Across the Spanish Main: A Tale of the Sea in the Days of Queen Bess
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Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
Across the Spanish Main, by Harry Collingwood.
________________________________________________________________________This book, of average length, is set at the end of the sixteenthcentury, when the English were in a state of war against the Spanish.The heroes of the story are two boys from Devon, a county in thesouth-west of England. They set off with a view to repairing thefortunes of the family of one of them, by chasing and capturing Spanishtreasure ships.
Their adventures are many and various, and include being captured by afamous pirate. They are also, later on in the book, condemned to beburnt to death by the Inquisition. Luckily they are able to escape thisdisagreeable outcome.
They also come across a cryptogram, which is rather difficult to solve,but which eventually they manage to decypher, and which leads them tothe treasure hoarded by the pirate, who by that time has met his end.
This is a good book, and one which makes a very nice audiobook.
________________________________________________________________________ACROSS THE SPANISH MAIN, BY HARRY COLLINGWOOD.
CHAPTER ONE.
HOW ROGER TREVOSE AND HARRY EDGWYTH MADE A CERTAIN COMPACT.
"Now now, Roger, my lad; what are you thinking of?" These words wereaddressed to a tall, fair young man of about eighteen or nineteen yearsof age, who was standing on Plymouth Hoe, gazing earnestly at the Soundand the evolutions of certain vessels which had just entered it roundPenlee Point.
The speaker was a lad of about the same age, but shorter in height,sturdier in build, and altogether more robust and healthy-looking thanhis companion, who belonged rather to the class of dreamers than that ofworkers.
The time was a bright summer morning in the month of June, in the year1586; and although the great Armada--which Philip of Spain fondlybelieved was to crush England--was as yet undreamed of, war was eventhen being carried on in a somewhat desultory manner between England andSpain, very much to the disadvantage of the latter country.
English gentlemen, who called themselves "gentlemen adventurers", werefitting out merchant-vessels as warships, and sailing for the SpanishMain and the Indies in the hope of securing some of the splendid prizesthat were at that time to be obtained through pluck and audacity, in theshape of Spanish galleons richly and heavily laden with spices and goldfrom Manila, plate from Acapulco, or costly silks and fabrics andtreasure untold from the new Spanish colony of Mexico.
It was of these stirring deeds and adventures that Roger Trevose ofPentillie Manor, on the river Tamar, in the county of Devon--fairest andsweetest of all English counties,--was thinking when his friend HarryEdgwyth, who had just arrived upon the scene, put his question: "Hownow, Roger, my lad; what are you thinking of?"
"I was thinking, Harry, what a splendid thing it would be if you and Icould join some of these gentlemen adventurers (heroes I call them), andtry our luck in the Spanish seas, fighting for our fortunes, and theglory of dear old England. Just think of it, lad! That is a life for aman to lead; is't not so, Harry? Pentillie Castle, as you know well, isheavily mortgaged; and my poor father and mother are very hardly put toit to make sufficient money to keep the old place up; and what would bemore fitting, Harry, I ask you, than for the only son, the heir to thosefair estates and that grand old mansion, to sail in some ship going tothe Indies, and endeavour to retrieve the fortunes of his house? Thinkfor a moment, Harry; who knows but that we might sight some rich Spanishgalleon, laden almost to the water's edge with plate, and, havingsighted her, chase and capture her! Why, a share of one of thosesplendid cargoes that the plate galleons carry would probably besufficient to enable me to restore the fortunes of the dear old home,pay off its mortgages, and free my dearly-loved parents from the load ofcare that is now oppressing them. And that," continued Roger, becomingwildly enthusiastic, "need not be the finish of it all. With some ofthe money I could and would fit out an expedition of my own, and sailfor the Indies on my own account; and perhaps return with my ship morerichly-laden than any ship has ever been before; and my name would ringthrough England; I should be given honours; perhaps be called to court;and who knows, Harry, where I should stop! Why, lad, it is enough tofire the most sluggish blood, let alone mine, which is hot enough, Godwot, as is that of all the Trevose family."
"Ay, Roger," answered Harry, "but have you well weighed the risks; haveyou thought of what your parents would feel if you left them all aloneto go to the Spanish Main, whence, perchance, you would never return?Remember, lad, you are their only son, and heir to the old estate andmanor; and think what they would feel did you never come back."
"Harry," replied Roger, "never, never have I seen or met your equal forcaution! Why prate, lad, of what might happen? Think rather of what iscertain to befall, and that is that I shall come back a rich man, richenough to enable me to realise all my wishes and ambitions. Why, ifeveryone thought as you do, where would now be the names of the heroeswho have already made our dear England the mistress of the seas?`Nothing dare, nothing gain', lad; that's my motto!"
