SCENES FROM "WESTWARD HO!"
(By CHARLES KINGSLEY.)

I. THE GREAT WHITE BUFFALO HORN.
All who have travelled through the delicious scenery of North Devon must 
needs know the little white town of
Bideford, which slopes upwards from its broad tide-river paved with 
yellow sands, and its many-arched old bridge
where salmon wait for autumn floods, towards the pleasant upland on the 
west. Pleasantly the old town stands there,
beneath its soft Italian sky, fanned day and night by the fresh ocean 
breeze, which forbids alike the keen winter
frosts and the fierce thunder heats of the midland; and pleasantly it has 
stood there for now, perhaps, eight hundred years.
But at the time whereof I write Bideford was not merely a pleasant 
country town, whose quay was haunted by a few
coasting craft. It was one of the chief ports of England; it furnished 
seven ships to fight the Armada. Even more than a
century afterwards, say the chroniclers, " it sent more vessels to the 
northern trade than any port in England, saving
London and Topsham." And it is to the sea-life and labour of Bideford, 
and Dartmouth, and Topsham, and Plymouth
(then a pretty place), and many another little western town, that England 
owes the foundation of her naval and
commercial glory. It was the men of Devon - the Drakes and Hawkinses, 
Gilberts and Raleighs, Grenviles and
Oxenhams, and a host more of " forgotten worthies," whom we shall learn 
one day to honour as they deserve - to
whom she owes her commerce, her colonies, her very existence. For had 
they not first crippled, by their West Indian
raids, the ill-gotten resources of the Spaniard, and then crushed his 
last huge effort in the glorious fight of 1588, what had we been by now ?
One bright summer's afternoon, in the year of grace 1575, a tall and fair 
boy came lingering along Bideford quay, in
his scholar's gown, with satchel and slate in hand, watching wistfully the 
shipping and the sailors, till he came
opposite to one of the many taverns which looked out upon the river. In the 
open bay-window sat merchants and
gentlemen; and outside the door was gathered a group of sailors, listening 
earnestly to some one who stood in the
midst. The boy, all alive for any sea news, must
needs go up to them, and take his place among the sailor-lads who were 
peeping and whispering under the elbows of
the men, and so came in for the following speech, delivered in a loud, bold 
voice with a strong Devonshire accent.
"If you don't believe me, go and see. I tell you, as I am a gentleman, I saw 
it with these eyes; and we measured the
heap, as I am a christened man, seventy foot long, ten foot broad, and 
twelve foot high, of silver bars, and each bar
between a thirty and forty pound weight.* And says Captain Drake, ' There, 
my lads of Devon, I've brought you to the
mouth of the world's treasure-house, and it's your own fault now if you 
don't sweep it out empty.'"
" Why didn't you bring some of them home, then, Mr. Oxenham ?"
"Why weren't you there to help to carry them ? We would have brought 'em 
away, safe enough, but Captain Drake
goes off in a dead faint; and when we came to look he had a wound in his 
leg. But the heart of him was that, that he
never knew it till he dropped. Then his brother and I got him away to the 
boats, he kicking and struggling, and bidding
us let him go on with the fight, though every step he took in the sand was 
in a pool of blood; and so we got off. And
tell me, wasn't it worth more to save him than the dirty silver?

*The incident here described took place in Mexico in 1572.

Silver we can get again, 
brave boys, but of such captains as Franky
Drake, Heaven never makes but one at a time; and if we lose him, good-bye 
to England's luck, say I, and who don't
agree, let him choose his weapons, and I'm his man."
He who delivered this harangue* was a tall and sturdy personage, with a 
florid, black-bearded face, and bold, restless,
dark eyes, who leaned, with crossed legs and arms akimbo, against the 
wall of the house, and seemed in the eyes of
the schoolboy some prince or duke at least. On his head was a broad 
velvet Spanish hat, in which, instead of a
feather, was fastened with a great gold clasp a whole bird, whose 
gorgeous plumage of fretted golden green shone
like one entire precious stone. As he finished his speech he took off the 
hat, and, looking at the bird in it,
" Look ye, my lads, did you ever see such a fowl as that before? That's 
the bird which the old Indian kings of Mexico
let no one wear but their own selves; and therefore I wear it - I, John 
Oxenham - for a sign to all brave lads of Devon,
that, as the Spaniards are the masters of the Indians, we're the masters 
of the Spaniards "; and he replaced his hat.
"You're right, captain," sang out a tall, gaunt fellow who stood close to 
him; "one westcountryman can fight two
easterlings, and an easterling can beat three Dons any day. Eh! my lads 
of Devon?
"For oh ! it's the herrings and the good brown beef, And the cider and the 
cream so white
Oh! they are the making of the jolly Devon lads. For to play, and eke to 
fight."
"Come," said Oxenham, " come along! Who lists? Who lists? Who'll make his 
fortune?

* Harangue - ha-rang'. Eke-also.

"Oh, who will join, jolly mariners all?  And who will join, says he, oh! To 
fill his pockets with the good red gold,  By
sailing on the sea, oh!"
"Who'll list ? " cried the gaunt man again; "now's your time! We've got forty men to Plymouth now, ready to sail the 
minute we get back, and we want a dozen
out of you Bideford men, and just a boy or two, and then we're off and away 
to make our fortunes."
"Now, who'll join? who'll join? " said Oxenham. " It is but a step of a way, 
after all, and sailing as smooth as a duck-pond as soon as you're past Cape Finisterre. I'll run a herring-boat there 
and back, and never ship a bucketful all the
way. Who'll join? Don't think you're buying a pig in a poke. I know the 
road - and so does Salvation Yeo, here, who
was gunner's mate - as well as I do the narrow seas, and better. You ask him 
to show you the chart of it now, and see
if he don't tell you over the ruttier* as well as Drake himself."
On which the tall gaunt man pulled from under his arm a great white 
buffalo horn, covered with rough etchings of land
and sea, and held it up to the admiring ring.
" See here, boys all, and behold the picture of the place, drawn out so 
natural as ever was life. I got it down at the
Azores. Take it in your hands now, take it in your hands; look it over, and 
I'll warrant you'll know the way in five
minutes so well as ever a shark in the seas."
The horn was passed from hand to hand. The schoolboy, who had been 
devouring with eyes and ears all which
passed, and had contrived by this time to edge himself into the inner ring, 
now got as many peeps as he could at the wonder. 

