hese; as Prescott, in his admirable work
on the conquest of Mexico, has given a summary of them; and has
drawn a most vivid picture of the events of the campaign. The book
far surpasses in interest any volume of fiction, and I should
strongly recommend my readers to take the first opportunity that
occurs of perusing the whole story, of which I have only been able
to touch upon the principal events.

While history is silent as to the voyage of the Swan, it is
recorded by the Spaniards that an English ship did, in 1517 or
1518, appear off the port of San Domingo, and was fired at by them,
and chased from the islands; but it was not until some twenty or
thirty years later that the English buccaneers openly sailed to
challenge the supremacy of the Spaniards among the Western Islands,
and to dispute their pretensions to exclude all other flags but
their own from those waters. It may, however, be well believed that
the ship spoken of was not the only English craft that entered the
Spanish main; and that the adventurous traders of the West country,
more than once, dispatched ships to carry on an illicit trade
there. Such enterprises would necessarily be conducted with great
secrecy, until the relations between Spain and England changed, and
religious differences broke up the alliance that existed between
them during the early days of Henry the 8th.

G. A. Henty.

Chapter 1: A Startling Proposal.

On March 3rd, 1516, the trading vessel the Swan dropped anchor at
Plymouth. She would in our days be considered a tiny craft indeed,
but she was then looked upon as a large vessel, and one of which
her owner, Master Diggory Beggs, had good reason to be proud. She
was only of some eighty tons burden, but there were few ships that
sailed out from Plymouth of much larger size; and Plymouth was even
then rising into importance as a seaport, having flourished
mightily since the downfall of its once successful rival--Fowey.
Large ships were not needed in those days, for the only cargoes
sent across the sea were costly and precious goods, which occupied
but small space. The cloths of the Flemings, the silks and satins
of Italy, the produce of the East, which passed first through the
hands of the Venetian and Genoese merchants, and the wines of
France and Spain were the chief articles of commerce. Thus the
freight for a vessel of eighty tons was a heavy venture, and none
but merchants of wealth and position would think of employin