"Iss, fegs, he did, not a pistol-shot from us; and I saw mun stand on the p.o.o.p, so plain as I see you; no great shakes of a man to look to nether; there"s a sight better here, to plase me, and we was disappointed, we lads, for we surely expected to see mun with a goolden crown on, and a sceptre to a"s hand, we did, and the ship o" mun all over like Solomon"s temple for gloory. And I mind that same year, too, seeing Vasco da Gama, as was going out over the bar, when he found the Bona Speranza, and sailed round it to the Indies. Ah, that was the making of they rascally Portingals, it was! ... And our crew told what they seen and heerd: but n.o.body minded sich things. "Twas dark parts, and Popish, then; and n.o.body knowed nothing, nor got no schooling, nor cared for nothing, but scrattling up and down alongsh.o.r.e like to prawns in a pule. Iss, sitting in darkness, we was, and the shadow of death, till the day- spring from on high arose, and shined upon us poor out-o" -the-way folk--The Lord be praised! And now, look to mun!" and he waved his hand all round--"Look to mun! Look to the works of the Lord! Look to the captains! Oh blessed sight! And one"s been to the Brazils, and one to the Indies, and the Spanish Main, and the North-West, and the Rooshias, and the Chinas, and up the Straits, and round the Cape, and round the world of G.o.d, too, bless His holy name; and I seed the beginning of it; and I"ll see the end of it too, I will! I was born into the old times: but I"ll see the wondrous works of the new, yet, I will! I"ll see they b.l.o.o.d.y Spaniards swept off the seas before I die, if my old eyes can reach so far as outside the Sound. I shall, I knows it. I says my prayers for it every night; don"t I, Mary? You"ll bate mun, sure as Judgment, you"ll bate mun! The Lord"ll fight for ye. Nothing"ll stand against ye. I"ve seed it all along--ever since I was with young master to the Honduras. They can"t bide the push of us! You"ll bate mun off the face of the seas, and be masters of the round world, and all that therein is. And then, I"ll just turn my old face to the wall, and depart in peace, according to his word.
"Deary me, now, while I"ve been telling with you, here"ve this little maid been and ate up all my sugar!"
"I"ll bring you some more," said Amyas; whom the childish bathos of the last sentence moved rather to sighs than laughter.
"Will ye, then? There"s a good soul, and come and tell with old Martin. He likes to see the brave young gentlemen, a-going to and fro in their ships, like Leviathan, and taking of their pastime therein. We had no such ships to our days. Ah, "tis grand times, beautiful times surely--and you"ll bring me a bit sugar?"
"You were up the Plate with Cabot?" said Cary, after a pause. "Do you mind the fair lady Miranda, Sebastian de Hurtado"s wife?"
"What! her that was burnt by the Indians? Mind her? Do you mind the sun in heaven? Oh, the beauty! Oh, the ways of her! Oh, the speech of her! Never was, nor never will be! And she to die by they villains; and all for the goodness of her! Mind her? I minded naught else when she was on deck."
"Who was she?" asked Amyas of Cary.
"A Spanish angel, Amyas."
"Humph!" said Amyas. "So much the worse for her, to be born into a nation of devils."
"They"em not all so bad as that, yer honor. Her husband was a proper gallant gentleman, and kind as a maid, too, and couldn"t abide that De Solis"s murderous doings."
"His wife must have taught it him, then," said Amyas, rising. "Where did you hear of these black swans, Cary?"
"I have heard of them, and that"s enough," answered he, unwilling to stir sad recollections.
"And little enough," said Amyas. "Will, don"t talk to me. The devil is not grown white because he has trod in a lime-heap."
"Or an angel black because she came down a chimney," said Cary; and so the talk ended, or rather was cut short; for the talk of all the groups was interrupted by an explosion from old John Hawkins.
"Fail? Fail? What a murrain do you here, to talk of failing? Who made you a prophet, you scurvy, hang-in-the-wind, croaking, white- livered son of a corby-crow?"
"Heaven help us, Admiral Hawkins, who has put fire to your culverins in this fashion?" said Lord Howard.