* Ruttier-route.

But when he saw the sailors, one after another, having turned it over a while, come forward and offer to join 
Mr. Oxenham, his
soul burned within him for a nearer view of that wondrous horn; and when the group had somewhat 
broken up, and
Oxenham was going into the tavern with his recruits, he asked boldly for a nearer sight of the 
marvel, which was
granted at once.

From the Queensland School Paper.]
AMYAS LEIGH AND THE HORN.

And now to his astonished gaze displayed themselves cities and harbours, dragons and elephants, 
whales which
fought with sharks, plate-ships of Spain, islands with apes and palm-trees, each with its name 
overwritten, and here
and there, " Here is gold " ; and again, "Much gold and silver." Lingeringly and longingly the boy turned it round and 
round, and thought
the owner of it more fortunate than Khan or Kaiser. Oh, if he could but possess that horn, what 
needed he on earth
beside to make him blest!
" I say, will you sell this?"
" Yea, marry, if I can get the worth of it."
" I want the horn "; and therewith, after much fumbling, he pulled out a tester* (the only one he 
had), and asked if that
would buy it.
" That! no, nor twenty of them."
The boy thought over what a good knight-errant would do in such case, and then answered, " Tell you what: I'll fight you for it."
" Thank'ee, sir! "
" Break the jackanapes's head for him, Yeo," said Oxenham.
" Call me jackanapes again, and I'll break yours, Sir." And the boy lifted his fist fiercely.
Oxenham looked at him a minute smilingly.
"Tut! tut! my man, hit one of your own size, if you will, and spare little folk like me!"
" If I have a boy's age, sir, I have a man's fist. I shall be fifteen years old this month, and know how to answer any
one who insults me."
"Fifteen, my young cockerel? You look liker twenty," said Oxenham, with an admiring glance at the 
lad's broad limbs,
keen blue eyes, curling golden locks, and round honest face. " Fifteen? If I had half a dozen such 
lads as you, I
would make knights of them before I died. Eh, Yeo? "
"He'll do," said Yeo; "he will make a brave game-cock in a year or two."
At which there was a general laugh, and Oxenham bade the lad tell him why he was so keen after the horn.

* Tester-an old English coin worth about sixpence.

" Because," said he, looking up boldly, " I want to go to sea. I want to see the Indies. I want to 
fight the Spaniards.
Though I am a gentleman's son, I'd a deal rather be a cabin-boy on board your ship." And the lad, 
having hurried out
his say fiercely enough, dropped his head again.
" And you shall," cried Oxenham; " and take a galleon. Whose son are you, my gallant fellow?
" Mr. Leigh's, of Burrough Court."
" Bless his soul! I know him as well as I do the Eddystone. Who sups with him to-night?
" Sir Richard Grenvile."
" Dick Grenvile? I did not know he was in town. Go home and tell your father, John Oxenham will come 
and keep
him company. There, off with you! As for the horn, let him have the horn, Yeo, and I'll give you a 
noble* for it."
" Not a penny, noble Captain. If young master will take a poor mariner's gift, there it is, for the 
sake of his love to the
calling, and Heaven send him luck therein." And the good fellow, with the impulsive generosity of a 
true sailor, thrust
the horn into the boy's hands, and walked away to escape thanks.
 "And now," quoth Oxenham, "my merry men
all, make up your minds what mannered men you
be minded to be before you take your bounties. If
any man will be true brother to me, true brother to
him I'll be, come wreck or prize, storm or calm,
salt water or fresh, victuals or none, share and fare
alike; and here's my hand upon it, for every man
and all! and so-
"Westward ho! with a rumbelow,
And hurrah for the Spanish Main, oh!"

* Noble - a gold coin worth six and eightpence.

After which oration Mr. Oxenham swaggered into the tavern, followed by his new men; and the boy took 
his way
homewards, nursing his precious horn, trembling between hope and fear, and blushing with shame and a 
half-sense of
wrongdoing at having revealed suddenly to a stranger the darling wish which he had hidden from his 
father and mother
ever since he was ten years old.

SCENES FROM "WESTWARD HO!"
(By CHARLES KINGSLEY.)

