THE VOYAGERS 



Moluccas, where he entered into alliance, amity and 

 traffic with the princes of those islands; and so back 

 by the Cape of Good Hope. In September, 1580, 

 after an absence of almost three years, the Golden Hind 

 sailed into Plymouth Sound. Drake's first question, 

 before he cast anchor, was whether the Queen was alive 

 and well. 



The Queen was alive and well, and his anxieties His reception 

 were soon ended. ' She received him graciously,' says ^ ^ k!«^^»- 

 Camden, 'and laid up the treasure he brought by way 

 of sequestration, that it might be forth-coming if the 

 Spaniards should demand it.' She was by this time 

 storing a good deal of treasure on trust for the Spaniard. 

 Drake was allowed to retain a rich share of the booty 

 for himself and his men. The thing that troubled him 

 most, we are told, was 'that some of the chief men 

 at Court refused to accept the gold which he offered 

 them, as gotten by piracy. Nevertheless the common 

 sort of people admired and highly commended him, as 

 judging it no less honourable to have enlarged the 

 bounds of the English name and glory than of their 

 Empire.' 



The completion of Drake's voyage round the world The mid-point 

 marks the mid-point of his career. For fourteen years ^{^^./^^/^ 

 he had forced his policy on the government; and now 

 he had gained his point. There was to be no further 

 question, during his life-time, of conciliating the good 

 graces of Spain. By the failure of the royal line of 

 Portugal, King Philip had acquired, soon after Drake's 

 return, a new vast empire, and had more than doubled his 

 naval power. Drake was now a knight, and a trusted 

 naval counsellor. For fourteen years more he was to 



61 



