THE VOYAGERS 



to promise, and am best able to perform it, for I have 

 somewhat of mine own in England, and, besides that, 

 I have as much adventure in this voyage as three of 

 the best whatsoever; and if it so be that I never come 

 home, yet will her Majesty pay every man his wages, 

 whom indeed you and we all come to serve; and for 

 to say you come to serve me, I will not give you thanks, 

 for it is only her Majesty that you serve, and this voyage 

 is only her setting forth.' ^ So, willing them all to be 

 friends one with another, he sent them to their 

 business. 



This speech deserves to be set out in full in any His bold 

 story of the English Voyages. It is the speech of a ^^^^^* 

 man not in love with speech, whose thoughts are wrung 

 from him at a crisis ; it throws a vivid light on the 

 situation, and on Drake's manner of dealing with it. 

 The troubles with his men, and the treachery of Doughty, 

 had brought him to a hard pass. He must either admit 

 himself a baffled man, or must take the enormous risk 

 of angering the Queen by declaring openly his full 

 commission from her. It is highly unlikely that he 

 had any such commission in writing. What he counted 

 on rather was her approval, and support against the 

 Lord Treasurer's party, if he should bring his voyage 

 to a successful issue. According to his wont, he chose 

 the bolder way ; and from this time forward the failure 

 of his expedition would have rneant his doom, whether 

 from England or from Spain. 



The dreaded Straits of Magellan were passed in Drake driven 

 safety, and Drake was in the Pacific Ocean. Here 



^ Narrative of John Cooke, in The World Encompassed (Hakluyt 

 Society, 1854). 



59 



