o our side.
We should have saved them all, but the Spaniards, who dared not lay
us aboard, and who were in no slight degree troubled by the bravery
with which we had fought, set two of their great ships on fire, and
launched them down upon us, preferring to lose two of their own
ships for the sake of capturing or destroying our little bark. The
sight of the ships coming down, in flames, shook the hearts of our
men more than all the fury of the Spaniards had been able to do;
and without waiting for orders, they turned the ship's head for the
mouth of the port.

"The admiral, who had just come on board, cursed and shouted when
he saw what was being done; but the panic of the fire ships got the
better of the men, and we made off, firing broadsides at the
Spaniards' fleet as we passed through them; and aided by the little
Judith, which stuck to us through the whole of the fight.

"When we cooled down and came to think of it, we were in no slight
degree ashamed of our desertion of our comrades in the Jesus.
Fortunately the number so left behind was not large; but we knew
that, according to their custom, the Spaniards would put all to
death, and so indeed it afterwards turned out, many of them being
dispatched with horrible tortures.

"This terrible treatment of the prisoners caused, when it was
known, great indignation; and although Queen Elizabeth did not
declare war with Spain, from that time she gave every countenance
she could to the adventurers who waged war, on their own account,
against her.

"The Minion suffered severely, packed close as she was with all her
own crew, and a great part of that of the Jesus, vast numbers of
whom were wounded. However, at length a hundred were, at their own
request, landed and left to shift for themselves, preferring to run
the risk of Indians, or even of Spaniards, to continue any longer
amid the horrors on board the ship. I myself, boys, was not one of
that number, and came back to England in her.

"Truly it was the worst voyage that I ever made, for though fortune
was for a time good to us, and we collected much money; yet in the
end we lost all, and hardly escaped with our lives. It has seemed
to me that this bad fortune was sent as a punishment upon us, for
carrying off the negroes into slavery. Many others thought the
same, and methinks that that was also the opinion of our present
good admiral."

"Did you come out with him, in his further voyages here?" Ned
asked.

"I