ps here
and there making resistance, the battle was virtually won in five
minutes after the English appeared on deck. The captain and his two
principal officers were killed, fighting bravely; and had their
efforts been in any way backed by those of their men, they would
have made short work of the assailants.

Captain Drake's voice was heard, high above the din, as soon as the
resistance ceased. He ordered the prisoners to be all brought upon
deck, and disarmed, and at once forced into their own boats, and
obliged to row away from the vessel; for he knew that, were his men
once to begin to plunder, and to fall upon the liquors, the
Spaniards, even if unarmed, would be able to rise and overpower
them.

No sooner was the last Spaniard out of the ship, than the men
scattered to look for plunder. Ned was standing on the poop,
watching the boats rowing away, and thinking to himself that, so
crowded were they, if a breeze were to spring up there would not be
much chance of their reaching Nombre de Dios. Suddenly he heard
below him a scream, followed by a splash; looking over, he saw the
head of a woman appear above the water, and without hesitation
dived at once from the side. For a moment the girl, for she was
little more, struggled with him as if she would have sunk; but Ned,
grasping her firmly, in a few strokes swam with her alongside the
ship to the boat; and two or three sailors, running down, assisted
him to pull her into it. Then, dripping wet, she was taken to the
deck, where the captain, in kind tones, assured her that she would
receive the most courteous treatment, and that she need be under no
fear, whatever.

She was the daughter of a wealthy Spaniard, at Nombre de Dios, and
was now coming out from Spain to join him. Frightened by the noise
of the fighting, and by the terrible reputation of the English
buccaneers, she had, when the sailors rushed into the cabin with
loud shouts, been so alarmed that she had jumped from the stern
windows into the sea.

Captain Drake assured her courteously that, rough as his men might
be, they would, none of them, lay a finger upon a woman. He then
hoisted a flag and fired a gun, as a signal to the Spanish boats,
which were yet within a quarter of a mile, to return. For a moment
they rowed on, but a ball, sent skimming across their bows, was a
hint which they could not disregard; for, full as they were of men,
they could not have hoped to avoid the English pinnace, should i