nd fought on board ship as if on land.

Captain Drake was accompanied by many men of good Devon blood, for
that county was then ahead of all England in its enterprise, and
its seamanship; and no captain of name or repute ever had any
difficulty in getting together a band of adventurers, from the
sturdy population of her shores.

"I went over myself, last week," said a finely-built young sailor,
"and I prayed the captain, on my knees, to take me on board; but he
said the tale had been full, long ago; and that so many were the
applicants that Master Drake and himself had sworn a great oath,
that they would take none beyond those already engaged."

"Aye! I would have gone myself," said a grizzly, weatherbeaten old
sailor, "if they would have had me. There was Will Trelawney, who
went on such another expedition as this, and came back with more
bags of Spanish dollars than he could carry. Truly they are a gold
mine, these Western seas; but even better than getting gold is the
thrashing of those haughty Spaniards, who seem to look upon
themselves as gods, and on all others as fit only to clean their
worships' boots."

"They cannot fight neither, can they?" asked a young sailor.

"They can fight, boy, and have fought as well as we could; but,
somehow, they cannot stand against us, in those seas. Whether it is
that the curse of the poor natives, whom they kill, enslave, and
ill treat in every way, rises against them, and takes away their
courage and their nerve; but certain is it that, when our little
craft lay alongside their big galleons, fight as they will, the
battle is as good as over. Nothing less than four to one, at the
very least, has any chance against our buccaneers."

"They ill treat those that fall into their hands, do they not?"

"Ay, do they!" said the old sailor. "They tear off their flesh with
hot pincers, wrench out their nails, and play all sorts of devil's
games; and then, at last, they burn what is left of them in the
marketplaces. I have heard tell of fearsome tales, lad; but the
Spaniards outwit themselves. Were our men to have fair treatment as
prisoners of war, it may be that the Spaniards would often be able
to hold their own against us; but the knowledge that, if we are
taken, this horrible fate is certain to be ours, makes our men
fight with a desperate fury; and never to give in, as long as one
is left. This it is that accounts for the wonderful victories which
we have gained there. He woul