ve the frigate from capture without danger to
themselves; so Drake abandoned her, and set to sea again, in the teeth
of the gale, intending to win to Las Serenas, some rocks six miles to
sea, off which he thought he could anchor, with his masts down, until
the weather moderated. But when he arrived off the rocks, a mighty sea
was beating over them, so that he had to run back to Cartagena, where
he remained six days, "notwithstanding the Spaniards grieved greatly at
our abode there so long."

On the 2nd of November the Governor of Cartagena made a determined
attempt to destroy him or drive him out to sea. He manned three
vessels--"a great shallop, a fine gundeloe and a great canoe"--with
Spanish musketeers and Indians with poisoned arrows. These attacked with
no great spirit, for as soon as the pinnaces advanced they retreated,
and presently "went ashore into the woods," from which an ambush "of
some sixty shot" opened a smart fire. As the ambush began to blaze away
from the bushes, Drake saw that two pinnaces and a frigate, manned with
musketeers and archers, were warping towards him from the town, in the
teeth of the wind. As this second line of battle neared the scene of
action, the Spaniards left the ambush in the wood, and ran down the
sands to the gundeloe and canoe, which they manned, and again thrust
from the shore. Drake then stood away into the haven, out of shot of the
shore guns, and cast anchor in the great open space, with the two
pinnaces lying close together, one immediately ahead of the other. He
rigged the sides of the pinnaces with bonnets, the narrow lengths of
canvas which were laced to the feet of sails to give them greater
spread. With these for his close-fights, or war-girdles, he waved to the
Spaniards to attack. They rowed up cheering, all five boats of them,
"assuring their fellows of the day." Had they pushed the attack home,
the issue might have been different, but the sight of the close-fights
frightened them. They lay on their oars "at caliver-shot distance," and
opened a smart musketry fire, "spending powder apace," without pausing,
for two or three hours. One man was wounded on Drake's side. The Spanish
loss could not be told, but Drake's men could plainly see that the
Spanish pinnaces had been shot through and through. One lucky shot went
into a Spanish powder tub, which thereupon exploded. Drake at once
weighed anchor, intending to run them down while they were in confusion.
He had the