the governor
wanted peace, he must listen to Drake's arguments; if war--well, Drake
was ready to begin at once. A three-days' storm interrupted the
proceedings; after which the English intercepted the fugitive townsfolk
whose flight showed that the governor meant to make a stand, though he
had said the embargo had been lifted and that all the English prisoners
were at liberty to go. Some English sailors, however, were still being
held; so Drake sent in an armed party and brought them off, with a good
pile of reprisal booty too. Then he put to sea and made for the Spanish
Main by way of the Portuguese African islands.

The plan of campaign drawn up for Burleigh's information still exists.
It shows that Drake, the consummate raider, was also an admiral of the
highest kind. The items, showing how long each part should take and what
loot each place should yield, are exact and interesting. But it is in
the relation of every part to every other part and to the whole that the
original genius of the born commander shines forth in all its glory.
After taking San Domingo he was to sack Margarita, La Hacha, and Santa
Marta, razing their fortifications as he left. Cartagena and Nombre de
Dios came next. Then Carleill was to raid Panama, with the help of the
Maroons, while Drake himself was to raid the coast of Honduras. Finally,
with reunited forces, he would take Havana and, if possible, hold it by
leaving a sufficient garrison behind. Thus he would paralyze New Spain
by destroying all the points of junction along its lines of
communication just when Philip stood most in need of its help for
completing the Great Armada.

But, like a mettlesome steeplechaser, Drake took a leap in his stride
during the preliminary canter before the great race. The wind being foul
for the Canaries, he went on to the Cape Verde archipelago and captured
Santiago, which had been abandoned in terror on the approach of the
English 'Dragon,' that sinister hero of Lope de Vega's epic onslaught
_La Dragontea_. As good luck would have it, Carleill marched in on the
anniversary of the Queen's accession, the 17th of November. So there was
a royal salute fired in Her Majesty's honor by land and sea. No treasure
was found, French privateers had sacked the place three years before and
had killed off everyone they caught; the Portuguese, therefore, were not
going to wait to meet the English 'Dragon' too. The force that marched
inland failed to unearth the governo