t he wished to get away
from the fever zone without delay, appears to have accepted this
amount, though authorities are at variance on this point. Some say
that he held out for his first claim and got it. I have not been able
to verify which is the correct amount, but in all probability he got
the 100,000 ducats. In any case, he piously charged them with
deception in their plea of poverty, but came to terms, declaring, no
doubt, that his own magnanimity astonished him.

But for the sudden outbreak of sickness amongst his crew, the
Carthagenians would not have fared nearly so well. The city might have
been, not only pillaged, but laid in ruins. As it was, he had emptied
a monastery and blown the harbour forts to pieces.

Drake's intention was to visit Panama, but the fever had laid heavy
hands on his men. Only a third of those who commenced the voyage with
him were well enough to do work at all, notwithstanding the
replenishment by released prisoners, so he was forced to abandon
further enterprises and shape his course homewards as quickly as
skilful navigation and the vagaries of wind and weather would allow.
Great deeds, even on this trip, stood to the credit of himself and
crew. The accomplishments were far below what was expected at the
outset in point of money value, but the priceless feature of the
voyage was the enhanced respect for Drake's name which had taken
possession of the Spanish race in every part of the world and
subsequently made the defeat of the Armada an easier task.

This eager soul, who was really the pioneer of a new civilization, had
still to face hard fate after the reluctant abandonment of his
intention to visit Panama. The sufferings of the adventurers from bad
weather and shortness of water was severely felt on the passage to
Florida. But the rough leader never lost heart or spared himself in
any way. He was obliged to heave-to at Cape Antonio (Cuba), and here
with indomitable courage went to work, putting heart into his men by
digging with pick and shovel in a way that would have put a navvy to
the blush, and when their efforts were rewarded he took his ships
through the Bahama Channel, and as he passed a fort which the
Spaniards had constructed and used as a base for a force which had
murdered many French Protestant colonists in the vicinity, Drake
landed, found out the murderous purpose of the fort, and blew it to
pieces. But that was not all. He also had the satisfaction of saving
the