II. AMYAS LEIGH IN IRELAND.
[According to the story, Amyas Leigh sails round the world with Drake. He 
has grown to be a very giant of a man,
with a frame and stature of a Hercules, towering above other men.
During Elizabeth's reign several insurrections broke out in Ireland, and in 
1579 eight hundred Spaniards and Italians
landed to assist the Irish. They built a fort at Smerwick Bay, south of the 
estuary of the Shannon. Admiral Winter (of
whom we have heard before in connection with Drake's voyage round the 
world) was sent with a fleet to assist the
land-troops in reducing the Spanish fort. Through his friend, Sir Richard 
Grenvile, Amyas Leigh received a post with
the English forces in Ireland, and thither we shall follow him.]
Amyas and his party had been on board, at the risk of their lives, for a 
fresh supply of shot, for Winter's battery was
out of ball, and had been firing stones for the last four hours, in default 
of better missiles. They ran the boat on shore
through the surf, and scrambled over the sandhills with each man his brace 
of shot slung across his shoulder, and
Amyas, leaping into the trenches, shouted cheerfully to Salvation  Yeo - 
" More food for the bull-dogs, gunner, and plums for the Spaniards' 
Christmas pudding."
"Don't speak to a man at his business, Master Amyas. Five mortal times have 
I missed: but I will have that rag down,
as I'm a sinner. Now, stand by, men."
And once again Yeo's eighteen -pounder roared. And, oh glory! the great 
yellow flag of Spain, which streamed in the
gale, lifted clean into the air, flagstaff and all, and then pitched wildly 
down headforemost.
An hurrah from the sailors, answered by the soldiers of the opposite 
camp, shook the very cloud above them; but ere
its echoes had died away, a tall officer leapt upon the parapet of the 
fort, with the fallen flag in his hand, and, rearing it
as well as he could upon his lance-point, held it firmly against the 
gale, while the fallen flagstaff was raised again within.
In a moment a dozen long-bows were bent at the daring foeman; but Amyas 
behind shouted
"Shame, lads ! Stop and let the gallant gentleman have due courtesy."
So they stopped, while Amyas, springing on the rampart of the battery, 
took off his hat, and bowed to the flag-holder,
who as soon as relieved of his charge, returned the bow courteously, and 
descended.
It was by this time all but dark, and the firing began to slacken on all 
sides. Amyas had volunteered to take the watch
till midnight. He paced up and down in the gusty darkness for some hour 
or more, exchanging a passing word now
and then with the sentinel. So on passed the dull hours. All lights were 
out in the battery and the shipping, and there
was no sound of living thing but the monotonous tramp of the two 
sentinels beside him, and now and then a grunt
from the party who slept under arms some twenty yards to the rear.
So he paced to and fro, looking carefully out now and then over the 
strip of sandhill which lay between him and the
fort; but all was blank and black, and, moreover, it began to rain 
furiously. Suddenly he seemed to hear a rustle
among the harsh sand-grass, then a soft sliding noise - something had 
slipped down a bank, and brought the sand
down after it. Amyas stopped, crouched down beside a gun, and laid his 
ear to the, rampart, whereby he heard clearly, as he thought, the noise of approaching 
feet-whether rabbits or Christians, he knew not: but
he shrewdly guessed the latter.

"LET THE GALLANT GENTLEMAN HAVE DUE COURTESY."

Now, Amyas was of a sober and businesslike turn, and, thinking within 
himself that if he made any noise the enemy
(whether four- or two-legged) would retire, and all the sport be lost, he 
did not call to the two sentries, who were at the
opposite ends of the battery; neither did he think it worth while to rouse 
the sleeping company, lest his ears should have
deceived him, and the whole camp turn out to repulse the attack of a buck 
rabbit. So he crouched lower and lower
beside the cannon, and was rewarded in a minute or two by hearing something 
gently deposited against the mouth of
the embrasure, which, by the noise, should be a piece of timber.
"So far, so good," said he to himself; "when the scaling-ladder is up, the 
soldier follows, I suppose. I can only humbly
thank them for giving my embrasure the preference. There he comes - I  
hear his feet scuffling."
He could hear plainly enough some one working himself into the mouth of the 
embrasure; but it was so dark that he
could not see his hand between him and the sky, much less his foe at two 
yards off. However, he made a pretty fair
guess as to the whereabouts, and, rising softly, discharged such a blow 
downwards as would have split a log. A volley of
sparks flew up from the hapless Spaniard's armour, and a grunt issued from 
within it, which proved that, whether he was
killed or not, the blow had not improved his respiration.
 Amyas felt for the Spaniard's head, seized it,
dragged him in over the gun, sprang into the embrasure on his knees, felt 
for the top of the ladder,
found it, hove it clean off and out, with four or five
men on it, and then, of course, tumbled after it ten feet into the sand, roaring like a town bull to Her 
Majesty's liege subjects in general.
 Sailor-fashion, he had little armour on, so he was
not too much encumbered to prevent his springing
to his legs instantly, and setting to work, cutting
right and left at every sound, for sight there was
none.
 Suddenly the moon clears; and with one fierce
volley the awakened English sailors, seeing the confusion, leap down from the embrasures, and to it pell-mell.
 Amyas is now in his element, and so are the brave
fellows at his heels; and there are ten breathless,
furious minutes among the sandhills; and then the
trumpets blow a recall, and the sailors drop back
again by twos and threes, and are helped up into the embrasures over many a dead and dying foe: while
the guns of the fort open on them, and blaze away
for half an hour without reply. Then all is still once
more, and the victory of the night remains with the
English.
 Twenty minutes after, Winter and the captains
who were on shore were drying themselves round a
peat fire on the beach, and talking over the skirmish,
when Will Cary asked-
 " Where is Leigh ? Who has seen him? I am
sadly afraid he has gone too far, and been slain."
 "Slain! Never less, gentlemen," replied the
voice of the very person in question, as he stalked
out of the darkness into the glare of the fire, and
shot down from his shoulders into the midst of the
ring, as he might a sack of corn, a huge dark body,
which was gradually seen to be a man in rich
armour.
"I say," quoth Amyas " some of you had better
take him up, if he is to be of any use. Unlace his
helm, Will Cary."
There was no love lost between Admiral Winter and Amyas: and Amyas might 
certainly have reported himself in a
more ceremonious manner. So Winter asked him pretty sharply, " What the 
plague he had to do with bringing dead
men into camp? "
"If he's dead, it's not my fault. He was alive enough when I started with 
him, and I kept him right end uppermost all
the way; and what would you have more, sir? "
" Mr. Leigh," said Winter, " it behoves you to speak with somewhat more 
courtesy, if not respect, to captains who are
your elders and commanders."
"Ask your pardon, sir," said the giant, as he stood in front of the fire 
with the rain streaming and smoking off his
armour; " but I was bred in a school where getting good service done was 
more esteemed than making fine
speeches."
"Whatsoever school you were trained in, sir," said Winter, nettled at the 
hint about Drake, " it does not seem to have
been one in which you learned to obey orders. Why did you not come in when 
the
recall was sounded? " 
"Because," said Amyas, very coolly, " in the first place, I did not hear it; 
and in the next, in my school I was taught
when I had once started not to come home empty-handed."
This was too pointed; and Winter sprang up
with " Do you mean to insult me, sir? " 
"I am sorry, sir, that you should take a compliment to Sir Francis Drake 
as an insult to yourself. I brought in this
gentleman because I thought he might give you good information; if he dies 
meanwhile the loss will be yours, or,
rather, the Queen's.''
"Help me, then," said Cary, glad to create a diversion in Amyas's favour, 
"and we will bring him round "; whereon the whole party turned their attention to the captive. Thanks to Will Cary's 
efforts, he was soon
sitting up, being much in need of a handkerchief, and looking about him, having been unhelmed, in a 
confused and
doleful manner.
" Take the gentleman to my tent," said Winter, "and let the surgeon see to him. Mr. Leigh, who is he?"
" An enemy, but whether Spaniard or Italian I know not; but he seemed somebody among them - I thought 
the captain
of a company. He and I cut at each other twice or thrice. I bid him yield, and he would not. Then I 
bid him run, and
he would not; so I took him by the ears and shook the wind out of him, and so brought him in. "
" Shook the wind out of him! " cried Cary, amid the roar of laughter which followed. " Dost know thou 
hast nearly
wrung his neck in two? "
" He should have run or yielded, then," said Amyas; and, getting up, slipped off to sleep comfortably 
in a dry burrow
which he scratched out of a sandbank.
The next morning, as Amyas was discussing a scanty breakfast of biscuit (for provisions were running 
very short in
camp), Raleigh came up to him, and said, "Cannot you let Francis Drake fight his own battles, without 
thrusting your
head in? Here Winter is, at least, safe home, in favour and in power."
 " But that's just what makes me mad: to see
this fellow, after deserting us there in unknown
seas, win credit and rank at home here for being the
first man who ever sailed back through the Straits.
What had he to do with sailing back at all? The
fiercer the flight, the fouler the fear, say I."
"But," said Raleigh, laughing, "if Winter invites you to his tent himself you won't refuse to come?" 
"Why, no, considering his years and rank."
In half an hour came an invitation-extracted, of course, from the Admiral by Raleigh's silver tongue 
-which Amyas
could not but obey.
"We all owe you thanks for last night's service, sir," said Winter, who had for some good reasons 
changed his tone.
" Your prisoner is found to be a gentleman of birth and experience, and the leader of the assault 
last night. He has
already told us more than we hoped, for which also we are beholden to you."
" You will needs wish to see your prisoner," said the Lord Deputy. " You will find him such a one as 
you need not be
ashamed to have taken, and as need not be ashamed to have been taken by you; but here he is, and 
will, I doubt
not, answer as much for himself. Know each other better, gentlemen both; last night was an ill one 
for making
acquaintances. Don Guzman Maria Magdalena Sotomayor de Soto, know the hidalgo,* Amyas Leigh."
As he spoke, the Spaniard came forward, still in his armour, all save his head, which was bound up in 
a handkerchief.
He was an exceedingly tall and graceful personage. In spite of his beauty and his carriage, Amyas 
shrank from him
instinctively; and yet he could not help holding out his hand in return, as the Spaniard, holding 
out his, said
languidly, in most sweet and sonorous Spanish-,
"I kiss his hands and feet. The Senor speaks, I am told, my native tongue?
" I have that honour."
" Then accept in it the expression of my pleasure at having fallen into the hands of one so renowned 
in war and travel;
and of one also," he added, glancing at Amyas's giant bulk, "the vastness of whose strength, beyond that of common mortality, 
makes it no shame for me to have been overpowered and carried away by him."

