tty to-do, you may take my word for 't. Some o'
the cap'ns--Mr Saint Leger and Cap'n Drake among 'em, I believe--was
for attackin' the convoy and takin' the whole o' the Plate fleet; and,
as things turned out, 'twould ha' been better if we'd done it, for,
disabled though our ships were, we could ha' fought at our anchors and
kept the convoy from enterin' the port. But the admiral wouldn't hear
o' it; he kept on declarin' that we was honest traders, and that to
capture the Spanish ships 'd be a hact of piracy which would get us into
no end o' trouble to home, and perhaps bring about war betwixt England
and Spain; and at last t'others give in to mun and let mun have mun's
own way. Then there was goin's to an' fro between our ships and the
shore, and I heard say as that the admiral were negotiatin' wi' the
Viceroy for permission for our ships to stay where they was, and refit;
and at last 'twas agreed that we was to be allowed to so do, provided
that we didn't interfere wi' the Spanish ships.

"That bein' arranged, the rest of the Plate fleet and the convoy sailed
into the harbour and anchored, while we English got to work clearin'
away our wrecked spars, sendin' down yards, and what not. The _Judith_
bein' a small ship, Cap'n Drake took her in and moored her alongside a
wharf upon which we stowed part of our stores and water casks, so 's to
have more room for movin' about on deck; but as for the rest, they'd to
do the best they could while lyin' off to their anchors. And one of the
first things that we did was to transfer all the goold and pearls that
we'd collected to the _Jesus_. Three days we laboured hard at the work
of refittin', and then, when most o' our biggest ships was so completely
dismantled that they hadn't a spar aloft upon which to set a sail, them
treacherous Spaniards, carin' nothin' for their solemn word and
promises, must needs attack us, openin' fire upon us both from the ships
and the forts, while a party o' soldiers came marchin' down to the wharf
especially to attack us of the _Judith's_ crew. When Cap'n Drake see'd
mun comin' he at once ordered all hands ashore; and while he and Mr
Saint Leger and a few more did their best to keep off the soldiers, the
rest of us went to work to put the provisions and water back aboard the
_Judith_. But we'd only about half done our work when a lot more
soldiers comed swarmin' down, and Cap'n Drake sings out for everybody to
get aboard and to cast off the ha