"Who? my lord! Croakers! my lord! Here"s a fellow calls himself the captain of a ship, and her majesty"s servant, and talks about failing, as if he were a Barbican loose-kirtle trying to keep her apple-squire ash.o.r.e! Blurt for him, sneak-up! say I."
"Admiral John Hawkins," quoth the offender, "you shall answer this language with your sword."
"I"ll answer it with my foot; and buy me a pair of horn-tips to my shoes, like a wraxling man. Fight a croaker? Fight a frog, an owl! I fight those that dare fight, sir!"
"Sir, sir, moderate yourself. I am sure this gentleman will show himself as brave as any, when it comes to blows: but who can blame mortal man for trembling before so fearful a chance as this?"
"Let mortal man keep his tremblings to himself, then, my lord, and not be like Solomon"s madmen, casting abroad fire and death, and saying, it is only in sport. There is more than one of his kidney, your lordship, who have not been ashamed to play Mother Shipton before their own sailors, and damp the poor fellows" hearts with crying before they"re hurt, and this is one of them. I"ve heard him at it afore, and I"ll present him, with a vengeance, though I"m no church-warden."
"If this is really so, Admiral Hawkins--"
"It is so, my lord! I heard only last night, down in a tavern below, such unbelieving talk as made me mad, my lord; and if it had not been after supper, and my hand was not oversteady, I would have let out a pottle of Alicant from some of their hoopings, and sent them to d.i.c.k Surgeon, to wrap them in swaddling-clouts, like whining babies as they are. Marry come up, what says Scripture? "He that is fearful and faint-hearted among you, let him go and"-- what? son d.i.c.k there? Thou"rt pious, and read"st thy Bible. What"s that text? A mortal fine one it is, too."
""He that is fearful and faint-hearted among you, let him go back,"" quoth the Complete Seaman. "Captain Merryweather, as my father"s command, as well as his years, forbid his answering your challenge, I shall repute it an honor to entertain his quarrel myself--place, time, and weapons being at your choice."
"Well spoken, son d.i.c.k!--and like a true courtier, too! Ah! thou hast the palabras, and the knee, and the cap, and the quip, and the innuendo, and the true town fashion of it all--no old tarry-breeks of a sea-dog, like thy dad! My lord, you"ll let them fight?"
"The Spaniard, sir; but no one else. But, captains and gentlemen, consider well my friend the Port Admiral"s advice; and if any man"s heart misgives him, let him, for the sake of his country and his queen, have so much government of his tongue to hide his fears in his own bosom, and leave open complaining to ribalds and women. For if the sailor be not cheered by his commander"s cheerfulness, how will the ignorant man find comfort in himself? And without faith and hope, how can he fight worthily?"
"There is no croaking aboard of us, we will warrant," said twenty voices, "and shall be none, as long as we command on board our own ships."
Hawkins, having blown off his steam, went back to Drake and the bowls.
"Fill my pipe, Drawer--that croaking fellow"s made me let it out, of course! Spoil-sports! The father of all manner of troubles on earth, be they noxious trade of croakers! "Better to meet a bear robbed of her whelps," Francis Drake, as Solomon saith, than a fule who can"t keep his mouth shut. What brought Mr. Andrew Barker to his death but croakers? What stopped Fenton"s China voyage in the "82, and lost your nephew John, and my brother Will, glory and hard cash too, but croakers? What sent back my Lord c.u.mberland"s armada in the "86, and that after they"d proved their strength, too, sixty o" mun against six hundred Portugals and Indians; and yet wern"t ashamed to turn round and come home empty-handed, after all my lord"s expenses that he had been at? What but these same beggarly croakers, that be only fit to be turned into yellow-hammers up to Dartymoor, and sit on a tor all day, and cry "Very little bit of bread, and no chee-e-ese!" Marry, sneak-up! say I again."
"And what," said Drake, "would have kept me, if I"d let "em, from ever sailing round the world, but these same croakers? I hanged my best friend for croaking, John Hawkins, may G.o.d forgive me if I was wrong, and I threatened a week after to hang thirty more; and I"d have done it, too, if they hadn"t clapped tompions into their muzzles pretty fast."
