gage. However, it will not do to
despise his caution; therefore, lest we be attacked while on shore
by the Spaniards, we will even make a fort; and we shall be able to
unload our stores, and put our pinnaces together, without fear of
interruption."

The crew were now landed; and set to work, with hatchet and bill,
to clear a plot of ground. Three quarters of an acre was, after
three days' work, cleared; and the trees were cast outwards, and
piled together in such form as to make a sort of wall, 30 feet
high, round it. This hard work done, most of the crew were allowed
a little liberty; the carpenters, and experienced artificers, being
engaged in putting the three pinnaces together.

The boys, in pairs, for all could never obtain leave together,
rambled in the woods, full of admiration for the beauties of
nature. Huge butterflies flitted about upon the brilliant flowers.
Long trailing creepers, rich with blossom, hung on the trees. Here
and there, as they passed along, snakes slipped away among the
undergrowth; and these, in truth, the boys were as ready to leave
alone as the reptiles were to avoid them, for they were told that
it was certain death to be bitten by these creatures. Most of all
the boys admired the little birds, which indeed it was hard for
them to believe not to be butterflies, so small were they, so rapid
their movements, and so brilliant their color.

On the 7th day from landing the pinnaces were finished; and, the
vessels being anchored near the shore, the crews went on board for
the last time, preparatory to making their start the next day.

There was one tall and bright-faced sailor with whom the boys had
struck up a great friendship. He had sailed before with Captain
Drake; and as the evening was cool, and there was naught to do,
they begged him to tell them of his former visits in the Caribbean
Seas.

"My first," he said, "was the worst, and might well have been my
last. Captain John Hawkins was our captain, a bold man and a good
sailor; but not gentle as well as brave, as is our good Captain
Francis. Our fleet was a strong one. The admiral's ship, the Jesus,
of Lubeck, was 700 tons. Then there were the smaller craft; the
Minion, Captain Hampton, in which I myself sailed; the William and
John of Captain Boulton; the Judith with Captain Francis Drake; and
two little ships, besides. We sailed later in the year. It was the
2nd October, five years back; that is, 1567. We started badly, for
a st