hey were ready to return to their pinnaces.
They formed into order, and hurried away towards the woods, making as
much haste as the weight of plunder would allow. As they gained the
shelter of the forest they heard a troop of horse, with some
arquebusiers, coming hurriedly to the rescue of the mules. They
attempted no pursuit, for no Spaniard cared to enter the forest to
attack a force in which Maroons were serving. The raiders were,
therefore, able to get clear away into the jungle. All that day and the
next day they hurried eastward through the scrub. They made a brief
pause, as they tramped, to lay down Captain Tetu, whose wound prevented
him from marching. He could go no farther, and begged that he might be
left behind in the forest, "in hope that some rest would recover him
better strength." Two French sailors stayed with him to protect him.

CHAPTER VI

THE ADVENTURE OF THE RAFT

Drake's voyage to the Catives--Homeward bound--The interrupted
sermon

When the retreating force had gone about two leagues, they discovered
that a Frenchman was missing from the ranks. He had not been hurt in the
fight; but there was no time to search for him (as a matter of fact, he
had drunk too much wine, and had lost himself in the woods), so again
they pressed on to the pinnaces and safety. On the 3rd of April, utterly
worn out with the hurry of the retreat, they came to the Francisco
River. They were staggering under the weight of all their plunder, and,
to complete their misery, they were wet to the skin with a rain-storm
which had raged all night. To their horror they found no pinnaces
awaiting them, but out at sea, not far from the coast, were seven
Spanish pinnaces which had been beating up the inlets for them. These
were now rowing as though directly from the rendezvous at the Cabezas,
so that the draggled band upon the shore made no doubt that their
pinnaces had been sunk, their friends killed or taken, and the retreat
cut off.

Drake's chief fear, on seeing these Spanish boats, was that "they had
compelled our men by torture to confess where his frigate and ships
were." To the disheartened folk about him it seemed that all hope of
returning home was now gone, for they made no doubt that the ships were
by this time destroyed. Some of them flung down their gold in despair,
while all felt something of the general panic. The Maroons recommended
that the march should be made by land, "though it were sixteen