"You"m right, Frank. My old father always told me--and old King Hal (bless his memory!) would take his counsel among a thousand;-- "And, my son," says he to me, "whatever you do, never you stand no croaking; but hang mun, son Jack, hang mun up for an ensign. There"s Scripture for it," says he (he was a mighty man to his Bible, after b.l.o.o.d.y Mary"s days, leastwise), "and "tis written," says he, "It"s expedient that one man die for the crew, and that the whole crew perish not; so show you no mercy, son Jack, or you"ll find none, least-wise in they manner of cattle; for if you fail, they stamps on you, and if you succeeds, they takes the credit of it to themselves, and goes to heaven in your shoes." Those were his words, and I"ve found mun true.--Who com"th here now?"
"Captain Fleming, as I"m a sinner."
"Fleming? Is he tired of life, that he com"th here to look for a halter? I"ve a warrant out against mun, for robbing of two Flushingers on the high seas, now this very last year. Is the fellow mazed or drunk, then? or has he seen a ghost? Look to mun!"
"I think so, truly," said Drake. "His eyes are near out of his head."
The man was a rough-bearded old sea-dog, who had just burst in from the tavern through the low hatch, upsetting a drawer with all his gla.s.ses, and now came panting and blowing straight up to the high admiral,-- "My lord, my lord! They"m coming! I saw them off the Lizard last night!"
"Who? my good sir, who seem to have left your manners behind you."
"The Armada, your worship--the Spaniard; but as for my manners, "tis no fault of mine, for I never had none to leave behind me."
"If he has not left his manners behind," quoth Hawkins, "look out for your purses, gentlemen all! He"s manners enough, and very bad ones they be, when he com"th across a quiet Flushinger."
"If I stole Flushingers" wines, I never stole negurs" souls, Jack Hawkins; so there"s your answer. My lord, hang me if you will; life"s short and death"s easy "specially to seamen; but if I didn"t see the Spanish fleet last sun-down, coming along half-moon wise, and full seven mile from wing to wing, within a four mile of me, I"m a sinner."
"Sirrah," said Lord Howard, "is this no fetch, to cheat us out of your pardon for these piracies of yours?"
"You"ll find out for yourself before nightfall, my lord high admiral. All Jack Fleming says is, that this is a poor sort of an answer to a man who has put his own neck into the halter for the sake of his country."
"Perhaps it is," said Lord Howard. "And after all, gentlemen, what can this man gain by a lie, which must be discovered ere a day is over, except a more certain hanging?"
"Very true, your lordship," said Hawkins, mollified. "Come here, Jack Fleming--what wilt drain, man? Hippocras or Alicant, Sack or John Barleycorn, and a pledge to thy repentance and amendment of life."
"Admiral Hawkins, Admiral Hawkins, this is no time for drinking."
"Why not, then, my lord? Good news should be welcomed with good wine. Frank, send down to the s.e.xton, and set the bells a-ringing to cheer up all honest hearts. Why, my lord, if it were not for the gravity of my office, I could dance a galliard for joy!"
"Well, you may dance, port admiral: but I must go and plan, but G.o.d give to all captains such a heart as yours this day!"
"And G.o.d give all generals such a head as yours! Come, Frank Drake, we"ll play the game out before we move. It will be two good days before we shall be fit to tackle them, so an odd half-hour don"t matter."
"I must command the help of your counsel, vice-admiral," said Lord Charles, turning to Drake.
"And it"s this, my good lord," said Drake, looking up, as he aimed his bowl. "They"ll come soon enough for us to show them sport, and yet slow enough for us to be ready; so let no man hurry himself. And as example is better than precept, here goes."
Lord Howard shrugged his shoulders, and departed, knowing two things: first, that to move Drake was to move mountains; and next, that when the self-taught hero did bestir himself, he would do more work in an hour than any one else in a day. So he departed, followed hastily by most of the captains; and Drake said in a low voice to Hawkins: "Does he think we are going to knock about on a lee-sh.o.r.e all the afternoon and run our noses at night--and dead up-wind, too--into the Dons" mouths? No, Jack, my friend. Let Orlando-Furioso- punctilio-fire-eaters go and get their knuckles rapped. The following game is the game, and not the meeting one. The dog goes after the sheep, and not afore them, lad. Let them go by, and go by, and stick to them well to windward, and pick up stragglers, and pickings, too, Jack--the prizes, Jack!"
