that they
emerged out of the Strait, they were caught in a gale which swept them
six hundred miles to the south-west. For six weeks they were battered to
and fro, in bitter cold and winds which seemed as if they blew in these
latitudes for ever. The cutter went down in the fearful seas, carrying
her crew with her. The Elizabeth and the Pelican were separated. The
bravest sailor might well have been daunted at such a commencement, and
Winter, recovering the opening again and, believing Drake to be lost,
called a council in his cabin and proposed to return to England. They
had agreed to meet, if they were parted, on the coast in the latitude of
Valparaiso. The men, with better heart than their commander, desired to
keep the appointment. But those terrible weeks had sickened Winter. He
overruled the opinions of the rest, re-entered the Strait, and reached
England in the following June.

Drake, meanwhile, had found shelter among the islands of Tierra del
Fuego. At length spring brought fair winds and smooth seas, and running
up the coast and looking about for her consort, the Pelican or Golden
Hind--for she had both names--fell in with an Indian fisherman, who
informed Drake that in the harbour of Valparaiso, already a small
Spanish settlement, there lay a great galleon which had come from Peru.
Galleons were the fruit that he was in search of. He sailed in, and the
Spanish seamen, who had never yet seen a stranger in those waters, ran
up their flags, beat their drums, and prepared a banquet for their
supposed countrymen. The Pelican shot up alongside. The English sailors
leaped on board, and one "Thomas Moore," a lad from Plymouth, began the
play with knocking down the first man that he met, saluting him in
Spanish as he fell, and crying out "Down, dog." The Spaniards,
overwhelmed with surprise, began to cross and bless themselves. One
sprang overboard and swam ashore; the rest were bound and stowed away
under the hatches while the ship was rifled. The beginning was not a bad
one. Wedges of gold were found weighing four hundred pounds, besides
miscellaneous plunder. The settlement, which was visited next, was less
productive, for the inhabitants had fled, taking their valuables with
them.

At Arica, the port of Potosi, fifty-seven blocks of precious metal were
added to the store; and from thence they made haste to Lima, where the
largest booty was looked for. They found that they had just missed it.
Twelve ships lay at a