ys before they died." As everybody who sailed to foreign parts used
slaves in those days Hawkins and Drake were no worse than the rest; and
less bad than those whites who kept them three hundred years later,
when people knew better. But Hawkins' complaint against the negroes
for not coming quietly is just the same sort of nonsense as any other
complaint against anything alive for being "vicious" when we want to
take or kill it. "This animal," said a Frenchman who made wise fun of
all such humbug, "is very wicked. When you attack it, it defends
itself!"

With what he could get--some four or five hundred negroes--Hawkins did
a roaring trade in those parts of the Spanish Main where King Philip's
subjects were not too closely watched by Governors and troops. But new
troubles began when Hawkins, trying to leave the West Indies, was blown
back by a hurricane into Vera Cruz, then known as San Juan de Ulua.
Hawkins still had a hundred negroes left; so, hoping for leave from
Mexico City to trade them off, he held the Kind's Island, which
entirely commanded the entrance to the harbour, where he saw twelve
Spanish treasure ships. But it was four hundred miles to the City of
Mexico and back again; and meanwhile a great Spanish fleet was expected
out from Spain. Hawkins had this fleet completely at his mercy; for it
could no more get past the King's Island if he chose to stop it than
the fleet inside could get out. Moreover, the stormy season was
beginning; so the fleet from Spain might easily be wrecked if Hawkins
kept it at bay.

The very next morning the fleet arrived. Hawkins was terribly tempted
to keep it out, which would have made his own fleet safe and would have
struck a heavy blow at Spain; for all the Spanish vessels together were
worth many millions. But he feared the wrath of Queen Elizabeth, who
did not want war with Spain; so he let the Spaniards "enter with their
accustomed treason" after they had agreed not to attack him.

For a few days everything went well. Then suddenly the Spaniards set
on the English, killed every Englishman they could catch ashore, and
attacked the little English fleet by land and sea. Once the two
Spanish fleets had joined they were in overwhelming force and could
have smothered Hawkins to death by sheer weight of numbers. But he
made a brave fight. Within an hour the Spanish flagship and another
vessel had been sunk, a third was on fire, and every English deck was
clear of S