"Trust my old eyes for not being over-quick at seeing signals, if I be hanging in the skirts of a fat-looking Don. We"m the eagles, Drake; and where the carcase is, is our place, eh?"
And so the two old sea-dogs chatted on, while their companions dropped off one by one, and only Amyas remained.
"Eh, Captain Leigh, where"s my boy d.i.c.k?"
"Gone off with his lordship, Sir John."
"On his punctilios too, I suppose, the young slashed-breeks. He"s half a Don, that fellow, with his fine scholarship, and his fine manners, and his fine clothes. He"ll get a taking down before he dies, unless he mends. Why ain"t you gone too, sir?"
"I follow my leader," said Amyas, filling his pipe.
"Well said, my big man," quoth Drake. "If I could lead you round the world, I can lead you up Channel, can"t I?--Eh? my little bantam-c.o.c.k of the Orinoco? Drink, lad! You"re over-sad to-day."
"Not a whit," said Amyas. "Only I can"t help wondering whether I shall find him after all."
"Whom? That Don? We"ll find him for you, if he"s in the fleet. We"ll squeeze it out of our prisoners somehow. Eh, Hawkins? I thought all the captains had promised to send you news if they heard of him."
"Ay, but it"s ill looking for a needle in a haystack. But I shall find him. I am a coward to doubt it," said Amyas, setting his teeth.
"There, vice-admiral, you"re beaten, and that"s the rubber. Pay up three dollars, old high-flyer, and go and earn more, like an honest adventurer."
"Well," said Drake, as he pulled out his purse, "we"ll walk down now, and see about these young hot-heads. As I live, they are setting to tow the ships out already! Breaking the men"s backs over-night, to make them fight the l.u.s.tier in the morning! Well, well, they haven"t sailed round the world, Jack Hawkins."
"Or had to run home from San Juan d"Ulloa with half a crew.
"Well, if we haven"t to run out with half crews. I saw a sight of our lads drunk about this morning."
"The more reason for waiting till they be sober. Besides, if everybody"s caranting about to once each after his own men, n.o.body"ll find nothing in such a scrimmage as that. Bye, bye, Uncle Martin. We"m going to blow the Dons up now in earnest."
CHAPTER x.x.xI.
THE GREAT ARMADA.
"Britannia needs no bulwarks, No towers along the steep, Her march is o"er the mountain wave, Her home is on the deep."
CAMPBELL, Ye Mariners of England.
And now began that great sea-fight which was to determine whether Popery and despotism, or Protestantism and freedom, were the law which G.o.d had appointed for the half of Europe, and the whole of future America. It is a twelve days" epic, worthy, as I said in the beginning of this book, not of dull prose, but of the thunder- roll of Homer"s verse: but having to tell it, I must do my best, rather using, where I can, the words of contemporary authors than my own.
"The Lord High Admirall of England, sending a pinnace before, called the Defiance, denounced war by discharging her ordnance; and presently approaching with in musquet-shot, with much thundering out of his own ship, called the Arkroyall (alias the Triumph), first set upon the admirall"s, as he thought, of the Spaniards (but it was Alfonso de Leon"s ship. Soon after, Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher played stoutly with their ordnance on the hindmost squadron, which was commanded by Recalde." The Spaniards soon discover the superior "nimbleness of the English ships;" and Recalde"s squadron, finding that they are getting more than they give, in spite of his endeavors, hurry forward to join the rest of the fleet. Medina the Admiral, finding his ships scattering fast, gathers them into a half-moon; and the Armada tries to keep solemn way forward, like a stately herd of buffaloes, who march on across the prairie, disdaining to notice the wolves which snarl around their track. But in vain. These are no wolves, but cunning hunters, swiftly horsed, and keenly armed, and who will "shamefully shuffle" (to use Drake"s own expression) that vast herd from the Lizard to Portland, from Portland to Calais Roads; and who, even in this short two hours" fight, have made many a Spaniard question the boasted invincibleness of this Armada.
