buffeted their toilsome way.
The old Portuguese pilot, whom Drake had taken for his knowledge of
that wild coast, said the native savages had "sold themselves to the
Devil, because he was so much kinder than the Spaniards; and the Devil
helped them to keep off Spanish vessels by raising these awful storms."
The frightful Straits of Magellan (through which the British ship
_Ortega_ led the Germans such a dance of death) took Drake seventeen
squally days to clear. But he was out of the frying-pan into the fire
when he reached the Pacific, where he struck a storm fifty-two days
long. One of his vessels sank. Two others lost him and went home.
But the _Golden Hind_ and the little pinnace _Benedict_ remained safe
together off Cape Horn, which Drake was now the first man to discover.

Carried too far south of his course, and then too far west by trusting
the bad Spanish maps, Drake only reached Valparaiso in the north of
Chili at the end of 1578. Thinking he must be a Spaniard, as no one
else had ever sailed that sea, the crew of the _Grand Captain of the
South_ opened a cask of wine and beat a welcome on their drums. Before
the Spaniards knew what was happening gigantic Tom Moone had led the
English boarders over the side and driven the crew below. Half a
million was the sum of this first prize. The news spread quickly,
scaring the old Governor to death, heartening the Indians, who had just
been defeated, and putting all Spanish plans at sixes and sevens.
Messengers were sent post-haste to warn the coast. But Drake of course
went faster by sea than the Spaniards could by land; so he overhauled
and took every vessel he met. Very few showed fight, as they never
expected enemies at sea and were foolish enough not to be ready for
those that were sure to come sooner or later. Even ashore there was
little resistance, often, it is true, because the surprise was
complete. One day some Spaniards, with half a ton of silver loaded on
eight llamas, came round a corner straight into Drake's arms. Another
day his men found a Spaniard fast asleep near thirteen solid bars from
the mines of Potosi. The bars were lifted quietly and the Spaniard
left peacefully sleeping.

Sailing into Lima Drake cut every single Spanish ship adrift and then
sailed out again, leaving the harbour a perfect pandemonium of wrecks.
Overhauling a ship from Panama he found that the King's great treasure
ship, _Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion_, the "chie