"Nay, sir; I am but accessory to their flight," replied the young man.
"The saints preserve us!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed his lordship piously. "Now Heaven send the Dons soon else I shall have such a storm about mine ears as never wind did raise."
At this moment an old sailor burst into the midst of the group.
"My lord, my lord!" cried the weather-beaten old salt to the lord high admiral, "they"re coming. I saw "em off the Lizard last night; they"re coming full sail, hundreds of "em a darkening the waters!"
A cheer rose from the lips of the men; a spirit of excitement stirred every heart. Nay; not every breast, for Sir Francis Drake, the vice admiral, said coolly to his chief as he hurled the bowl along the smooth, worn planks:
"There will be time enough to finish the game, and then we"ll go out and give the Dons a thrashing."
And now the beacon lights flashed the news from hilltop to hilltop, and on to London, and thence northward to the Scottish borders, and westward throughout Wales until every village and town of every shire in England thrilled with the tidings. Forgetful of religious dissensions, of feud, and of private wrong, all Englishmen arose as one man to repel the invading foe.
Amidst all the confusion incident to the announcement of the old seaman, Devereaux drew Francis aside and whispered entreatingly:
"Francis, I implore thee to remain here. "Tis not seemly that thou shouldst board ship. There will be fighting, and----"
"And thou wouldst have all the glory, Edward Devereaux," cried the girl unjust as she often was when indignant. "Dost thou think that I fear?
What hath life to yield that would equal the sweetness of striking one blow for England? Think you an English girl cannot fight as well as an English lad?"
"Nay, nay, Francis; but for my sake----"
"For thy sake?" echoed the girl in surprise. "Why should I stay for thy sake? Come! we lose time."
CHAPTER XXIX
A BRITOMARTE OF THE ARMADA
The call was sounded. It rang through every ship like a trumpet note and every man sprang to his duty.
"On to the Dons! No Spanish Inquisition!" was the watch-cry of the English navy, and with great difficulty, for the wind was against them, they steered for the open sea.
It was not until the next day that they came within sight of the Armada.
The most powerful fleet that had ever been known since the beginning of time. Blest by the pope, sent forth amid the prayers and the fastings of the people, the fleet had been cleared of every unclean thing, for haughty England who styled herself the mistress of the seas was to be humbled upon her own element and made to yield her lands to the foreigners.
The great Spanish ships, built high like castles and towers, stretched in the form of a crescent measuring at least seven miles from horn to horn.
They came slowly on, and, although under full sail, yet as though the winds labored and the ocean sighed under the burden of it, says Camden.
When they reached the open channel Lord Howard discovered his policy to his men.
They were not to come to close quarters with the towering, unwieldy galleons, but to pour broadside after broadside into them at a distance and to bide their opportunity to fall upon them. Nearer and nearer drew the two fleets, the Spanish preparing to begin the action at daybreak.
But at two o"clock the gibbous moon arose in a clear sky and showed to the astonished Spanish the English fleet lying in their rear just out of cannon shot.
The next morning Lord Howard, sending before him a pinnace called the Defiance, provoked the fight by discharging a piece of her ordnance and presently out of his own ship, called the Ark Royal, thundered upon a Spanish craft which he supposed was that of the Spanish Admiral, Medina Sidonia, but which proved to be that of Alphonso de Leon.
At the same time Drake, Hawkins and Frobisher fell terribly upon the rear which was valiantly commanded by Juan Martinez de Recaldo. The English invaded, retired, and re-invaded them from every quarter with incredible celerity. The Spanish captain general was nonplused. The English ships ran in, doing as much damage as possible without coming to close quarters, while his lumbering craft were useless to chase and cripple so agile an enemy. The great galleons and gallea.s.ses of Spain towered beside the English ships like "Flemish dray horses beside light Arabian coursers."
Fiercer waxed the fight. Recaldo finding his vessel much battered, rejoined his chief with difficulty and Medina re-collecting his scattered vessels held on his course. For two hours the fight continued, and then Lord Howard thought best to retire to await the coming of other ships which had not yet left the harbor.
Flushed and elated with the victory, with not a single vessel and scarcely a man lost, the English exulted that the great Armada which had been devised to strike terror into their hearts was not so invincible after all.
"Is it not glorious, Edward," cried Francis Stafford from a coil of rope upon which she had thrown herself. "How the Dons flew! Oh, "tis enough to stir a stone to enthusiasm!"
""Twould be glorious, Francis, were it not for thee," answered the youth.
"The thought that thou art here hampers my every action, and always am I looking to see that thou art safe. Would thou wert in England; even in the Tower so that thou wert not here."
"And wherefore? Do I not bear myself as becomes an English lad?" cried Francis. "In all the wide world there is no place that I would rather be than upon the deck of the Ark Royal. So from henceforth speak no more of this. And, Edward, drop no hint of my s.e.x to any. Wherefore should not an English maiden espouse the cause of her country as well as an English youth? Thou seest that there are lads here as maiden like in appearance as I. Give no thought to me, I beseech you."
