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DRAKE THE PIRATE
"In Heaven's name!" said the Queen. "What is it to you, child?"
"If you please, madam, you have made me Dame Drake."
"Why, you little scapegrace, there roods a parson for that, and a ring, and the Lord knows what."
The new Lady Bess drew a ring from her pocket.
"By your leave, madam, we have had all that years ago."
From the deck nearby came a low oath. John Doughty had seen more than he could stand. He leaped forward, his knife gleaming in the sun!
Lord J3urghley leaped in front of Sir Francis Drake. "Beware!" he shouted. "John Doughty!"
Tom Moone led the men who leaped to their master's defense. They seized the raging man with the knife.
"I thank you, Lord Burghley, for saving my life," said Drake.
"I pray you, thank me not with your words, Sir Francis," said Lord Burghley with deep meaning, "but with your silence. John Doughty will trouble you no more."
"No," said Drake deliberately. "Nor you, either."
Meanwhile Mendoza had joined a group of Spaniards on the quay.
"Whither now?" questioned one.
"Back with all haste to Spain," said Mendoza. "King Philip must send Elizabeth another necklace. Not of rubies this time, but of ships."
THE comparatively small fleet of England lay in the harbor at Plymouth. From the sea raged a gale. Francis Drake played at bowls with Lady Bess and a group of his friends.
A seaman came in haste through the streets. Crowds divided as the sailor passed. For the Invincible Armada of King Philip was driving before the gale upon the wind-locked fleet of Sir Francis Drake.
"Sir Francis!" cried the man. "The Spaniards are upon us!"
Drake smiled. "How many ships did you see?"
"A half moon of ships seven miles across, sir!"
Drake calmly finished his game of bowls. His final shot was a perfect hit.
"Now!" he said. "Order the drums to be beaten! We must be out of the harbor before nightfall!"
"With the wind against us, impossible?" said his companion, Lord Howard LocI:e.
"Aye, My Lord! With the wind against us!" said Drake. "Sound the alarm! Let the beacons blaze from every hill! Start a girdle of fire around England!"
As night fell, the hills about the harbor bore flaming beacons of fire.
In this same darkness the Spanish Armada lay to a mile or more off shore. On the decks of the flagship, an officer said to Admiral de Valdez, "We need not strike to-night. What can the English do in the teeth of such a wind?"
"True enough," replied Don Pedro. "We spend to-night in prayers while the English gnash their teeth in the harbor of Plymouth."
BUT from Plymouth harbor, Drake's ships were slowly putting to sea in the Stygian darkness. One by one, the meno'-war were being pulled into the tearing gale. Husky sailors in small boats were rowing desperately, towing the ships of Sir Francis Drake.
An order came from Drake.
"When around the point, hoist sails and tack against the wind!"
On tfie black deck beside Drake a man spoke.
"The Spaniards still think we are bottled up in Plymouth harbor. They'll get the surprise of their lives to-morrow morning when they find us so close beside them."
"Nay," replied Drake. "We must let them know sooner than that."