202 THE CALL OF THE SEA 



equal to his work ; and already bending under his 

 responsibilities he hesitated to add to them. 



Had he decided otherwise it would have made 

 no difference, for the opportunity was not allowed 

 him. Long before the Spaniards saw the Lizard 

 they had themselves been seen, and on the evening 

 of the igth-agth, the beacons along the coast had 

 told England that the hour of its trial had 

 come. . . . 



. . . Again a council was held. The sickness 

 had become frightful. Those who load escaped 

 unwounded were falling ill from want and cold, 

 and the wounded were dying by hundreds, the 

 incessant storms making care and attention im- 

 possible. Calderon and the French pilot insisted 

 that at all costs and hazards they must keep off the 

 Irish coast. Diego Florez, distressed for the 

 misery of the men, to whose sufferings want of 

 water had become a fearful aggravation, imagined 

 that along the west shore there must be a harbour 

 somewhere ; and that they would find rest and 

 shelter among a hospitable Catholic people. The 

 Bishop of Killaloe, a young Fitzmaurice, and a 

 number of Irish friars were in the fleet. Diego 

 Florez had possibly heard them speak of their 

 country and countrymen, and there were fishing 

 connexions between Cadiz and Valencia and 

 Galway, which he and many others must have 



