

Instead, however, of attempting to land at once, as had beenexpected, the Spanish fleet kept up channel; the orders of the kingbeing that it should make first for Flanders, there form junctionwith the fleet of the Duke of Parma, and so effect a landing uponthe English coast. As the great fleet, numbering a hundred andthirty large war vessels, and extending in the form of a crescentnine miles in length from horn to horn, sailed up channel, thespectacle, although terrible, was magnificent indeed. 

The ships at Plymouth at once slipped anchor and set out inpursuit. Sir Francis Drake led, and close by him were the vesselscommanded by the four friends. Paltry, indeed, did the squadronappear by the side of the great fleet, but from every port as theypassed along came reinforcements, until in numbers they equaledthose of the great ships of Spain. These reinforcements werecommanded by Admirals Hawkins, Frobisher, and other gallant seamen;while Lord Howard, lord high admiral of England, was in chiefcommand. 

There was no general action attempted, for the floating Spanishcastles could have ridden over the light ships of England; but eachcommander fell upon the enemy, like dogs upon the flank of an arrayof lions. Sir Francis threw himself into the center of the Spanishlines, followed by many other English ships, and thus separatedseveral of the great galleons from their consorts, and then fell towork battering them. 

The Spaniards fought valiantly, but at a disadvantage, for thesmaller ships of the English were so quickly handled that they wereable to take up positions to rake their enemy, without exposingthemselves to the broadsides which would have sunk them. When atlast they had crippled their foes, they would either close uponthem and carry them by boarding, or, leaving them helpless wrecksupon the water, would hoist all sail and again overtake the Spanishfleet. 

The battle continued day and night for five days, with scarce anintermission, the various English admirals sometimes attacking alltogether, sometimes separately. The same tactics ever prevailed, the Spaniards sailing on and striving to keep in a compact body, the English hovering round them, cutting off every ship whichlagged behind, breaking the ranks of the enemy, and separatingvessels from their consorts. Hard was it to say that, in that longstruggle, one man showed more valor than another, but the deeds ofthe ships commanded by the Devonshire gentlemen were second tonone. 

On the 27th their ships were signaled to sail to join thoseassembled near Dunkirk, to check the progress of the Duke ofParma's fleet. They reached the English fleet in time, and soon theSpaniards were seen approaching. They kept in a compact mass, whichthe English ships could not break. 

For a while the fight went badly, and then a number of fire shipswere launched at the Spaniards. Seized with panic, these at oncescattered and, the English falling upon them, a series of desperateconflicts ensued, ending almost always in the capture ordestruction of the enemy. 

The Duke of Medina-Sidonia, who commanded the main Spanish fleet, sailed north, intending to coast round the north of Scotland and soreturn to Spain. The English ships followed for a while, but were, from the shortness of the supplies which had been placed on board, forced to put into harbor; and a great storm scattering the Spanishfleet, and wrecking many, only 60 vessels, and these with theircrews disabled by hardship and fatigue, ever returned to Spain. 

As a consequence of their gallantry in these battles, and upon theurgent recommendations of Sir Francis Drake, her majesty waspleased to bestow the honor of knighthood upon each of the fouryoung Devonshire gentlemen, as upon many other brave captains. 

After this they went no more to sea, nor took any part in thedisastrous expedition which Admirals Drake and Hawkins, together, made to the Spanish Main, when the brave Sir Francis lost his life, from fever and disappointment. 

Soon after their return from the defeat of the armada, Sir EdwardHearne married the only sister of his friend Gerald, and lived withher happily to a green old age. The friendship between the fourfriends never diminished, but rather increased as they grew inyears, and many marriages took place between their children andgrandchildren. Four times a year, upon the occasion of specialevents in their lives, great family gatherings were held at thehouse of one or other. Sir Gerald generally held festival on theanniversary of the defeat of the Spanish attack on the forestfortress in Porto Rico; Tom upon that of his escape from the prisonof the Inquisition; Reuben generally celebrated the day when, inthe character of a South Sea idol, he aided to defeat the hostileislanders; while Ned kept up the anniversary of their return toEngland. As to the victory over the armada, they always had to drawlots as to the house in which that great event should becelebrated. 

Upon all these occasions stories were told at great length, andtheir children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, for alllived to see these growing up, were never tired of listening totales of the Spanish Main.