Sir Ludar Part 45

The Spaniard inclined his head, with a faint smile.

"His Majesty is unfortunate not to be a fourth in so honourable a company," said he.

Ludar looked confused, and his brow clouded. He was no match for any man when it came to compliments.

"Sir," said he, "I am indebted to your watch for my life, and to his Majesty, your King, for my dinner. I am sorry it is so, but I cannot help it. If you command it, I am bound to make payment; and, since I have no money, you have a right to the service of my hands till we be quits."

Don Alonzo looked him from head to foot and smiled again.

"Sir Ludar is his Majesty's guest on this ship," said he, with a fine motion of the head. "Any service he may render I shall be honoured to accept. I refer him to Captain Desmond, here, for further intelligence."

"And you, Senor," said he, addressing me with somewhat less ceremony, "you are English?"

"I thank Heaven, yea," said I, "a humble servant to her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, and a foe to her enemies."

"And your estate?" demanded he, coldly ignoring my tone.

"I have no estate. I am a plain London 'prentice."

"We shall have the honour of restoring you to London shortly," said he.

"Meanwhile Sir Ludar shall not be deprived of the service of his squire."

Then turning to his officers, he occupied himself again with the chart, and left Captain Desmond to conduct us from the cabin.

Neither Ludar nor I was much elated by this interview, but it relieved us, at least, of any immediate prospect of execution, and, unless the Don were jesting, consigned us to no very intolerable service on board his ship. From Captain Desmond, who was not a little impressed by the commander's reception of Ludar, we learned rather more of the expedition and its prospects than before.

"If all go well," said he, "we shall be in English waters to-morrow, and a week later should have dealt with the enemy's fleet and be landed at Dover. This Don Alonzo, it is said, will be appointed governor of London, till the King arrive. He is a prime favourite at the Spanish Court, in proof whereof the _Rata_ carries a crew of the n.o.blest youth of Spain, committed to his care for this great venture. They are hungry for battle, but, alack! I fear we shall none of us get more than will whet our appet.i.te. As for you and me, McDonnell, this business is like to settle scores between our houses and the vixen--"

"Stay, Captain Desmond," said Ludar, interposing suddenly betwixt me and this blasphemer. "My comrade here is a servant of Elizabeth, and has no sword. As for me, my queen is dead--dead on the scaffold. I hate the English Queen as you do; but, if I fight against her, it shall be in my own quarrel, and no man else's. Therefore appoint us a duty whereby we may repay the Spanish King his hospitality, without fighting his battles."

The Irishman shrugged his shoulders.

"I understand not these subtleties," said he: "whom I hate I slay.

However, as you will. This voyage will soon be over; but if you choose, while it lasts, to keep the forecastle deck clean, none shall interfere with you; and perchance, when we get into action, you may find it an honourable and even a perilous post."

So we were installed in our ign.o.ble office on board the _Rata_, and since Captain Desmond's duties never brought him before the foremast, and since Don Alonzo, whenever he went his rounds, never looked at us, and since not a man on the forecastle comprehended a word of English, or could speak a Spanish which Ludar was able to follow, we were left pretty much to ourselves, except that the sentry kept a close eye on our movements.

All day long the soldiers paraded, the trumpets played, the pennons waved, and the blazoned sails swelled with the favouring breeze, so that towards afternoon Ushant was far behind, and every eye was strained forward for the first glimpse of the English, sh.o.r.e. The other vessels of the fleet, which had spread out somewhat in the mist, now gradually closed in at nearer distance, and pa.s.sed signals which I could not understand. Some were so near we could hear their trumpets and bells, and see the glitter of the sun on the muzzles of their guns. Then about sundown, with great ceremony, a priest came forward, and recited what I took to be a ma.s.s; and after him, at the sound of three bells, the whole company trooped to the middle deck, where at the main-mast the purser read aloud a long proclamation in Spanish, at the end of which huzzahs were given for the King, and the lanthorns lit for the night.

I confess I turned in to my berth that night uneasy in my mind. For I never saw ships such as these; no, not even in the Medway. What could our small craft do against these floating towers? and what sort of hole could our guns make in these four-foot walls? And when it came to grappling, what could our slender crews do against this army of picked men, who, even if half of them fell, would yet be a match for any force our English ships could hold?

So I turned in with many forebodings, and all night long I could hear the laugh and song of coming victory, mingled now and again with the fanfare of the trumpets, and the distant boom of the admiral's signal- gun.

Next morning, when we looked out, there was land in sight ahead.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

HOW THE DONS SAILED UP CHANNEL.

For a long while we could discern only a blue haze on the horizon.

Then, towards noon, when the sun stood higher, and the wind behind us freshened, there appeared a grey line through the mist, and above that a gleam of green.