* Hidalgo - a Spanish title of nobility.

Honest Amyas bowed and stammered, a little thrown off his balance by the unexpected assurance and 
cool flattery of
his prisoner; but he said
" If you are satisfied, illustrious Senor, I am bound to be so. I only trust that in my hurry and the 
darkness I have not
hurt you unnecessarily."
The Don laughed a pretty little hollow laugh.
"No, kind Senor, my head, I trust, will after a few days have become united to my shoulders; and, for 
the present,
your company will make me forget any slight discomfort."
"Pardon me, Senor; but by this daylight I should have seen that armour before."
" I doubt it not, Senor, as having been yourself also in the forefront of the battle," said the Spaniard, with a proud smile.
" If I am right, Senor, you are he who yesterday held up the standard after it was shot down."
" I do not deny that undeserved honour; and I have to thank the courtesy of you and your countrymen 
for having
permitted me to do so with impunity."
How long this interchange of solemn compliments, of which Amyas was getting somewhat weary, would 
have gone
on, I know not; but at that moment Raleigh entered hastily.
"My Lord, they have hung out a white flag, and are calling for a parley."
[The enemy refused the terms offered to them, and orders were given to massacre all in the fort.]
It was done. Right or wrong, it was done. It was done, and it never needed to be done again. The hint was severe, but it was 
sufficient. Many years passed before a Spaniard set foot again in Ireland.

SCENES FROM "WESTWARD HO!"
[By CHARLES KINGSLEY.]
III. SPANISH BLOODHOUNDS AND ENGLISH MASTIFFS.

[Amyas Leigh remained in Ireland for some time, and then set out with Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert to assist in founding our first English colony, Newfoundland. He was in the "Golden Hind " when across the 
water from the " Squirrel " came
Sir Humphrey's famous words as the little vessel laboured in the stormy seas in which she found a grave. (See School Journal, 
Part III, February, 1909, page 5.)

LA GUAYRA.

Don Guzman was sent to Bideford. There he fell in love with Rose 
Salterne, the daughter of Mr. Salterne, the Mayor.
Among her other admirers were Amyas himself, Frank his brother, and Will 
Cary his friend.
After a duel with Will Cary, Don Guzman disappeared, and was shortly 
afterwards followed by Rose. Mr. Salterne was brokenhearted, and the young men all swore vengeance on the Spaniard. It was 
thought that he had taken Rose to La
Guayra (lah-gwa-rah, now an important port of Venezuela), of which he had 
been appointed Governor by the King of Spain.
On his return to England Amyas heard the news about Rose, and vowed to 
devote his life to the pursuit of Don
Guzman. Mr. Salterne fitted out a ship, the " Rose," and Amyas and his 
friends set sail for the Spanish Main. After
some adventures they arrived off La Guayra. Attempting to communicate with 
Rose, they landed at night, but, the
alarm being given, they were driven back to the boat. Frank Leigh was 
wounded, and did not return with the others.
Next morning three Spanish ships came out to attack the " Rose."]
Full seven long hours in all men's sight
 This fight endured sore, Until our men so feeble grew
That they could fight no more.
-The Brave Lord Willoughby.

