Under Drake's Flag: A Tale of the Spanish Main

by G. A. Henty

  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 wa
s 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. H
is 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 c
auses 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.