. With a wild shout
the ambuscaders leaped from their hiding places to rush frantically
upon the startled drivers. In a few moments the train was in
possession of Drake and his French and half-negro associates, who
chuckled and grunted like peccaries.

The leading mules were taken by the heads and all the rest lay down,
as they always do when stopped. The fifteen soldiers who guarded each
train were routed, but not before they had wounded the French captain
most severely and had slain one of the Maroons. Silver bars and gold
ingots were there aplenty. They were seized and carried off, while,
what was not transported, was buried in the earthen burrows made by
the great land crabs under fallen trees, and in the sand and gravel of
a shallow river.

"And now for home," cried a valorous sea farer, after a party had
returned with a portion of the buried treasure, which was divided
equally between the French and the English. Much of that left in the
sand crab holes had been discovered by the Spaniards--but not all.
Thirteen bars of silver and a few quoits of gold had rewarded the
search of the expectant voyageurs.

"Yes," cried all. "Sails aloft for Merrie England!" So, spreading
canvas, the bold adventurers were soon headed for the foggy and misty
isle from which they had come. On Sunday, August ninth, 1573--just
about sermon time--they dropped anchor in the peaceful harbor of
Plymouth.

"And the news of the Captain's return brought unto his people, did so
speedily pass over all the church, and fill the minds of the
congregation with delight and desire to see him, that very few, or
none, remained with the preacher. All hastened to see the evidence of
God's love and blessing towards the gracious Queen and country, by the
fruit of the gallant mariner's labor and success."

"To God alone," spake an humble citizen of Plymouth, "be the Glory."

[Illustration: DRAKE'S GREATEST VICTORY ON THE SPANISH MAIN.
(The surrender of Don Anton to Sir Francis Drake, March 1, 1579.)]

And all echoed these pious sentiments, in spite of the fact that
Drake was a robber, a pirate, and a buccaneer. But was he not their
own countryman?

* * * * *

The scene now changes. It is a gray day at Plymouth and anxious faces
peer into the street from the windows of the low, tiled houses. A
crowd has collected upon the jutting cliffs and all gaze with eager
eyes towards the ocean. Men speak in hushed and subdued