"There are the Spanish bloodhounds on our heels - the same ships which we saw 
yesterday. Back, lads, and welcome them, if they were a dozen," cried Amyas.
There was a murmur of applause from all around. Amyas revived at the sight 
of battle. He no longer felt his wounds or
his great sorrow, and, ere a quarter of an hour had passed, his voice cried 
firmly and cheerfully as of old
"Now, my masters, to breakfast, and after that clear for action."
Amyas took the tiller from the steersman, and bade him go below and fill 
himself. "There are three of them, you see,
my masters," said he, as the crew came on deck again-" a big ship forward, 
and two galleys astern of her. The big
ship may keep. We must give her the slip, and take the galleys first."
The mastiffs of England and the bloodhounds of Spain are nearing and 
nearing over the rolling surges. The great ship
is now within two musket-shots of the "Rose." The golden flag of Spain is 
floating at her poop, and her trumpets are
shouting defiance down the breeze from a dozen brazen throats, which two or three answer lustily from the "Rose," from
whose poop flaunts the flag of England, and from whose fore fly the arms of Leigh and Cary side by 
side.
" Steady helm," said Amyas. " What is he after now?"
The Spaniard, who had been coming upon them right down the wind under a press of sail, took in his 
light canvas.
" He doesn't know what to make of our waiting for him so bold," said the helmsman.
" He does though, and means to fight us," cried another. " See, he is hauling up the foot of his 
mainsail, but he wants
to keep the wind of us."
" Let him try, then," quoth Amyas. " Let no one fire till we are about. Man the starboard guns; to 
starboard, and wait,
all small-arm men. Pass the order down to the gunner, and bid all fire high and take the rigging."
" Bang! " went one of the Spaniard's bow guns, and the shot went wide; then another, and another; 
while the men
fidgeted about, looking at the priming of their muskets, and loosening their arrows in the sheaf.
" Lie down, men; when I want you I'll call you. Closer still, if you can, helmsman, and we will try a 
short ship against a
long one. Drew, there, are your men ready?"
" Ay, ay, sir." And on they went, closing fast with the Spaniard, till within pistol-shot.
" Ready about." And about she went like an eel, and ran upon the opposite tack right under the 
Spaniard's stern. The
Spaniard, astounded at the quickness of the movement, hesitated a moment, and then tried to get about 
also, as his
only chance; but it was too late - Amyas's bowsprit all but scraped his quarter, and the " Rose " passed slowly across his stern at 
ten yards' distance.
" Now, then," roared Amyas, " fire, and with a will. Have at her, archers; have at her, muskets all." 
And in an instant a
storm of shot swept the proud Don from stem to stern, while through the white cloud of smoke the 
musket-balls and
the still-deadlier arrows whistled and rushed upon their venomous errand. Down went the steersman, 
and every soul
who manned the poop. Down went the mizen-topmast, in went the stern-windows; and, as the smoke 
cleared away,
most glorious of all, the golden flag of Spain, which the last moment flaunted above their heads, 
hung trailing in the
water. The ship, her tiller shot away, and her helmsman killed, staggered helplessly.
" Well done, men of Devon," shouted Amyas. "Hold on, helmsman, and leave her to patch her tackle while we settle the galleys." 
On they shot merrily, and, long ere the armada could get herself to rights again, were two good miles 
to windward,
with the galleys sweeping down fast upon them.
 And two venomous-looking craft they were, as
they shot through the sea upon some forty oars
apiece, stretching their long swordfish snouts over
the water, as if sniffing for their prey. The long,
low waist was packed full of slaves, some five or
six to each oar, and down the centre, between the
two banks, the English could see the slave-drivers
walking up and down, whip in hand. As they
neared, our friends could hear plainly the cracks of
the whips, and the yells as of wild beasts which
answered them, the roll and rattle of the oars, and
the loud " Ha! " of the slaves which accompanied
every stroke; while a sickening musky smell, as of
a pack of kennelled hounds, came down the wind from off those dens of misery. Who knew but what there might be English 
among those sun-browned half-naked masses of panting wretches!

HE PLUNGED UPON THE LARBOARD GALLEY.

"Must we fire upon the slaves?" asked more than one, as the thought crossed him.
Amyas sighed.
"Spare them all you can, in God's name; but if they try to run us down, rake them we must, and God forgive us."
The two galleys came on abreast of each other, some forty yards apart. 
Amyas made up his mind, as usual, to the desperate game.
"Lay her head up in the wind, helmsman, and we will wait for them."
They were within forty yards - another minute, and the shock would come. The 
Englishman's helm went up, his yards
creaked round, and, gathering way, he plunged upon the larboard galley.*
"A dozen good nobles to him who brings down the steersman," shouted Cary; 
and a flight of arrows from the forecastle
rattled upon the galley's quarterdeck.
Hit or not hit, the steersman lost his nerve. The galley swerved, and her 
beak slid all but harmless along Amyas's
bow. A long, dull grind, and then loud crack on crack, as the " Rose " 
sawed slowly through the bank of oars from
stem to stern, hurling the wretched slaves in heaps upon one another; and, 
ere her mate on the other side could
swing round to strike him in his new position, Amyas's whole broadside, 
great and small, had been poured into her at
pistol-shot, answered by a yell which rent their ears and hearts.
"Spare the slaves; fire at the soldiers," cried Amyas; but the work was too 
hot for much discrimination, for the larboard
galley, crippled but not undaunted, swung round across his stern, and 
hooked herself venomously on to him.
A desperate attempt of the Spaniards to board at once through the 
stern-ports and up the quarter was met with such
a demurrer of shot and steel that they found themselves in three minutes 
again upon the galley's poop, accompanied,
to their intense disgust, by Amyas Leigh and twenty English swords.