One of the four great gallia.s.ses is already riddled with shot, to the great disarrangement of her "pulpits, chapels," and friars therein a.s.sistant. The fleet has to close round her, or Drake and Hawkins will sink her; in effecting which manoeuvre, the "princ.i.p.al galleon of Seville," in which are Pedro de Valdez and a host of blue-blooded Dons, runs foul of her neighbor, carries away her foremast, and is, in spite of Spanish chivalry, left to her fate. This does not look like victory, certainly. But courage! though Valdez be left behind, "our Lady," and the saints, and the bull Caena Domini (dictated by one whom I dare not name here), are with them still, and it were blasphemous to doubt. But in the meanwhile, if they have fared no better than this against a third of the Plymouth fleet, how will they fare when those forty belated ships, which are already whitening the blue between them and the Mewstone, enter the scene to play their part?
So ends the first day; not an English ship, hardly a man, is hurt. It has destroyed for ever, in English minds, the prestige of boastful Spain. It has justified utterly the policy which the good Lord Howard had adopted by Raleigh"s and Drake"s advice, of keeping up a running fight, instead of "clapping ships together without consideration," in which case, says Raleigh, "he had been lost, if he had not been better advised than a great many malignant fools were, who found fault with his demeanor."
Be that as it may, so ends the first day, in which Amyas and the other Bideford ships have been right busy for two hours, knocking holes in a huge galleon, which carries on her p.o.o.p a maiden with a wheel, and bears the name of Sta. Catharina. She had a coat of arms on the flag at her sprit, probably those of the commandant of soldiers; but they were shot away early in the fight, so Amyas cannot tell whether they were De Soto" s or not. Nevertheless, there is plenty of time for private revenge; and Amyas, called off at last by the admiral"s signal, goes to bed and sleeps soundly.
But ere he has been in his hammock an hour, he is awakened by Cary"s coming down to ask for orders.
"We were to follow Drake"s lantern, Amyas; but where it is, I can"t see, unless he has been taken up aloft there among the stars for a new Drakium Sidus."
Amyas turns out grumbling: but no lantern is to be seen; only a sudden explosion and a great fire on board some Spaniard, which is gradually got under, while they have to lie-to the whole night long, with nearly the whole fleet.
The next morning finds them off Torbay; and Amyas is hailed by a pinnace, bringing a letter from Drake, which (saving the spelling, which was somewhat arbitrary, like most men"s in those days) ran somewhat thus:-- "DEAR LAD,--I have been wool-gathering all night after five great hulks, which the Pixies transfigured overnight into galleons, and this morning again into German merchantmen. I let them go with my blessing; and coming back, fell in (G.o.d be thanked!) with Valdez" great galleon; and in it good booty, which the Dons his fellows had left behind, like faithful and valiant comrades, and the Lord Howard had let slip past him, thinking her deserted by her crew. I have sent to Dartmouth a sight of n.o.blemen and gentlemen, maybe a half-hundred; and Valdez himself, who when I sent my pinnace aboard must needs stand on his punctilios, and propound conditions. I answered him, I had no time to tell with him; if he would needs die, then I was the very man for him; if he would live, then, buena querra. He sends again, boasting that he was Don Pedro Valdez, and that it stood not with his honor, and that of the Dons in his company. I replied, that for my part, I was Francis Drake, and my matches burning. Whereon he finds in my name salve for the wounds of his own, and comes aboard, kissing my fist, with Spanish lies of holding himself fortunate that he had fallen into the hands of fortunate Drake, and much more, which he might have kept to cool his porridge. But I have much news from him (for he is a leaky tub); and among others, this, that your Don Guzman is aboard of the Sta. Catharina, commandant of her soldiery, and has his arms flying at her sprit, beside Sta. Catharina at the p.o.o.p, which is a maiden with a wheel, and is a lofty built ship of 3 tier of ordnance, from which G.o.d preserve you, and send you like luck with.
