hulks were
ill adapted to a tempest in the Bay of Biscay. There were those in the
Armada, however, to whom the storm was a blessing. David Gwynn, a Welsh
mariner, had sat in the Spanish hulks a wretched galley-slave--as
prisoner of war for more than eleven years, hoping, year after year, for
a chance of escape from bondage. He sat now among the rowers of the great
galley, the Trasana, one of the humblest instruments by which the
subjugation of his native land to Spain and Rome was to be effected.

Very naturally, among the ships which suffered most in the gale were the
four huge unwieldy galleys--a squadron of four under Don Diego de
Medrado--with their enormous turrets at stem and stern, and their low and
open waists. The chapels, pulpits, and gilded Madonnas proved of little
avail in a hurricane. The Diana, largest of the four, went down with all
hands; the Princess was labouring severely in the trough of the sea, and
the Trasana was likewise in imminent danger. So the master of this galley
asked the Welsh slave, who had far more experience and seamanship than he
possessed himself, if it were possible to save the vessel. Gwynn saw an
opportunity for which he had been waiting eleven years. He was ready to
improve it. He pointed out to the captain the hopelessness of attempting
to overtake the Armada. They should go down, he said, as the Diana had
already done, and as the Princess was like at any moment to do, unless
they took in every rag of sail, and did their best with their oars to
gain the nearest port. But in order that the rowers might exert
themselves to the utmost, it was necessary that the soldiers, who were a
useless incumbrance on deck, should go below. Thus only could the ship be
properly handled. The captain, anxious to save his ship and his life,
consented. Most of the soldiers were sent beneath the hatches: a few were
ordered to sit on the benches among the slaves. Now there had been a
secret understanding for many days among these unfortunate men, nor were
they wholly without weapons. They had been accustomed to make toothpicks
and other trifling articles for sale out of broken sword-blades and other
refuse bits of steel. There was not a man among them who had not thus
provided himself with a secret stiletto.

At first Gwynn occupied himself with arrangements for weathering the
gale. So soon however as the ship had been made comparatively easy, he
looked around him, suddenly threw down his cap, and rai