"I will speak of it no more, Francis," rejoined Devereaux. "And yet I would that thou wert not here."
The girl turned from him impatiently, and hastily joined a group of which the admiral was the centre; for Lord Howard had taken them upon his own vessel.
The next night the air was stormy and the night dark. The English fleet was startled by an explosion on one of the Spanish ships and soon the flames were seen to spring high into the air. But other ships went to her aid and the fire was soon quenched, but the princ.i.p.al galleon of Seville commanded by Pedro de Valdez collided with another vessel and, her foremast being broken, was forsaken and became a prey to Sir Francis Drake.
Dark as the night was, Lord Howard on the Ark Royal, accompanied by two ships only--the Mary and the Rose--hotly pursued the Spaniards. The rest of the English fleet lay still because Drake had neglected to carry a lighted lantern in the p.o.o.p of his vessel as had been commanded.
At break of day, having a prosperous north wind, the Spaniards bore down upon the English, but the English, to take advantage of the wind, turned westward. And then began a series of maneuvres in which each fleet contended to deprive each other of the benefit of the wind. The contest did not last long and before noon the English having slipped between the Armada and the land bore down upon them right before the wind.
And then began a fierce fight which was waged with varying success. For, while in one place the English valiantly rescued the ships of London which were hemmed in by the Spaniards, in another Recaldo, being in danger, was disengaged with no less resolution by the Spaniards. Never before was such lightning and thunder of artillery heard, most of which, notwithstanding, went vainly from the Spanish, flying clear over the English ships. Only c.o.c.k, an Englishman, died gloriously in the midst of his enemies upon his own small bark.
The English ships being of lesser build than the Spanish invaded the Spaniards with great dexterity and having discharged their ordnance withdrew into the open sea and leveled all their shot with a certain and successful aim at the ponderous Spanish vessels.
And still the English admiral thought it not best to grapple and risk the fortune of a hand-to-hand fight. For the enemy had a strong and well appointed army aboard which he lacked, and, their ships standing higher than his own vessels, threatened nothing less than certain destruction to those fighting them from below. This was the most fierce and b.l.o.o.d.y skirmish of all, though it only resulted in the capture of one huge galleon and a few small craft by the English. There was a mutual cessation of hostilities for all the next day for the wind fell dead and each fleet was compelled to drift idly with the tide.
The calm was still unbroken when the next day dawned, the twenty-fifth day of the month sacred to St. James, the patron saint of Spain. A small galleon of Portugal called the Saint Anne being unable to keep pace with the rest of the fleet was set upon by a number of small English craft, seeing which three of the great gallea.s.ses rowed furiously to her aid.
Lord Howard"s Ark Royal, the Golden Lion of his brother, Lord Sheffield"s Bear, and others towed by fisher boats met them with such salvos of shot that, had not the Spanish fleet come up to rescue them, they would have shared the fate of Valdez. After this time the gallea.s.ses would not fight again. The wind sprang up by noon and the fight became general. All afternoon it raged, and then, terribly battered, the Armada would fight no more; but, "gathering into a roundel" set all sail for Calais, where Medina hoped to find a force from the French to help him and then to Dunkirk to join with Parma and the great flotilla of the Netherlands.
And so with a full southwest wind the Spanish fleet went on, the English fleet following them. It was determined not to attack them until they reached the straits of Calais, where Lord Seymour and William Winter would join the navy.
Meantime Lord Howard conferred Knighthood upon John Hawkins, Martin Frobisher, Thomas Howard, Lord Sheffield and Roger Townsend for valor and fort.i.tude. And now from every bay and harbor of England there put forth numbers of small craft hired by the youth of England, who hastened to join themselves to the fleet, for the Spanish fleet, though battered and dispirited, was not yet broken, and should it be joined by the forces which Medina expected all would indeed go ill with England.
The Armada anch.o.r.ed in Calais Roads and within cannon shot of it lay the English fleet. The next day being the Sabbath both fleets observed the day with appropriate services, the loud chants of the Spaniard mingling strangely with the hymns of the English.
Francis Stafford, wearied and fatigued, retired to the cabin and, finding it deserted, swung a hammock in one corner and clambering into it was soon fast asleep.
"I tell thee, Drake," "twas the voice of Lord Howard that awakened her, "the queen must have been inspired to invent so ingenious a device. If it succeeds----"
"It will succeed, my lord," interrupted Drake positively, "That is if there can be found men who will adventure it. But it will take cool heads and stout hearts and an absolute fearlessness of danger. I think I know two men who will go but there must be others."
Instantly the girl sat upright in the hammock.
"My lord," she cried, "send me."
Lord Howard and Sir Francis Drake started in astonishment.