re acute
perceptions of George and Basset, the fact, which Dyer's denser
intellect had failed to grasp, that the much dreaded batteries had been
mainly constructed, not so much to defend the place from an attack by
sea, but to render a land attack by Indians practically impossible. For
if the chart were correctly drawn--and Dyer was very straitly questioned
upon this particular point--it showed that there was a certain spot in
the harbour where, if a ship were moored, she would be sheltered from
the fire of both batteries while at the same time the entire town,
which, after all, was but a very small place, would be fully exposed to
the artillery fire of the ship. Once completely satisfied upon this
point, Saint Leger and Basset believed they saw their way to the capture
and subjugation of the town, and laid their plans accordingly.

Three days later, shortly after noon, they made the land and, as soon as
Dyer had verified his bearings, hove-to for the night, some ten miles
off-shore and well out of sight of the town, the day being by then too
far advanced to permit of decisive action. But with the first
appearance of dawn on the following day, sail was made, and the
_Nonsuch_ stood boldly into San Juan de Ulua harbour and came to an
anchor in the spot previously determined upon, where, as Dyer's chart
had indicated, she was safe from the fire of the two batteries which had
been constructed to defend the northern and southern extremities of the
town, which were its most vulnerable points, from a land attack. Twelve
large plate ships were riding at anchor in the harbour, of which ten
appeared to be fully loaded, while cargo was being actively transferred
from the shore to the other two when the English ship ran in and
anchored between them and the shore.

The appearance of the _Nonsuch_ in the harbour was immediately
productive of something very nearly approaching to panic, both in the
town and on board the plate ships; for she had entered with the cross of
Saint George flaunting from her ensign staff, and the first impression
of the Spaniards was that their dreaded enemy, Drake, had returned; the
bells of the cathedral clanged out a wild alarm; and it was seen that
the crews of some of the plate ships were making hasty preparations to
get under way, with the evident object of attempting to escape to the
open sea. This last, of course, had to be at once put a stop to;
therefore the moment that the anchor was down, G