oon burnt down to the water's edge, but curious as
it may seem, she escaped destruction. Her cables being burnt through,
she drifted on shore, when the Spaniards managed to extinguish the
flames, and with the planks they had obtained and the sails and rigging
which had been landed, the trees in the neighbourhood supplying them
with masts and yards, they fitted her for sea, and before long contrived
to make their escape.

Cavendish took a great liking to Ersola, and placed much confidence in
him as a pilot. He seemed to merit this by the accurate way in which he
guided the ship across the Pacific.

On going out of the harbour the _Content_ had been left astern. Night
coming on, she was lost sight of, and when morning broke she was nowhere
to be seen. In vain the _Desire_ waited for her. At length, spreading
her sails, she stood on her course.

From that day no more was seen of the hapless _Content_, nor was the
slightest clue obtained as to what became of her. Some thought that she
had sailed for the Straits and been lost, but Ersola was of opinion that
Captain Hare, who commanded her, thinking to be wiser than Drake, had
attempted the North-East Passage, and had got so far north that he had
perished, with all his company, in the ice.

That there was such a passage no one doubted, and that America was a
continent by itself, independent of the rest of the world.

For forty-five days the _Desire_ glided on with a fair wind out of sight
of land, until on the 3rd of January, 1588, she made the island of
Guham, one of the Ladrones. From thence a number of natives came off,
bringing fruits and vegetables, but became so troublesome that, losing
temper, Cavendish in a most unjustifiable manner ordered a shot to be
fired among them.

On the 14th of the same month the _Desire_ made the Philippines, and
sailing on, came to an anchor, on the morning of the 15th, in a safe
harbour in the island, called Capal. Scarcely had the anchor been
dropped than one of the chief caciques of the island came off with
provisions, supposing the ship to be Spanish. He being detained on
board, his people were sent on shore to invite the other cacique to come
off, which he shortly did, bringing an abundance of provisions, so that
the whole of the clay was spent in buying hogs, hens, roots, cocoas, and
other vegetables, by which the crew were greatly refreshed.

This island was about sixty leagues distant from Manilla, which was
already