umbus on
the tropic island of San Salvador. The captain and his men moved in
marching order: they knelt together on the barren rock to offer thanks
to God and to invoke a blessing on their queen. Great cairns of stone
were piled high here and there, as a sign of England's sovereignty,
while as they advanced against the rugged hills of the interior, the
banner of their country was proudly carried in the van. Their thoughts
were not of glory only. It was with the ardour of treasure-seekers
that they fell to their task, forgetting in the lust for gold the chill
horror of their surroundings; and, when the Arctic sunlight glittered
on the splintered edges of the rocks, the crevices of the barren stone
seemed to the excited minds of the explorers to be filled with virgin
gold, carried by subterranean {18} streams. The three ships were
loaded deep with worthless stone, a fitting irony on their quest.
Then, at the end of August, they were turned again eastward for
England. Tempest and fog enveloped their passage. The ships were
driven asunder. Each thought the others lost. But, by good fortune,
all safely arrived, the captain's ship landing at Milford Haven, the
others at Bristol and Yarmouth.

Fortunately for Frobisher the worthless character of the freight that
he brought home was not readily made clear by the crude methods of the
day. For the next summer found him again off the shores of Meta
Incognita eagerly searching for new mines. This time he bore with him
a large company and ample equipment. Fifteen ships in all sailed under
his command. Among his company were miners and artificers. The frames
of a house, ready to set up, were borne in the vessels. Felton, a
ship's captain, and a group of Frobisher's gentlemen were to be left
behind to spend the winter in the new land.

From the first the voyage was inauspicious. The ships had scarcely
entered the straits before a great storm broke upon them. Land and sea
were blotted out in driving snow. The open water into which they had
sailed was soon {19} filled with great masses of ice which the tempest
cast furiously against the ships. To their horror the barque
_Dionise_, rammed by the ice, went down in the swirling waters. With
her she carried all her cargo, including a part of the timbers of the
house destined for the winter's habitation. But the stout courage of
the mariners was undismayed. All through the evening and the night
they fought against the