"Your deare Friend and Admirall, "F. Drake.
"She sails in this squadron of Recalde. The Armada was minded to smoke us out of Plymouth; and G.o.d"s grace it was they tried not: but their orders from home are too strait, and so the slaves fight like a bull in a tether, no farther than their rope, finding thus the devil a hard master, as do most in the end. They cannot compa.s.s our quick handling and tacking, and take us for very witches. So far so good, and better to come. You and I know the length of their foot of old. Time and light will kill any hare, and they will find it a long way from Start to Dunkirk."
"The admiral is in a gracious humor, Leigh, to have vouchsafed you so long a letter."
"St. Catherine! why, that was the galleon we hammered all yesterday!" said Amyas, stamping on the deck.
"Of course it was. Well, we shall find her again, doubt not. That cunning old Drake! how he has contrived to line his own pockets, even though he had to keep the whole fleet waiting for him."
"He has given the lord high admiral the dor, at all events."
"Lord Howard is too high-hearted to stop and plunder, Papist though he is, Amyas."
Amyas answered by a growl, for he worshipped Drake, and was not too just to Papists.
The fleet did not find Lord Howard till nightfall; he and Lord Sheffield had been holding on steadfastly the whole night after the Spanish lanterns, with two ships only. At least there was no doubt now of the loyalty of English Roman Catholics, and indeed, throughout the fight, the Howards showed (as if to wipe out the slurs which had been cast on their loyalty by fanatics) a desperate courage, which might have thrust less prudent men into destruction, but led them only to victory. Soon a large Spaniard drifts by, deserted and partly burnt. Some of the men are for leaving their place to board her; but Amyas stoutly refuses. He has "come out to fight, and not to plunder; so let the nearest ship to her have her luck without grudging." They pa.s.s on, and the men pull long faces when they see the galleon snapped up by their next neighbor, and towed off to Weymouth, where she proves to be the ship of Miguel d"Oquenda, the vice-admiral, which they saw last night, all but blown up by some desperate Netherland gunner, who, being "misused," was minded to pay off old scores on his tyrants.
And so ends the second day; while the Portland rises higher and clearer every hour. The next morning finds them off the island. Will they try Portsmouth, though they have spared Plymouth? The wind has shifted to the north, and blows clear and cool off the white-walled downs of Weymouth Bay. The Spaniards turn and face the English. They must mean to stand off and on until the wind shall change, and then to try for the Needles. At least, they shall have some work to do before they round Purbeck Isle.
The English go to the westward again: but it is only to return on the opposite tack; and now begin a series of manoeuvres, each fleet trying to get the wind of the other; but the struggle does not last long, and ere noon the English fleet have slipped close-hauled between the Armada and the land, and are coming down upon them right before the wind.
And now begins a fight most fierce and fell. "And fight they did confusedly, and with variable fortunes; while, on the one hand, the English manfully rescued the ships of London, which were hemmed in by the Spaniards; and, on the other side, the Spaniards as stoutly delivered Recalde being in danger." "Never was heard such thundering of ordnance on both sides, which notwithstanding from the Spaniards flew for the most part over the English without harm. Only c.o.c.k, an Englishman" (whom Prince claims, I hope rightfully, as a worthy of Devon), "died with honor in the midst of the enemies in a small ship of his. For the English ships, being far the lesser, charged the enemy with marvellous agility; and having discharged their broadsides, flew forth presently into the deep, and levelled their shot directly, without missing, at those great and unwieldy Spanish ships." "This was the most furious and b.l.o.o.d.y skirmish of all" (though ending only, it seems, in the capture of a great Venetian and some small craft), "in which the lord admiral fighting amidst his enemies" fleet, and seeing one of his captains afar off (Fenner by name, he who fought the seven Portugals at the Azores), cried, "O George, what doest thou? Wilt thou now frustrate my hope and opinion conceived of thee? Wilt thou forsake me now?" With which words he being enflamed, approached, and did the part of a most valiant captain;" as, indeed, did all the rest.
