of their own admiral. If Philip chose to countenance assassins, if the
Holy Office chose to burn English sailors as heretics, those heretics
had a right to make Spain understand that such a game was dangerous,
that, as Santa Cruz had said, they had teeth and could use them.

It was found in the end that the Governor's plea of impossibility was
more real than was at first believed. The gold and silver had been
really carried off. All else that was valuable had been burnt or taken
by the English. The destruction of a city so solidly built was tedious
and difficult. Nearly half of it was blown up. The cathedral was spared,
perhaps as the resting-place of Columbus. Drake had other work before
him. After staying a month in undisturbed occupation he agreed to
accept 25,000 ducats as a ransom for what was left and sailed away.

It was now February. The hot season was coming on, when the climate
would be dangerous. There was still much to do and the time was running
short. Panama had to be left for another opportunity. Drake's object was
to deal blows which would shake the faith of Europe in the Spanish
power. Carthagena stood next to St. Domingo among the Spanish West
Indian fortresses. The situation was strong. In 1740 Carthagena was able
to beat off Vernon and a great English fleet. But Drake's crews were in
high health and spirits, and he determined to see what he could do with
it. Surprise was no longer to be hoped for. The alarm had spread over
the Caribbean Sea. But in their present humour they were ready to go
anywhere and dare anything, and to Carthagena they went.

Drake's name carried terror before it. Every non-combatant--old men,
women and children--had been cleared out before he arrived, but the rest
prepared for a smart defence. The harbour at Carthagena was formed, as
at St. Domingo and Port Royal, by a sandspit. The spit was long,
narrow, in places not fifty yards wide, and covered with prickly bush,
and along this, as before, it was necessary to advance to reach the
city. A trench had been cut across at the neck, and a stiff barricade
built and armed with heavy guns; behind this were several hundred
musketeers, while the bush was full of Indians with poisoned arrows.
Pointed stakes--poisoned also--had been driven into the ground along the
approaches, on which to step was death. Two large galleys, full of men,
patrolled inside the bank on the harbour edge, and with these
preparations the inhabitants hoped to