course, but let off two broadsides instead of one to help the presuming
Don back again into his post.

Loud and bitter was the wrath among the noble youths on the _Rata_, as
they saw the Invincible Armada of Spain thus flouted by a handful of
Englishmen. Bitterer still was the rage of the sailors, when, by no
manner of luffing and trimming of sail, could they stand out to chastise
these impudent cruisers. But when, after (as I have said), careering
down the line, the English admiral put about and came back, the wind
freshened and lent some little life to our great hulls, one or two got
round far enough to let fly with their culverins and great pieces. But
their shot, if it reached the Englishman at all, whizzed over his head
and never stopped his course.

Don Alonzo, however, having rather better wind than his unlucky
comrades, decided on a bolder stroke to punish the enemy. Ludar and I,
as we stood and watched, could see the troops paraded on deck, and
grappling irons and chains laid in readiness. The small arms were
loaded, and every man stood with his naked knife in his belt.

"He means to come to close quarters and board her," said I.

Ludar laughed. His sportsman's blood was up; and for the first time for
many a day the care had vanished from his face, and left there a glow of
sheer enjoyment.

"A cow might as well try to board a cat," said he.

And he was right. For as the _Ark_ bore down our way, blazing out at
every galleon she passed, Don Alonzo, dropping clear of the line, put
his nose in her course, and, so to say, bade her stand and answer him.

Then, for the first time that day, the _Ark_ swerved on her tack and put
out her nose too, so that presently we two lay well astern of the line,
closing in on one another's course. Then there was great joy on board
the _Rata_. The noble youths shook their lovelocks and gripped their
swords. The gunners lay with their eyes on the captain, waiting his
signal to fire; and the men on the tops and in the rigging got ready
their grappling tackle, and held their cutlasses betwixt their teeth,
ready for a spring.

Ludar and I on the forecastle watched the _Ark_, as, half in the wind,
she bore down our way. Her decks, like ours, were cleared for action,
and above the gunwales we could spy many a bare head peeping over at us.
I marvelled that she had not long since given us a shot; but, like the
Spaniard, she seemed bent on close quarters, and was saving up