Chapter XXII: English Dogs and Spanish Bulls

IT was nearly one o'clock ere we entered the Catwater and tied up to one of the quays.

All was bustle and excitement, a constant stream of ships clearing the port in order to join the half-dozen vessels that the Lord High Admiral had taken to sea.

I was almost on the verge of despair, for it seemed impossible to have the repairs executed while the fleet was putting to sea, and more than once I thought of sailing the pinnace with her topmast missing, till Jack reasoned with me that 'twas speed on which our value to the rest of the force depended.

Meanwhile we learnt that 'twas indeed the pirate Fleming who was first with the news, and that the Admiral had straightway pardoned him for his past offences 'gainst our shipping, and had in addition bestowed upon him a suitable reward. For these Scots, though they look upon us as bad neighbours and their privateers are ever ready to despoil us at sea, were evidently alive to the fact that the threatened invasion of England was also a menace to themselves.

The Spaniards, indeed, had proposed that the Scots should ally themselves 'gainst us and send a force across the Border, while the Duke of Parma was landing a vast army on the shores of Kent; but the shrewd northerners would have none of it. On the contrary, they put their kingdom in a state of defence, and their King wrote to our Sovereign Lady offering her his aid, not as a foreign prince, but as a fellow-countryman and a kinsman of near degree.

All this I heard later, but the pressing needs of the pinnace were foremost in my mind; for I was loth to lie idle in port when our comrades were joyously on their way to join battle with their abhorred foes.

Dawn was breaking, yet, though we were ready to fit a new topmast, none was to be had. Presently an old man, greybearded and bowed in his legs, came to the edge of the quay and desired to speak with me.

"I am the owner of the pinnace _Pride of Saltash_," he began, speaking in broad Devonshire. "She lies in the inner basin, having had four of her planks strained through touching on the Shagstone a few weeks back. Though I am too old to serve afloat, being sadly crippled with rheumatism, my son and the crew of my pinnace have gone with Drake. But, perchance, I can still be of service to my country and to you. Take the _Pride's_ topmast if 'twill serve your purpose. If so be you return hither you can unship it at your leisure; but if 'tis lost in fight, well, I know it could not be in a better cause."

Hurriedly pouring out my heartfelt thanks, I called a score of my men to follow me. Taking an unattended longboat, and assisting the partly-crippled sea-dog into the stern sheets, we pulled in the direction of the _Pride of Saltash_.

For the next two hours we worked like men possessed, unreeving the rigging, sending down divers spars and shrouds till the topmast was stripped and ready to be taken away. 'Twas a fine piece of timber, somewhat longer, perhaps, than the one we had lost, but that mattered little.

Ere six in the morning the topmast was towed alongside the _Damsel of Lyme_. Whips and tackle were already in position to send the new topmast aloft, and by ten, having worked for nearly seven hours incessantly, without having slept at all the previous night, the pinnace was once more ready for sea.

At five in the afternoon we joined the fleet, now amounting to 120 sail of all sizes, and, keeping well together, we bore westward.

Soon the Armada, in full sail, and keeping the formation of a half-moon, came slowly into sight.

Their Admiral, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, had been strictly enjoined to keep to the French coast till he had effected a junction with the huge fleet of flat-bottomed boats that Parma had gathered together at the Flemish ports to transport his army across the narrow strait of Dover, but, hoping to surprise and destroy our fleet as it lay in the Sound, the Duke had deliberately disregarded his Royal master's orders.

When, at length, he saw our fleet lying prepared athwart his path, the Spaniard, being then off the port of Fowey, gave directions for the original orders to be adhered to, and the vast Armada, a veritable array of floating castles, stood out towards mid-Channel.

Our Lord High Admiral suffered them to pass, greatly to the disgust of many of his captains and seamen. Hot-tempered men there were who were willing and anxious to run their ships alongside their lofty antagonists and board. But to these counsels Lord Howard turned a deaf ear, knowing full well that the Armada bore an army on board, whereas we had none.

Thus the Armada bore onwards, till, having the weather gauge, our ships followed--at a respectful distance--for night was approaching, and we were loth to commence an engagement at so late an hour.

We were up betimes on the morning of Sunday, the 20th of July, having found an opportunity of snatching a few hours' much-needed repose. We then donned our armour, little knowing that for ten long days we were to remain so clad, and, going on deck, took a swift survey of our surroundings.

During the night the enemy's line had been somewhat broken, for his left had fallen astern, while the top of the right horn, if I may term it, extended far to leeward. Our fleet, on the other hand, had kept well together, the Lord High Admiral's ship, the _Ark Royal_, leading the van.

At nine o'clock we perceived the _Defiance_, a pinnace of about the same size as our craft, clap on sail and overpass the flagship. Swiftly closing on the rearmost of the Spanish ships, she hauled to the wind and discharged her ordnance into the stern of the gigantic St. Matthew. Then, flinging about ere the Spaniard could reply, the _Defiance_ sped back to rejoin the fleet, while the firing was taken up by the _Ark Royal_ and the nearmost of the opposing fleets.

Then the fight became general, and through the dense masses of smoke that enshrouded the fleets we steered the _Damsel of Lyme_, our men pouring in a fire as fast as they could load into the lofty floating castles.

"'Tis hot work!" exclaimed Jack, as a splinter grazed his morion. "Yet methinks we more than hold our own."

"Ay," I replied; "but how fares it with us? Are many of our men hit?" for so thick was the drifting smoke above our decks that I could scarce see the mainmast.

"None, I rejoice to say," replied Jack. "Though their shots are thick as hail, for the most part they carry well overhead. Much of our top hamper is cut away, I fear."

For several hours the cannonading continued, our proportionately smaller craft hanging tenaciously to every ungainly Spaniard that fell out of line. 'Twas like a pack of English bulldogs dragging down a hull, with his fellows standing by, yet forbearing to come to his assistance; for though in a few cases the Duke of Medina Sidonia sent aid to those of his ships that had dropped astern, the majority were left to their fate.

Already the battle had become a running fight, for the Spaniards, hotly assailed and unable to turn to windward with ease, crowded on all possible sail. The wind had now risen, partially dispersing the smoke, and with it the sea was beginning to run high, the regularity of the waves being broken by the presence of so many ships.

Suddenly Slingsby, who was in command of our little fo'c'sle, shouted that we were bearing down upon a large Spanish galleon.