men in
twenty-seven vessels sailed out, bound for New Spain. Surprise was
essential; for New Spain, taught by repeated experience, was well armed;
and twenty-five hundred men were less formidable now than five hundred
twenty years before. Arrived at the Canaries, Las Palmas was found too
strong to carry by immediate assault; and Drake had no time to attack it
in form. He was two months late already; so he determined to push on to
the West Indies.

When Drake reached Porto Rico, he found the Spanish in a measure
forewarned and forearmed. Though he astonished the garrison by standing
boldly into the harbor and dropping anchor close to a masked battery,
the real surprise was now against him. The Spanish gunners got the range
to an inch, brought down the flagship's mizzen, knocked Drake's chair
from under him, killed two senior officers beside him, and wounded many
more. In the meantime Hawkins, worn out by his exertions, had died. This
reception, added to the previous failures and the astonishing strength
of Porto Rico, produced a most depressing effect. Drake weighed anchor
and went out. He was soon back in a new place, cleverly shielded from
the Spanish guns by a couple of islands. After some more manoeuvres he
attacked the Spanish fleet with fire-balls and by boarding. When a
burning frigate lit up the whole wild scene, the Spanish gunners and
musketeers poured into the English ships such a concentrated fire that
Drake was compelled to retreat. He next tried the daring plan of running
straight into the harbor, where there might still be a chance. But the
Spaniards sank four of their own valuable vessels in the harbor
mouth--guns, stores, and all--just in the nick of time, and thus
completely barred the way.

Foiled again, Drake dashed for the mainland, seized La Hacha, burnt it,
ravaged the surrounding country, and got away with a successful haul of
treasure; then he seized Santa Marta and Nombre de Dios, both of which
were found nearly empty. The whole of New Spain was taking the
alarm--_The Dragon's back again!_ Meanwhile a fleet of more than twice
Drake's strength was coming out from Spain to attack him in the rear.
Nor was this all, for Baskerville and his soldiers, who had landed at
Nombre de Dios and started overland, were in full retreat along the road
from Panama, having found an impregnable Spanish position on the way. It
was a sad beginning for 1596, the centennial year of England's first
connection with Ame