Sea-Dogs All!

by Tom Bevan

  Chapter XLII.

  CAPTIVES.

  The wonderful name of Drake saved the expedition from irretrievabledisaster. "For England, boys!" Sir John had shouted as he laid abouthim in the mangrove trees. "For Drake and Devon!" shouted a Plymouthtar, and his comrades had hurrahed at his words. "Ay, remember theskipper's name!" Sir John had replied; "defeat and Drake don't gotogether!" These shouted words, and the promptness of the round shotfrom the ship, had really equal effects in scattering the foe. TheSpanish commander, when he rallied his men farther back at the springs,asked Nick Johnson who his captain was.

  "Drake of Plymouth!" cried Nick; "and take heed to it, ye dirty Papist.Ye'll regret this business before sunset!"

  And the soldiers were of their foeman's opinion. Their leader deemeddiscretion the better part of valour. He had lost some men; his allieshad fled; five prisoners were in his hands. So far he could claim avictory, and he was resolved not to lose one leaf from his scantylaurels. "Drake" was an incarnation of the devil; every Don in Americaknew that; it was useless fighting the redoubtable sailor, for no mancould defeat or kill him. The Spanish captain decided on a movement tothe rear. In vain Basil stormed and raved, and vowed that the dreadedDrake was not within a thousand leagues of the isthmus. The soldiersremembered that the speaker was a renegade Englishman, and refused tobelieve him.

  Basil left them to go on to Panama, whilst he returned to the Indiancamp and the two prisoners whose clever capture he had superintended.The Indians had gone, and Morgan and Jeffreys were left gagged andbound. The Jesuit was furious. His first impulse was to kill hiscaptives and leave their bodies to be found by their companions, whowould assuredly make some search for them. But a moment's reflectionmade him abandon that plan. Had he desired only their death, it wouldhave been easier for the Indians to shoot them than to capture them.One of the two, Morgan, was an old foe; he had done much to thwart thescheme for firing the Forest of Dean, a scheme which would have broughtBasil nothing less than a bishopric had it succeeded. He was one ofthose who had slain Father Jerome, and must expiate his many offences.The angry man had little objection to letting out Master Timothy's lifeat a blow, but Morgan must have no such easy ending. So he left thetwo, half-stifled in their blankets, and went into the woods and alongthe creek, calling in the hope of attracting some stray Indians. Aftera while, the chief and about a dozen others straggled back.

  The tent, wherein Basil had kept up state in order to overawe thesimple natives, was packed away into a canoe. The prisoners were putinto another, and the company paddled away towards the interior,following by water the course the Spaniards had taken by land.

  The two parties met that evening at a native village, and a fiercequarrel broke out betwixt Basil and the Spanish commandant. Thecivilian accused the soldier of cowardice and indifference thatamounted to treachery, and fiercely maintained that a little morewisdom and courage on the part of the troops would have sufficed forthe capture of the whole expedition. The captain retorted that he haddone his duty with due zeal and discretion, and threatened Basil with ashare of the bonds that bound the limbs of his fellow Englishmen. Hetook Basil's two prisoners and added them to his own captures,asserting that he did so in order to ensure their safe keeping. Byeasy stages the troops moved west by north along the rivers and overthe mountains to Panama, where the Englishmen were formally imprisonedas pirates and wicked enemies of his Majesty King Philip. Basil wassoon busily at work in an endeavour to get them accused of heresyrather than piracy, and so put them into the hands of the Inquisition;for the ecclesiastics punished with infinitely greater cruelties thandid the King's officers.

