wrote
full of hope from Ostend, and Elizabeth was afraid 'the King of Spain
might take it ill.' She found fault with Drake's expenses. She charged
him with wasting her ammunition in target practice. She had it doled out
to him in driblets, and allowed no more than would serve for a day and a
half's service. She kept a sharp hand on the victualling houses. April
went, and her four finest ships--the _Triumph_, the _Victory_, the
_Elizabeth Jonas_, and the _Bear_--were still with sails unbent,
'keeping Chatham church.' She said they would not be wanted and it would
be waste of money to refit them. Again she was forced to yield at last,
and the four ships were got to sea in time, the workmen in the yards
making up for the delay; but she had few enough when her whole fleet was
out upon the Channel, and but for the privateers there would have been
an ill reckoning when the trial came. The Armada was coming now. There
was no longer a doubt of it. Lord Henry Seymour was left with five
Queen's ships and thirty London adventurers to watch Parma and the
Narrow Seas. Howard, carrying his own flag in the _Ark Raleigh_, joined
Drake at Plymouth with seventeen others.

Still the numbing hand of his mistress pursued him. Food supplies had
been issued to the middle of June, and no more was to be allowed. The
weather was desperate--wildest summer ever known. The south-west gales
brought the Atlantic rollers into the Sound. Drake lay inside, perhaps
behind the island which bears his name. Howard rode out the gales under
Mount Edgecumbe, the days going by and the provisions wasting. The
rations were cut down to make the stores last longer. Owing to the many
changes the crews had been hastily raised. They were ill-clothed,
ill-provided every way, but they complained of nothing, caught fish to
mend their mess dinners, and prayed only for the speedy coming of the
enemy. Even Howard's heart failed him now. English sailors would do what
could be done by man, but they could not fight with famine. 'Awake,
Madam,' he wrote to the Queen, 'awake, for the love of Christ, and see
the villainous treasons round about you.' He goaded her into ordering
supplies for one more month, but this was to be positively the last. The
victuallers inquired if they should make further preparations. She
answered peremptorily, 'No'; and again the weeks ran on. The
contractors, it seemed, had caught her spirit, for the beer which had
been furnished for the fleet turned s