outh to the
Azores and follow the Spanish track across the ocean. Ships of King
Philip's we must meet, and maybe, at first, we shall bid them a
good-morrow and kiss our hands to them. But Dons are Dons, and we are
what our forefathers have made us. Ale and beef must fight salt fish
and thin Canary. I have cut ox meat, drunk October, and ploughed the
deep. I know the effect of all on a man's heart and head. I can drink
with a Dutchman and dance with a Frenchman, but, St. George, his sword!
steel springs from scabbard at the sight of a Spanish face. 'Tis the
breed of us, and nature will out."

"And I am the last man to quarrel with my breeding. Well, we are set
forth, and no man can say what may hap ere we see yonder line of cliffs
again."

"True," mused Dan; "but if we break not faith with God and our captain,
nought will happen for which a true man may grieve."

"Amen to that!" said Johnnie, and he fell to watching the sea once more.

Nothing could have been more propitious than the first part of the
voyage. The course was south-west, and for days the wind blew steadily
from the east or north-east. A low, misty line to larboard--the line
of the French coast--was the last sight of Europe the adventurers had.
For fifteen days after this the heaving sea met the whole circle of the
gray-blue horizon. The days grew warmer and the winds softer as they
voyaged south; the good ship was bearing them into the arms of summer.
For some few days there was plenty of bustle aboard. Captain and crew
overhauled the stores and stowed them more securely and handily; they
critically studied the behaviour of their trim little craft as good
seamen should; and the gentlemen adventurers became better acquainted
with one another, and got their sea-legs and sea-stomachs. When the
time came that heads and eyes were no longer turned backwards for a
glimpse of familiar landmarks, but were strained forward towards the
land of their hopes, then those aboard the _Golden Boar_ had settled
down, each in his own place, to form a happy brotherly community,
linked by common hopes, aims, and interests. Sailors, soldiers, and
men of gentle breeding fraternized freely together, each prepared to
stand by the other in the last extremity of danger, or to share loyally
in the fruits of good fortune. Harmony was complete, yet discipline
was perfect; for the skipper was worthy of his name, and that name was
the glorious one of "Drake."

It was