nly to approve of an act that
secretly brought her the utmost satisfaction. For the time at any rate
Drake got little thanks for his exploits--and there was even talk of
returning the captured treasure to the Spaniards.

Drake then engaged in a war in Ireland, where he proved himself almost
as good a soldier as he was a sailor; but even while enjoying his
congenial occupation of fighting he longed to set forth on another
great adventure, the idea of which had come to him while in the Central
American jungle from which he had first set eyes on the far-off waters
of the Pacific Ocean.

This idea was to carry the English flag through the Strait of Magellan
and bear the colors of Queen Bess to waters where they had never been
seen before. Up to that time only the Spanish had rounded South America
and brought their civilization to its northwestern shores, and the new
venture, if successful, would mean much to England. But Drake feared
that the Queen would not approve of the idea, and for a time cherished
it only in his own mind, waiting a more favorable opportunity to lay it
before the Queen.

In the meantime he fell in with an English army officer named Thomas
Doughty, who became his close friend. Doughty was greatly interested in
Drake's idea of sailing the Pacific, and promised to get Sir
Christopher Hatton, one of Elizabeth's most influential advisors, to
intercede for Drake with the Queen. Hatton talked with Drake and
cordially approved the plan; and in a short time, in command of a
squadron of five tight little vessels Drake sailed westward, while the
trumpets blared and the cannon boomed in his honor.

Drake himself was in command of a little ship which he called the
_Golden Hind_, and Doughty was his second in command over the entire
squadron. The ships were admirably fitted out for those times, with
every necessity and every comfort and luxury. Drake and his officers
dined from silver dishes on the choicest food and wines. His stores
included materials for trading with the natives, as well as all the
scientific instruments then applied to the art of navigation.

After sinking some unimportant Spanish ships, the English squadron
captured a large Portuguese galleon, from which they took a valuable
treasure. The Portuguese had been unfriendly to the English on more
than one occasion, and this was Drake's way of informing them that such
had been the case. And after a long voyage he came to the mouth of the
River d