* Larboard galley-the one towards the port or left side of the "Rose."

Five minutes' hard cutting, hand to hand, and the poop was clear. Amyas rushed along the central 
gangway, shouting
in Spanish, " Freedom to the slaves; death to the masters!" He clambered into the forecastle, 
followed close by his
swarm of wasps, and in three minutes more there was not a Spaniard on board who was not dead or dying.
"Let the slaves free," shouted he. " Throw a hammer down, men."
[This was done. Among the slaves were some Englishmen who had been left at Honduras by Hawkins years before. The liberated 
slaves manned the captured galley, pulled after her comrade, and slew every Spaniard on board. In the fight that ensued between 
the "Rose"  and the large Spanish ship the two vessels ranged 
alongside each
other, and, grapples having been thrown, became locked together from stem to stern.]
And then began a fight most fierce and fell: the Spaniards, according to their fashion, attempting to 
board; the
English, amid fierce shouts of " God and the Queen!" " God and St. George for England !" sweeping 
them back by
showers of arrows and musket-balls, thrusting them down with pikes; while the guns on both sides made 
the ships
quiver and recoil, as they smashed the round shot through and through each other.
So it raged for an hour or more, till all arms were weary and all tongues clave to the mouth. Now and 
then an opening
in the smoke showed the Spanish captain, in his suit of black steel armour, standing cool and proud, 
guiding and
pointing, careless of the iron hail, but too lofty a gentleman to soil his glove with aught but a 
knightly swordhilt; while
Amyas and Cary, after the fashion of the English gentlemen, were cheering, thrusting, hewing, and 
hauling, here,
there, and everywhere, like any common mariner - filling their men with a spirit of self-respect, fellow-feeling, and personal 
daring. The black-plumed Senor was obeyed; but the golden-locked Amyas was followed.
Thrice the Spaniards clambered on board; and thrice surged back before that deadly hail of shot and 
arrows. At last
there was a lull in that wild storm. No shot was heard from the Spaniard's upper deck. Amyas leaped 
into the mizen
rigging, and looked through the smoke. The last volley had swept the deck clear; one by one the 
Spaniards had
dropped below to escape the fiery shower: alone at the helm, grinding his teeth with rage, stood the Spanish captain.
Amyas shouted for the boarders, and in two minutes more he was over the side and clutching at the 
Spaniard's
mizen rigging.
What was this ? The distance between him and the enemy's side was widening. Was she sheering off? Yes 
-and
rising too, growing bodily higher every moment, as if by magic. Amyas looked up in astonishment and 
saw what it
was. The Spaniard was heeling fast over to leeward away from him. Her masts were all sloping forward, 
swifter and
swifter - the end was come, then.
" Back, men, back! She is sinking!"
Some leaped back, and with much ado some were dragged back.

THE SPANISH CAPTAIN STANDING COOL  AND PROUD.

" Cut away the grapples aloft, men. Don't you see how she drags us over ? Cut away, or we shall sink 
with her."
They cut away, and the " Rose," released from the strain, shook her feathers on the wave-crest like a 
freed sea-gull,
while all men held their breaths.
Suddenly the glorious creature righted herself, and rose again, as if in noble shame, for one last 
struggle with her
doom. Her bows were deep in the water, but her after-deck was still dry. She righted, but only for a 
moment - long
enough to let her crew come pouring wildly up on deck, with cries and prayers, and rush aft to the 
poop, where, under
the flag of Spain, stood the tall captain, his left hand on the standard-staff, his sword pointed in 
his right.
"Back, men," they heard him cry, "and die like valiant mariners."
Some of them ran to the bulwarks, and shouted
"Mercy! We surrender." And the English broke into a cheer and called to them to run her alongside.
" Silence," shouted Amyas. "I take no surrender from mutineers. Senor," cried he to the captain, 
springing into the
rigging and taking off his hat, " for the love of God and these men, strike and surrender! "
The Spaniard lifted his hat and bowed courteously, and answered, " Impossible, Senor."
" God have mercy on you, then!"
" Amen! " said the Spaniard.
The vessel gave one awful lunge, and dived under the coming swell, hurling her crew into the eddies. 
Nothing but the
point of her poop remained, and there stood the stern and steadfast Don in his glistening black 
armour, immovable as
a man of iron, while over him the flag, which claimed the empire of both worlds, flaunted its gold 
aloft and upwards in
the glare of the tropic noon.
" He shall not carry that flag down with him; I will have it yet, if I die for it," said Will Cary, 
and rushed to the side to
leap overboard; but Amyas stopped him.
" Let him die as he has lived, with honour."
Another moment and nothing remained of the Spanish ship but a few floating spars and struggling wretches.

SCENES FROM "WESTWARD HO!"
[By CHARLES KINGSLEY.]
IV. AMYAS PURSUES HIS REVENGE.
[During the fight with the Spaniards off La Guayra the "Rose" is so much damaged that 
she has to be beached.
Hoping to find the fabled Manoa, the capital of El Dorado (the Golden Land), Amyas 
burns the " Rose " and starts inland.
For over three years he wanders with his diminishing band along the Orinoco and up the 
tributaries of the Amazon to
even distant Peru. They have seen the virgin snows of Chimborazo towering white above 
the 
thundercloud, and the
giant cone of Cotopaxi blackening in its sullen wrath before the fiery streams rolling 
down its 
sides. Coming at last to
the mouth of the Magdalena, they seize a Spanish ship and return home. From a prisoner 
on the ship 
Amyas hears
of the death of Frank and Rose, and his heart is stirred to the most intense hatred of 
Don Guzman and 
the Spaniards.
The year 1588 has arrived. Drake has already " singed the King of Spain's beard," and 
the 
beacon-lights have flared
through England the news of the approach of the Armada. Amyas, who commands a vessel 
called the "Vengeance,"
fitted out by Mr. Salterne, has heard from Drake that Don Guzman is in command of the 
soldiers on one 
of the
Spanish ships, the " Santa Catharina." For days the fight with the Armada has raged up 
the Channel. 
After anchoring
in the Calais Roads, the proud Invincible Armada of Spain has been thrown into 
confusion by the 
English fireships,
and is in full flight up the North Sea, to be buffeted by fierce storms and cast away 
upon the rugged and inhospitable coasts of Scotland and Ireland.]

