Part 5 (1/2)

”And the news of the Captain's return brought unto his people, did so speedily pass over all the church, and fill the ht and desire to see him, that very few, or none, remained with the preacher All hastened to see the evidence of God's love and blessing towards the gracious Queen and country, by the fruit of the gallant mariner's labor and success”

”To God alone,” spake an humble citizen of Plymouth, ”be the Glory”

[Illustration: DRAKE'S GREATEST VICTORY ON THE SPANISH MAIN

(The surrender of Don Anton to Sir Francis Drake, March 1, 1579)]

And all echoed these pious sentiments, in spite of the fact that Drake was a robber, a pirate, and a buccaneer But was he not their own countryray day at Plymouth and anxious faces peer into the street from the s of the low, tiled houses A crowd has collected upon the jutting cliffs and all gaze with eager eyes towards the ocean Men speak in hushed and subdued voices, for there is trouble in the air

Alish there is one small party which seems to be as joyous as a lot of school-boys Fiveat bowls, and one of the exposure to the ele uproariously, when a lean fellow co cliffs which jut far out into the gray, green Atlantic

”Hark'ee, Captain Drake!” he cries ”shi+ps are in the offing, and many of thee our beauteous country!”

”Ah, indeed,” answers the staunch-figured captain, without looking up

”Then let o to , he calreensward, knocks aside the wooden pins, then s, turns and strides towards the waterside

Thus Drake--the lion-hearted--goes out to battle with the great Armada of Philip of Spain, with a smile upon his lips, and full confidence in his ability to defeat the Spaniards at home as well as on the Spanish Main Let us see how he fared?

Ser at Drake and his successful attacks upon his western possessions, Philip--the powerful ether and to invade England with a hty army

”That rascally pirate has beatenhad roared, with no show of coainst him and crush this buccaneer, so that he and his kind can never rise again”

A hty fleet of heavy shi+ps--the Armada--was not ready to sail until July, 1588, and the lish in preparation for defense, for they knew of the full intention of their southern ene dockyards hummed with excitement, while Good Queen Bess and her Ministers of State wrote defiant letters to the lish--always quite lukewaror

The Britons would fight valiantly

As the lulish coast, a heavy land saw the gli water fairly black with the wooden vultures of old Spain The Spaniards had coht in the way in which they had wonhulks, of double-deckers and store-shi+ps manned by slaves and yellow-skinned retainers, who despised big guns and loved a close encounter with hand thrusts and push of pike Like a huge, wooden octopus this arrogant fleet of Arragon moved its tentacles around the saucy, new-ht little isle

”The boats of the English were very nie,”

writes a Spaniard, ”so that the English did with the very heavy cohtness of those of the enemy, it was impossible to come to hand-stroke with theht wind astern--the war shi+ps of the English bore down easily upon the heavy-bottouns at the hulls of the ene,” cried Drake through a truht low and sink 'e hooks so's not to let 'eet hold of you If they once do--you're lost!”

Noas the sound of splitting of boards, as the solid shot pualleons Dense clouds of vapor hung over the struggling co which the July sun had not thoroughly burned away, and partly fro mouths of the cannon Fire burst froled with the shrill wails of the slaves, the guttural cries of the seamen, the screams of the wounded and the derisive howls of those maddened by battle The decks were crimson with blood; sails split and tore as the chain-shot hu of the arquebusques was -barrelledtheir own ho, the Army of the Potomac--twice beaten in an attack upon the South in the eneled as it had never done before,--and won It had nowhere battled as when the foe was pushi+ng it back upon its own soil and cities

So here--no fighters ever bled as did the English when the greedy hands of Spain were clutching at their shores The light shi+ps hung near the Spaniards at a distance and did not board until spars were down and the great rakish hulls were part helpless Then--with a wild cheer--the little galleons--often two at a tiing, pistols spitting, and hand-spikes hewing a way through the struggling, yellow-faced ruffians of Philip of Arragon

While the awful battle raged, fire shi+ps were prepared on shore and sent down upon the Spanish fleet, burning fiercely and painting the skyline with red Soe vessels had anchored, and, as these terrors approached, they slipped their cables in order to escape Confusion beset the ranks of the boastful foe and cheered on the British bull-dogs to renewed exertions