  A long and anxious council was held that afternoon aboard the _GoldenBoar_. For the time, the treasure-hunt was forgotten. Seven membersof the company, two of them gentlemen partners in the expedition, werein the hands of the Spaniards. What could be done for their release?From the evidence of those of the watering-party that had escaped, itwas plain that the band that had attacked them was as numerous as thatwhich attacked the gold-seekers. The total forces, Spanish and Indian,were considerably over a thousand. Now, if the ship was to be at alladequately guarded and manned, Captain Drake could not spare more thana score of men as a land force. Obviously, this was totally inadequateif the foe stood his ground; so weak a band might be shot down one byone in the forest. Yet no man would leave the coast without makingsome real effort to aid his captured comrades. The brave fellows couldreadily put themselves in thought into the places of the unfortunateseven, and they shuddered as they contemplated their possible fate.One man, Paignton Rob, knew Oxenham's route across the isthmus, and hevolunteered at once to lead any pursuing party. Should the Johnsonsescape, they would almost certainly take this route back. Pursuit wasdecided upon, and Captain Drake resolved to lead it himself. The wholeof the gentlemen adventurers volunteered to accompany him, and DanPengelly and Paignton Rob completed the available force. It was smallenough to be called a "forlorn hope;" it was brave enough to dodesperate deeds if occasion offered.

  Since the retreat of the foe no sounds had been heard from the shore.This did not prove that no enemies were lurking in the thickets, forsilence had prevailed until the moment of the double attack. Roboffered to go scouting, but his services as guide were too precious forhim to run the risk; and Sir John Trelawny, like the valiant knight hewas, went instead. A boat was rowed down into the shelter of thebluff, and he slipped ashore. Scaling the rock, he peered about on allsides, saw nothing suspicious, and advanced into the thick woods.There were plenty signs of the fray, but no sight of a foe. He woundround one side of the curve of the bay, and startled nothing but thebirds and a few reptiles. He came down to the water, hailed the ship,and was taken aboard. The captain resolved to start up the creek atnightfall and follow its course into the river.

  This was done. Signs of Basil's camp were discovered, and his bivouacsearched. Morgan's helmet was found; the pursuers were on the track.A hunt in the near woods revealed nothing of note. Re-embarking theyreached an Indian village by midnight, and learned that the foe wasencamped at a larger place up the stream. Here was a chance of a nightassault. But neither bribes nor threats could prevail with any nativeto accept the position as guide. The chief finally gave directionswhich were either wilfully incorrect or misunderstood. The Englishmen,on coming to a parting of the waters, took the wrong course, and foundthemselves by daylight right in the hills and twenty miles from theplace where the captives lay.

  They came back and took the other channel, arriving at thehalting-place about noon, to find the foe gone and themselves too wearyto follow for some hours. Rob and the captain interviewed the chief,but the latter was too fearful of the Spaniards to offer anyassistance. The English force in his eyes was too weak to gain anyvictory, and he would not be on the losing side.

  The adventurers pushed forward again in the evening, abandoned theirboats, and took to the hills in the hope of cutting off the Spanishretreat. They lost their bearings, and for a while were lostthemselves. The pursuit became hopeless, and was reluctantly abandoned.

  The party returned to the ship. Nothing further was possible. With aforce ten times as great as the one he really commanded, Captain Drakemight have attempted a march on Panama itself, for the spirit of thegreat admiral was strong in him.

  Digging was resumed, and the labour was rewarded by the mockingdiscovery of a heap of bones. It was plain to every one that thecompany had been led into a cunningly prepared trap. In the heat oftheir anger some were for sailing back to Trinidad and sacking SanJoseph. The skipper would hear of no such mad enterprise. He set sailfor the open sea, his heart full of two desires. He wanted to fall inwith some other English ships, and essay an attack on Panama. Failingthis, he hoped for the chance of meeting plenty of King Philip'sgalleons. Large or small, he vowed to assail them and take a terriblerequital for his own misfortunes.

  His latter hope was realized. He fell in with two ships in his passagethrou
gh the Indies, and attacked and pillaged both. Although shorn ofnearly half his strength by the time he reached the open Atlantic, yethe made for the Azores and captured yet a third galleon, and fell inwith a fourth sailing for Panama itself. He boarded this, and gave thecaptain a letter for the authorities of the isthmian port. In this hedeclared his intention of paying the place a speedy visit with such aforce that he would level the town with the ground if a hair on thehead of any captive had been injured. 'Twas a proud, characteristicboast, but it was never carried into effect.

  Plymouth was duly reached. The _Golden Boar_ brought some goodlytreasure to port, many stories of wonderful lands, and a wealth of badnews. There was mourning in Plymouth. And Paignton Rob--weeksafter--sat moist-eyed in a cottage at Newnham listening to a maiden'ssobs.