The sight was hailed by the gay young Spaniards who crowded the deck with a mighty shout and a defiant blare of the trumpets. And, ere the noise died away, we caught a faint answering echo from the vessels nearest us. Then, acting on some arranged signal, the whole fleet seemed to gather itself together, and closing into a great crescent, at about cable distance, advanced with sails full of wind--a majestic sight, and, to me, who gazed with dismay from end to end of the magnificent line, fraught with doom to my poor country.

The _Rata_ held a post near to the left of the line, and was thus a league, or thereabouts, nearer to the coast than the ships of the other flank. Already out of the mist the black headlands were rising grim and frowning to front us; and already, betwixt us and them, a keen eye might detect the gleam of the afternoon sun on a little white sail here and there. But except for a fishing-boat or two which cruised along our line, taking a good eyeful of us, and then darting ahead before the gallia.s.ses could give chase, we saw no sign of the Queen's ships anywhere.

Towards dusk we opened a great break in the coast, which we knew presently to be Plymouth Sound. The Dons, as they stood fully armed on the decks and gangways, laughed at the sight, and all eyes turned to the Duke-Admiral's vessel ahead, to see if he would sail straight in on the unprotected Sound, and so take possession of the coveted land before supper that night. It looked at first as if this were his purpose, when suddenly there was a stir among the onlookers, and Ludar, taking my arm, pointed down the coast to our rear, where, from behind a high headland, peeped out a small cl.u.s.ter of sails.

"There are your ships," said he, "lying in wait, and with the wind of the Don, too."

My heart leapt up at the words. For till now I had supposed our poor fellows cooped up by the wind in Plymouth Water, unable to get out and waiting like sheep for the slaughter. I was tempted to cheer in the Spaniard's face, when I saw them thus clear, on the right side of the wind, and ready to show fight for their Queen and country.

The sails were seen by other eyes than ours; and presently up flung a light from the Duke's ship; and with that we hove to, and dropped anchor where we lay for the night.

Great was the discontent of the grandees on the _Rata_ to be thus put about by the sight of a parcel of herring-boats--as they chose to call them. But it came as a little comfort to them when a message went round for the men to be under arms and ready for battle at daybreak. And with a proud laugh they went off to their quarters for the night. As for Ludar and me, we sat on the forecastle with our eyes straining westward, and full of a strange excitement.

"Humphrey," said Ludar, "if it be any comfort to you, I like not these Dons."

"I thank G.o.d to hear that," said I.

"And if it come to a fight," said he, "I had as soon see your pirates yonder sweep the sea as these milords. They did little enough for my Queen while she lived, and they cannot bring her back now she is dead."

"Think you we shall come to blows in the morning?" asked I, anxious to hurry off the sore subject.

"'Tis said so," replied he. "It would not surprise me if yonder sea- dogs did not wait till then."

After that we sat and watched the beacon-fires ash.o.r.e blaze up one after another and spread the news of our coming far and wide. Presently, too, the moon came up, and by its light looking westward we could discern sails to windward, which fluttered nearer and nearer, till it seemed a shot from one of our pieces could reach them. The news brought many of the _Rata's_ men on deck, some of whom doubted what to make of it all, and others cursed the impudence of this English Drake and his low-born salts.

But at daybreak, when we looked out, there hovered some threescore or more English craft, drawn up in an irregular line from south to north, looking at us. Foremost sailed their great flagship called the _Ark Raleigh_, so near that I could plainly discern the royal cross of Saint George at the p.o.o.p. Compared with the mighty _Rata_ she was a small craft, yet, beside the light, low ships that followed her, she towered aloft like a castle, and looked the only ship of all that fleet could stand a quarter of an hour of our ordnance.

While we looked, there came a dull boom from the Spaniard who lay nearest her. We could see the shot, pitched high, plough up the water some twenty yards short. And then--as I thought, rather foolishly--we sat glaring across at one another in the still air, waiting for a breeze.

It came at last, freshly from westward.

We could see the English catch it, and come along with it before ever it filled out our great sails. Nay, when it did reach us, there was not enough to give us way. I marvelled to see how like a log the _Rata_ lay, while the lively Englishmen slipped through the water.

Then followed the strangest beginning to this great sea-fight.

For the _Ark_ and one or two others, having run in towards the end of our line (which lay as near as possible west and east, looking into Plymouth), suddenly put into the wind and ran jauntily down our rear, putting a broadside into each of the Dons as she went by, us included.

Nor was that all. When she reached the end of the line, and everyone looked to see her sheer off out of reach, she gaily wore round and came back the way she had gone, giving each Spaniard her other broadside on the road, her consorts behind following suit.

I think I never saw any men so taken aback as were the Spaniards by this performance. For the _Rata_ and the rest of them lay almost helpless in the light wind, while these light-timbered Englishmen darted hither and thither at pleasure, almost as fast in the eye of the wind as down it.

The surprise at first was so great that the _Ark_ was half-way down the line before any attempt was made to close with her and stop her. But she waited on no man, and even when one great galleon, with a mighty effort, swung round to face her, she swerved not a fathom out of her 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 n.o.ble 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 tr.i.m.m.i.n.g 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.