drake's new resolve. 



269 



young kinsmen, Francis Drake by name, was discreditably in- 

 volved. The latter had embarked his whole means in this 

 adventure, and lost in it all his money and no little reputation,— 

 for he disobeyed orders and deserted his benefactor and superior 

 in the hour of need. He brought his vessel, — the Judith, of fifty 

 tons, — however, safely home. 



Drake now resolved to engage permanently in the lawless but 

 exciting career of which he had lately witnessed several in- 

 teresting episodes. It was long before he could obtain the 

 means of fitting out an expedition under his own command. 

 He at last bought and equipped two vessels, — one of two hundred 

 and fifty tons, the other of seventy, — manned them with seventy- 

 three men, and sailed for the Spanish dominions in America. 

 He attacked and took the town of Nombre de Dios, on the 

 Isthmus of Darien, but was soon obliged to retreat. He after- 

 wards took Venta Cruz, on the same isthmus, and had the 

 good fortune to fall in with three convoys of mules laden with 

 gold and silver, going from Panama to Nombre de Dios. He 

 carried off the gold and buried the silver. From the summit 

 of a mountain he obtained a sight of the Pacific Ocean or South 

 Sea, which so kindled his enthusiasm that he uttered a fervent 

 prayer that he might be the first Englishman who should sail 

 upon it. He was already the first Englishman who had beheld it. 



On his return to England with his treasure, he entered for a 

 time the volunteer service against Ireland, while waiting an 

 opportunity to execute the grand project he had formed. At 

 last, Sir Christopher Hutton, Vice-Chamberlain and Counsellor 

 of the Queen, presented him to Elizabeth, to whom Drake im- 

 parted his scheme of ravaging the Spanish possessions in the 

 South Sea. The queen listened; but whether she gave him a 

 commission, or merely assured him of her favorable sentiments, 

 is a disputed point. It is alleged that she gave him a sword and 

 pronounced these singular words: — "We. do account that he 

 which striketh at thee, Drake, striketh at us!" He fitted out 