YES, it was over; and the great Armada was vanquished. From all of Europe - from all 
of mankind, I 
had almost said - 
arose a shout of joy, such as the world had not heard for many a weary and bloody 
century - a shout 
which was the
prophetic birth-paean of North America, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific islands, 
of free commerce 
and free
colonisation over the whole earth.
Yes, as the medals struck on the occasion said, "It came, it saw, and it fled!" And 
whither? Away and 
northward, like
a herd of frightened deer, past the Orkneys and Shetlands, catching up a few hapless 
fishermen as 
guides; past the
coast of Norway - there, too, refused water and food by the brave descendants of the 
Vikings; and on 
northward ever
towards the lonely Faroes, and the everlasting dawn which heralds round the Pole the 
midnight sun. 
Now from the
Atlantic comes up gale on gale, and few of that hapless remnant reach the shores of 
Spain.
And where are Amyas and the " Vengeance " all this while? The Armada is away on the 
other side of 
Scotland, and
Amyas is following in its wake. For when the Lord High Admiral determined to return, 
having grown 
short of provisions
and having been long since out of powder and ball, Amyas asked leave to follow the 
Spaniard; and 
asked, too, of Sir
John Hawkins, who happened to be at hand, such ammunition and provision as could be 
afforded him, 
promising to
repay the same like an honest man - out of his plunder if he lived, out of his estate 
if he died: 
after which Amyas,
calling his men together, reminded them once more of the story of Rose Salterne and 
Don Guzman de 
Soto, and then
asked,
"Men of Bideford, will you follow me ? There will be plunder for those who love 
plunder; revenge for 
those who love,
revenge; and for all of us (for
we all love honour) the honour of having never left the chase so long as there is a 
Spanish flag in English seas." 
And every soul on board replied that he would follow Sir Amyas Leigh around the world.
There is no need for me to detail every incident of that long and weary chase - how 
they found the "Santa Catharina,"
attacked her, and had to sheer off, she being rescued by the rest; how they crippled 
her so that she 
could not beat to
windward out into the ocean, but was fain to run south, past the Orkneys, and down 
between Cape Wrath 
and Lewis;
how the younger hands were ready to mutiny because Amyas, in his stubborn haste, ran 
past two or 
three noble
prizes which were all but disabled; how he got fresh water, in spite of certain " 
Hebridean Scots" of 
Skye, who, after
reviling him in an unknown tongue, fought with him awhile, and then embraced him and 
his men with 
howls of
affection; how the " Santa Catharina " was near lost on the Isle of Man, and then put 
into Castleton 
(where the
Manxmen slew a whole boat's crew with their arrows), and then put out again, when 
Amyas fought with 
her a whole
day; how the Spaniard blundered down the coast of Wales, not knowing whither he went; 
how they were 
both nearly
lost on Holyhead; how they ran into danger after danger and fought with each other and 
with storm 
after storm till the
wind changed and the Spaniard got round St. David's Head - these and many more moving 
incidents of this 
eventful
voyage I must pass over without details, and go on to the end, for it is time that the 
end should 
come.
It was now the sixteenth day of the chase. They had, seen, the evening before, St. 
David's Head, and 
then the Welsh
coast round Milford Haven, looming out black and sharp before the blaze of the inland 
thunderstorm; 
and it had
lightened all round them during the fore part of the night, upon a light, south-
western breeze.
In vain they had strained their eyes through the darkness to catch, by the fitful 
glare of the 
flashes, the tall masts of the Spaniard. Of one thing at least they were certain, that 
with the wind 
as it
was she could not have gone far to the westward. She was probably lying-to ahead of 
them, perhaps 
between them and the land; and when, a little after midnight, the wind chopped up to 
the
west, and blew stiffly till daybreak, they felt sure that, unless she had attempted 
the desperate 
expedient of running past them, they had her safe in the mouth of the Bristol Channel. 
Slowly
and wearily broke the dawn, on such a day as often follows heavy thunder - a sunless, 
drizzly day, 
roofed with low, dingy cloud, barred and netted, and festooned with black, a sign that 
the
storm is only taking breath awhile before it bursts again; while all the narrow 
horizon is dim and 
spongy with vapour drifting before a chilly breeze. As the day went on, the breeze 
died down,
and the sea fell to a long, glassy, foam-flecked roll, while overhead brooded the inky 
sky, and round 
them the leaden mist shut out alike the shore and the chase.
Amyas paced the sloppy deck fretfully and fiercely. The men sat sulkily about and 
whistled for a 
wind; the sails flapped idly against the masts; and the ship rolled in the long 
troughs of the sea,
till her yardarms almost dipped right and left.
" Take care of those guns. You will have something loose next," growled Amyas.
So the morning wore away, without a sign of living thing, not even a passing gull; and 
the black 
melancholy of the heaven reflected itself in the black melancholy of Amyas.
" Here she is! " thundered Amyas from the deck; and in an instant his men were 
scrambling up the 
hatchway as fast as the frantic rolling of the ship would let them.
Yes. There she was. The cloud had lifted suddenly, and to the south a ragged bore of 
blue sky let a 
long stream of sunshine down on her tall masts and stately hull as she lay rolling 
some four
or five miles to the eastward; but as for land, none was to be seen.
"There she is, and here we are," said Cary; "but where is 'here,' and where is ' there 
'? How is the tide, master? "
" Running up Channel by this time, sir."
" What matters the tide? " said Amyas, devouring the ship with terrible and cold blue 
eyes. "Can't we get at her? "
"Not unless some one jumps out and shoves behind," said Cary.
" Don't jest, Will - I can't stand it," said Amyas, in a voice which quivered so much 
that Cary 
looked at him. He took his arm and drew him aside.
" Dear old lad," said he, as they leaned over the bulwarks, " what is this? You are 
not yourself, and 
have not been these four days."
" No. I am not Amyas Leigh. I am my brother's avenger. Do not reason with me, Will; 
when it is over I 
shall be merry old Amyas again." And he passed his hand over his brow.
The weary day wore on. Nothing could be done to lessen the distance between the ships, 
for the "Vengeance " had had all her boats carried away but one, and that was much too 
small to tow
her.
About two Yeo came up to Amyas.
"He is ours safely now, sir. The tide has been running to the eastward for this two 
hours."
" Safe as a fox in a trap. There comes the thunder at last."
And as he spoke an angry growl from the westward heavens seemed to 
answer his words, and rolled and loudened
nearer and nearer, till right over their heads it crashed against some 
cloud-cliff far above, and all was still. 
Each man looked in the other's face; but Amyas was unmoved.
" The storm is coming," said he, " and the wind in it. It will be 
Eastward-ho now for once, my merry men all. Round
with the yards, or we shall be taken aback."
The yards creaked round; the sea grew crisp around them; the hot air 
swept their cheeks, tightened every rope, filled
every sail, bent her over. A cheer burst from the men as the helm went 
up, and they staggered away before the wind,
right down upon the Spaniard, who lay still becalmed.
"There is more behind, Amyas," said Cary. " Shall we not shorten sail a 
little?"
" No. Hold on every stitch," said Amyas. " Give me the helm, man. 
Boatswain, pipe away to clear for fight."
It was done, and in ten minutes the men were all at quarters, while the 
thunder rolled louder and louder overhead, and
the breeze freshened fast.
"The dog has it now. There he goes," said Cary.
"Right before the wind. He has no liking to face us."
" We shall have it now, and with a vengeance. This will try your tackle, 
master," said Cary.
That officer answered with a shrug, and turned up the collar of his 
rough frock, as the first drops flew stinging round
his ears. Another minute, and the squall burst full upon them, in rain 
which cut like hail, hail which lashed the sea into
froth, and wind which swept the waters into one white, seething
waste. And above them, and behind them, and before them, the lightning 
leapt and ran, dazzling and blinding, while
the deep roar of the thunder was changed to sharp ear-piercing cracks.
" Get the arms and ammunition under cover, and then below with you all," 
shouted Amyas from the helm.
" And heat the pokers in the galley-fire," said Yeo, "to be ready if the 
rain puts our linstocks* out. I hope you'll let me
stay on deck, sir, in case-"
" I must have some one, and who better than you? Can you see the chase? "
No; she was wrapped in the grey whirlwind. She might be within half a 
mile of them for aught they could see of her.
" Hurrah! there she is, right on our larboard bow," cried Amyas.
There she was indeed, two musket-shots off, staggering away with canvas 
split and flying.
" What shall we do now? " said Yeo, rubbing his hands.
"Range alongside and try our luck once more. Pah! how this lightning 
dazzles!"
On they swept, gaining fast on the Spaniard.
"Call, the men up, and to quarters; the rain will be over in ten minutes."
Yeo ran forward to the gangway - and sprang back again, with a face white 
and wild.
" Land right ahead! Port your helm, sir! Port your helm! "
Amyas, with the strength of a bull, jammed the helm down while Yeo 
shouted to the men below.
She swung round. The masts bent like whips; crack went the foresail like 
a cannon. What matter? Within two
hundred yards of them was the Spaniard;

