Under Drakes Flag | Page 6

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 his cap
into the air with a shout of joy, and rushed in to his father.

"Father," he said, "Captain Drake has written to acquaint me that one of
the boys in his ship has been taken ill, and cannot go; and that it has
pleased him to appoint me to go in his place; and that I am to be at
Plymouth in three days, at the utmost, bringing with me what gear I
may require for the expedition."
The schoolmaster was a little taken aback at this sudden prospect of
departure, but he had always been wholly indulgent to his son, and it
was not in his nature to refuse to allow him to avail himself of an
opportunity which appeared to be an excellent one. The danger of these
expeditions was, no doubt, very great; but the spoils were in proportion,
and there was not a boy or man of the seafaring population of Devon
who would not gladly have gone with the adventurous captains.
Chapter 2
: Friends and Foes.

Three days after the receipt of the letter, Ned Hearne stood with his
bundle on the quay at Plymouth. Near him lay a large rowboat from the
ships, waiting to take off the last comers. A little way behind, Captain
Francis Drake and his brother, Captain John Drake, talked with the
notable people of Plymouth, who had come down to bid them farewell;
the more since this was a holiday, being Whitsun Eve, the 24th May,
and all in the town who could spare time had made their way down to
the Hove to watch the departure of the expedition; for none could say
how famous this might become, or how great deeds would be
accomplished by the two little craft lying there. Each looker on thought
to himself that it might be that, to the end of his life, he should tell his
children and his children's children, with pride, "I saw Mr. Drake start
for his great voyage."
Small, indeed, did the fleet appear, in comparison to the work which it
had to do. It was composed of but two vessels. The first, the Pacha, of
seventy tons, carrying forty-seven men and boys, was commanded by
Captain Francis Drake himself. By her side was the Swanne, of

twenty-five tons, carrying twenty-six men and boys, and commanded
by Captain John Drake. This was truly but a small affair to undertake
so great a voyage.
In those days the Spaniards were masters of the whole of South
America, and of the Isles of the West Indies. They had many very large
towns full of troops, and great fleets armed to carry the treasure which
was collected there to Spain. It did seem almost like an act of madness
that two vessels, which by the side of those of the Spaniards were mere
cockleshells, manned in all by less than eighty men, should attempt to
enter a region where they would be regarded, and rightly, as enemies,
and where the hand of every man would be against them.
Captain Drake and his men thought little of these things. The success
which had attended their predecessors had inspired the English sailors
with a belief in their own invincibility, when opposed to the Spaniards.
They looked, to a certain extent, upon their mission as a crusade. In
those days England had a horror of Popery, 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 been a narrow one; and even now, it was by no
means certain that Spain would not, sooner or later, endeavor to carry
out the pretensions of the late queen's husband. Then, too, terrible tales
had come of the sufferings of the Indians at the hands of the Spaniards;
and it was certain that the English sailors who had fallen into the hands
of Spain had been put to death, with horrible cruelty. Thus, then, the
English sailors regarded the Spaniards as the enemy of their country, as
the enemy of their religion, and as the enemy of humanity. Besides
which, it cannot be denied that they viewed them as rich men, well
worth plundering; and although, when it came to fighting, it is probable
that hatred overbore the thought of gain, it is certain that the desire for
gold was, in itself, the main incentive to those who sailed upon these
expeditions.
Amid the cheers of the townsfolk the boats pushed off, Mr. Francis
Drake and his brother waving their