"You are quite right in what you say," replied Harry, "but only too welldo I know your careless and reckless disposition, Roger; and althoughyou would surely do daring deeds, and cover yourself with glory, I fearme greatly that you would not live to bring home that treasure, even ifyou did live long enough to gain it."
"Harry, if I did not know you as I do, lad," retorted Roger, "I shouldbe inclined to dub you craven; but, as it is, I know full well that youonly suffer from excess of caution, even as you say that I suffer fromlack of the same. But I do not agree with your prophecy that I shouldnot live to bring home my spoil. No, I feel within myself that I shallsucceed in my venture, if I can bring my father and mother to consent tomy going; and I am also convinced that I shall be able to bring myriches safely home. Meanwhile, the question is: Can I persuade somebrave captain to take me on his ship?"
"Have you, then, truly made up your mind to sail for the Indies, Roger,if you can get one of our adventurers to take you?" cried Harry."Methought you were only dreaming, and did not seriously entertain theidea of leaving England."
"I was never more serious in my life," replied Roger; "in fact I hadmade up my mind some time since, and was but considering how and when Icould best put the matter before my parents, and wondering whether theywould give their consent to my embarking on such an enterprise. And Iwould give much, Harry, my friend, if I could persuade you to accompanyme. Has not the prospect of adventure, glory, and perchance greatwealth, any attraction for you?"
"Ay, that has it," asserted Harry; "but you seem to forget that, if I gowith you, I must leave my sister behind; and what would become of her,poor maid? I have no other relations to whom she could go, or who wouldcare for her; and I cannot leave her behind, all alone."
Roger broke into a peal of merry laughter.
"Why, lad," said he, "you are forever making difficulties where noneexist! Now list to me, for I have a proposal to make you. If I canpersuade my father and mother to let me go, they will then, as you say,be alone, seeing that I am their only child; but if your sister were togo to them, it would in part reconcile them to my absence, while at thesame time the arrangement would provide a home for your sister, and away out of your difficulty. What do you say to my idea?"
"That it is a good one," agreed Harry; "and I thank you, Roger, for thethought, which truly had occurred to me also, but I did not like to bethe first to mention it. My sister has ever loved your mother, and Ithink your mother has some little affection for the maid; and I am sur
e,therefore, that she would be happy with your folk."
"Let us then consider the matter as settled, so far as we are concerned,Harry," said Roger; "and let us pledge each other to sail together; tostand by each other through thick and thin, through fair and foul; toshare all dangers; and to divide equally all plunder that we may obtainfrom the rascally Dons. Then I will away to consult my folk; and youshall come too, Harry, and add your persuasions to mine. You shallentreat them, with me, to let me go, promising them that, if they willpart with me, your sister shall keep them company till we return. And Iam sure that if we both plead hard enough, Harry, lad, we shall in theend succeed in obtaining from them a promise to let me go at the veryfirst opportunity."
"Very well, Roger," assented Harry; "this shall be the first action inwhich I will stand by you according to our pledge; and I will come withyou and add my entreaties to yours that your people should let you go.But when do you intend to ask them, lad?"
"I am in Plymouth until the morrow after next," said Roger; "and then Iintend to take my boat, which I have left at Sutton Pool, and pull upthe river back to Pentillie; and you will come with me, Harry, will younot?"
"Ay, lad, that will I; have I not promised you?" replied the latter."But I must now go about my business, else shall I not be in time toaccompany you according to my promise. So until the appointed time,when I will certainly meet you, farewell, lad! and have a care that thathare-brain of yours does not get you into some trouble, meanwhile; for Iknow what you are when you come into Plymouth on a holiday."
"Never fear for me, Harry," returned Roger; "I have now something inview of more importance than street brawls and such follies, and shalltake care that I get into no trouble to prevent my joining you at SuttonPool, as we agreed."
With these words the two lads separated, Harry returning to his home tobreak the momentous news to his sister, and elicit her views concerningthe proposed expedition, and Roger proceeding to the house of his uncle,a worthy mercer of the town, with whom he was staying during the holidaywhich he was at that time taking in Plymouth. Little did those two boys(for they were scarcely more) realise the momentous nature of the stepthat they had taken when they pledged one another on Plymouth Hoe!Could they but have foreseen the wild and terrible days, the awfulsights, the hardships and privations, which lay before them, and throughwhich they would have to pass ere they might return to their nativecountry, it is highly probable that they would not have started on theirexpedition at all. Or, if they had done so, it would have been with farheavier hearts and more serious faces than they carried at the time whenthey made their compact to stand by one another "through fair and foul,through thick and thin", as they phrased it, that morning on PlymouthHoe.