from the tyranny of their masters in great numbers, had settled themselves under two kings, or leaders, on each side of the way between Nombre de Dios and Panama, and not only asserted their natural right to liberty and independence, but endeavoured to revenge the cruelties they had suffered, and had lately put the inhabitants of Nombre de Dios into the utmost consternation. These negroes the captain set on shore on the main land, so that they might, by joining the Syme. rons, recover their liberty, or at least might not have it in their power to give the people of Nombre de Dios any speedy information of his intention to invade them.

Then selecting fifty-three men from his own company, and twenty from the crew of his new associate captain Rause, he embarked with them in his pinnaces, and set sail for Nombre de Dios.

On July the 28th, at night, he approached the town undiscovered, and dropped his anchors under the shore, intending, after his men were refreshed, to begin the attack; but finding that they were terrifying each other with formidable accounts of the strength of the place, and the multitude of the inhabitants, he determined to hinder the panic from spreading farther, by leading them immediately to action; and therefore ordering them to their oars, he landed without any opposition, there being only one gunner upon the bay, though it was secured with six brass cannons of the largest size ready mounted. But the gunner, while they were throwing the cannons from their carriages alarmed the town, as they soon discovered, by the bell, the drums, and the noise of the people.

Drake leaving twelve men to guard the pinnaces, marched round the town with no great opposition, the men being more hurt by treading on the weapons left on the ground by the flying enemy, than by the resistance which they encountered. At length having taken some of the Spaniards, Drake commanded them to shew him the governor's house, where the mules that bring the silver from Panama were unloaded; there they found the door open, and entering the room where the silver was reposited, found it heaped up in bars in such quan

Published by Mackenzie & Dent.

tities as almost exceed belief, the pile being, they conjectured, 70 feet in length, 10 in breadth, and 12 in height, each bar weighing between 30 and 45 pounds.

It is easy to imagine that, at the sight of this treasure, nothing was thought on by the English, but by what means they might best convey it to their boats; and doubtless it was not easy for Drake, who, considering their distance from the shore, and the numbers of their enemies, was afraid of being intercepted in his retreat, to hinder his men from encumbering themselves with so much silver as might have retarded their march, and obstructed the use of their weapons; however, by promising to lead them to the king's treasure-house, where there was gold and jewels to a far greater value, and where the treasure was not only more portable, but nearer the coast, he persuaded them to follow him, and rejoin the main body of his men then drawn up under the command of his brother in the market-place.

Here he found his little troop much discouraged by the imagination, that if they staid any longer, the enemy would gain possession of their pinnaces, and that they should then, without any means of safety, be left to stand alone against the whole power of that country: Drake, not indeed easily terrirified, but sufficiently cautious, sent to the coast, to inquire the truth, and see if the same terror had taken possession of the men whom he had left to guard his boats; but, finding no foundation for these dreadful apprehensions, he persisted in his first design, and led the troop forward to the treasurehouse. In their way there fell a violent shower of rain, which wet some of their bow-strings, and extinguished many of their matches; a misfortune which might soon have been repaired, and which perhaps the enemy might suffer in common with them, but which however on this occasion very much embarrassed them, as the delay produced by it repressed that ardour which sometimes is only to be kept up by continual action, and gave time to the timorous and slothful to spread their insinuations, and propagate their cowardice. Some, whose fear was their predominate passion, were continually magnifying the numbers and courage of their enemies, and represented whole

nations as ready to rush upon them; others, whose avarice mingled with their concern for their own safety, were more solicitous to preserve what they had already gained, than to acquire more; and others, brave in themselves, and resolute, began to doubt of success in an undertaking in which they were associated with such cowardly companions. So that scarcely any man appeared to proceed in their enterprize with that spirit and alacrity which could give Drake a prospect of

success.

This he perceived, and with some emotion told them, that if, after having had the chief treasure of the world within their reach, they should go home and languish in poverty, they could blame nothing but their own cowardice; that he had performed his part, and was still desirous to lead them on to riches and to honour.

Finding that either shame or conviction made them willing to follow him, he ordered the treasure-house to be forced, and commanding his brother, and Oxenham of Plymouth, a man known afterwards for his bold adventures in the same parts, to take charge of the treasure, he commanded the other body to follow him to the market-place, that he might be ready to oppose any scattered troops of the Spaniards, and hinder them from uniting into one body.

But as he stepped forward, his strength failed him on a sudden, and he fell down speechless. Then it was that his companions perceived a wound in his leg, which he had received in the first encounter, but hitherto concealed, lest his men, easily discouraged, should make their concern for his life a pretence for returning to their boats. Such had been the loss of blood, as was discovered upon nearer observation, that it had filled the prints of his footsteps, and it appeared scarce credible that after such an effusion of blood, life should remain.

The bravest were now willing to retire: neither the desire of honour nor of riches was thought enough to prevail in any man over his regard for his leader. Drake, whom cordials had now restored to his speech, was the only man who could not be prevailed on to leave the enterprize unfinished. It was