* Linstock -A short staff for holding the match with which cannon were fired.


in front of her, and above her, a huge dark bank rose through the dense hail, and 
mingled with the
clouds; and at its foot, plainer every moment, pillars and spouts of leaping foam.
" What is it? Morte ?* Hartland ? " 
It might be anything for thirty miles.
" Lundy ! " said Yeo. " The south end! I see the head of the Shutter* in the breakers! 
Hard a-port 
yet, and get her
close-hauled as you can, and the Lord may have mercy on us still! Look at the 
Spaniard! "
Yes, look at the Spaniard!
On their left hand, as they broached to, the wall of granite sloped down from the 
clouds toward an 
isolated peak of
rock, some two hundred feet in height. Then a hundred yards of roaring breaker upon a 
sunken shelf, 
across which
the race of the tide poured like a cataract; then, amid a column of salt smoke, the 
Shutter, like a 
huge black fang,
rose waiting for its prey; and between the Shutter and the land the great galleon 
loomed dimly 
through the storm.
He, too, had seen his danger, and tried to broach to. But his clumsy mass refused to 
obey the helm; 
he struggled a
moment, half hid in foam; fell away again, and rushed upon his doom.
" Lost! lost! lost! " cried Amyas madly, and, throwing up his hands, let go the 
tiller. Yeo caught it 
just in time.
" Sir! sir! what are you at? We shall clear the rock yet. "
" Yes," shouted Amyas in his frenzy; " but he will not."
Another minute. The galleon gave a sudden jar, and stopped. Then one long heave and 
bound, as if to free herself.

* Morte - A cape to the north of Bideford Bay.
 Hartland - A cape south of Bideford Bay.
 Shutter - Dangerous rocks at the south end of Lundy Island.

And then her bows lighted clean upon the Shutter.
An awful silence fell on every English soul. They heard not the roaring of wind and 
surge; they saw 
not the blinding flashes of the lightning; 

SHE ROLLED CLEAN OVER AND VANISHED.

but they saw the mighty ship heel over from the wind and sweep headlong down the 
cataract of the race, plunging her yards into the foam, and showing her whole black 
side even to her keel, till she rolled clean over and vanished for ever and ever.


