n the hull itself came into view. As they
examined her from the trucks to the water's edge, they were more and
more convinced that she was the argosy of which they had been so long in
chase. What was their astonishment, at length, to see her clew up her
sails and heave to!

"Is she so strongly armed that she can venture to stop and fight us?"
was the question.

No one had anticipated that she earned guns. Such had not been the
practice of the Spaniards in those seas, for they had been fully
convinced that no enemies could venture through the straits to wrest
their ill-gotten treasures from their hands. Hitherto they had enjoyed
the monopoly of tyrannising over the Indians, and of all the profitable
commerce carried on along the coast. Drake had aroused them from their
sleep of security.

The _Golden Hind_ got nearer and nearer to the stranger. John Drake
felt convinced that he had won the Admiral's chain. Presently the ship
ahead was seen to put her helm up and make all sail, endeavouring to
escape; but it was too late,--already she was within range of the guns
of the _Golden Hind_, which forthwith began pouring forth their shot,
aimed not at her hull--that was too precious to be injured--but at her
masts and spars. The English were rejoiced to see the efforts made by
the Spanish captain to escape, for this convinced them that his cargo
was a valuable one, or he would not have run the risk of losing his life
or the lives of his men from the iron shot which came rattling on board.
Another shout, triumphant and jubilant, rose from the deck of the
_Golden Hind_. The mast of the chase was shot away, and the
adventurers, soon getting up to her, made fast alongside.

She was indeed the _Cacafuego_. The captors eagerly pressed on board,
the Spanish captain and his crew having no heart to oppose them. He
confessed that, when he hove to, he had taken the _Golden Hind_ for a
Spanish ship, sent by the Viceroy with some special message for him to
convey to Panama, and great had been his astonishment when he discovered
her real character. The Admiral, setting all sail, carried his prize
away from the land, out of the track of passing vessels or of the
Spanish squadron sent in chase of him, that he might at his leisure
transfer her cargo to the hold of the _Golden Hind_.

Unbounded was the delight of the seamen when they found that the riches
she contained were fully equal to the amount they had been led to
expect.