Night falls upon the floating volcano; and morning finds them far past Purbeck, with the white peak of Freshwater ahead; and pouring out past the Needles, ship after ship, to join the gallant chase. For now from all havens, in vessels fitted out at their own expense, flock the chivalry of England; the Lords Oxford, Northumberland, and c.u.mberland, Pallavicin, Brooke, Carew, Raleigh, and Blunt, and many another honorable name, "as to a set field, where immortal fame and honor was to be attained." Spain has staked her chivalry in that mighty cast; not a n.o.ble house of Arragon or Castile but has lent a brother or a son--and shall mourn the loss of one: and England"s gentlemen will measure their strength once for all against the Cavaliers of Spain. Lord Howard has sent forward light craft into Portsmouth for ammunition: but they will scarce return to-night, for the wind falls dead, and all the evening the two fleets drift helpless with the tide, and shout idle defiance at each other with trumpet, fife, and drum.
The sun goes down upon a gla.s.sy sea, and rises on a gla.s.sy sea again. But what day is this? The twenty-fifth, St. James"s-day, sacred to the patron saint of Spain. Shall nothing be attempted in his honor by those whose forefathers have so often seen him with their bodily eyes, charging in their van upon his snow-white steed, and scattering Paynims with celestial lance? He might have sent them, certainly, a favoring breeze; perhaps, he only means to try their faith; at least the galleys shall attack; and in their van three of the great gallia.s.ses (the fourth lies half-crippled among the fleet) thrash the sea to foam with three hundred oars apiece; and see, not St. James leading them to victory, but Lord Howard"s Triumph, his brother"s Lion, Southwell"s Elizabeth Jonas, Lord Sheffield"s Bear, Barker"s Victory, and George Fenner"s Leicester, towed stoutly out, to meet them with such salvoes of chain-shot, smashing oars, and cutting rigging, that had not the wind sprung up again toward noon, and the Spanish fleet come up to rescue them, they had shared the fate of Valdez and the Biscayan. And now the fight becomes general. Frobisher beats down the Spanish admiral"s mainmast; and, attacked himself by Mexia and Recalde, is rescued by Lord Howard; who, himself endangered in his turn, is rescued in his turn; "while after that day" (so sickened were they of the English gunnery) "no gallia.s.se would adventure to fight."
And so, with variable fortune, the fight thunders on the livelong afternoon, beneath the virgin cliffs of Freshwater; while myriad sea-fowl rise screaming up from every ledge, and spot with their black wings the snow-white wall of chalk; and the lone shepherd hurries down the slopes above to peer over the dizzy edge, and forgets the wheatear fluttering in his snare, while he gazes trembling upon glimpses of tall masts and gorgeous flags, piercing at times the league-broad veil of sulphur-smoke which welters far below.
So fares St. James"s-day, as Baal"s did on Carmel in old time, "Either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey; or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked." At least, the only fire by which he has answered his votaries, has been that of English cannon: and the Armada, "gathering itself into a roundel," will fight no more, but make the best of its way to Calais, where perhaps the Guises" faction may have a French force ready to a.s.sist them, and then to Dunkirk, to join with Parma and the great flotilla of the Netherlands.
So on, before "a fair Etesian gale," which follows clear and bright out of the south-southwest, glide forward the two great fleets, past Brighton Cliffs and Beachy Head, Hastings and Dungeness. Is it a battle or a triumph? For by sea Lord Howard, instead of fighting is rewarding; and after Lord Thomas Howard, Lord Sheffield, Townsend, and Frobisher have received at his hands that knighthood, which was then more honorable than a peerage, old Admiral Hawkins kneels and rises up Sir John, and shaking his shoulders after the accolade, observes to the representative of majesty, that his "old woman will hardly know herself again, when folks call her My Lady."
And meanwhile the cliffs are lined with pike-men and musketeers, and by every countryman and groom who can bear arms, led by their squires and sheriffs, marching eastward as fast as their weapons let them, towards the Dover sh.o.r.e. And not with them alone. From many a mile inland come down women and children, and aged folk in wagons, to join their feeble shouts, and prayers which are not feeble, to that great cry of mingled faith and fear which ascends to the throne of G.o.d from the spectators of Britain"s Salamis.