Sir Mortimer

pic morning in the core of that murk and flame and ear-splitting sound. Each of the combatants carried three tiers of ordnance; in each the guns were served by masters at their trade. Canno

rs. From the tops fell upon them stones and heated pitch; the hail-shot mowed them down; swordsmen and halberdiers thrust many from their footing, loosening forevermore their clutching fingers, forever stayed the hoarse shout in their throats. Many fell into the sea and were

nd in his arm from which the blood was streaming, smiled at the sound, knotted his tourniquet; then for th

it passed, and he stood in the galleon's storm of shot, poised above them, a single figure breathing war. Seen through the glare, the face wa

of a loved leader's voice. Sir Mortimer touched the galleon's side, ran through the body a man of Seville whose sword-point offered at his throat, and stood th

best beneath the eyes of Sir Mortimer Ferne.... There, above the opposite angle of the poop, red gold, now seen but dimly through the reek of the guns, now in a moment of clear sunshine flaunting it undefiled, streamed the Spanish flag. Between him and that emblem of world-power the press was thick, for around it at bay were gathered many valiant men of Spain, fighting for their own. They who by the law of the strong were to inherit from them had yet to break that phalanx. Sedley threw himself forward, beat down a veteran of the Indies, swept on towards th

at thee, Don Inches!--Ah, Captain Baldry, Giles Arden, good Humphrey, give you welcome! Here's room for Englishmen.--Well, die, then, pertinacious se?or!--Now, now, Henry Sedley, there are lions yet in your path, but not so

ts force. A rushing wave, a devastating flame, they had swept the ship, and defeat was the portion of their foes. Waist and forecastle were won, but upon the poop a remnant yet struggled, though in weakness and despair. It was to one of this band that the Capta

haste and eagerness. "Say rather I am led. Alas! when a man fi

plied his antagonist, "I do advise you to go seek your sword, seeing that without

en in an undertone: "He yonder with the plume, now that De Castro li

y for your hint," he said. "I pray you that

crew, with her former masters under hatches--appeared before La Rancheria, stormed the little settlement, and found there a slight treasure of pearls. More than this was accomplished, for, boat-load after boat-load, the Spanish survivors of the fight were transferred from the galleon to a strip of lonely shore, and there left to shift for themselves. One onl

to look to the cargo of the San José". If wealth be good, it was worth the looking to, for not the Cacafuego had a richer lading. Gold and silver, ingots and bars and wrought images, they found, and a great store of precious stones. To cap all fortune, there was the galleon's self, a great ship, seaworthy yet, despite

tumultuous passion, an irrational joy, a dazzling bandage to their eyes, beneath which they saw, with an inner vision, wealth a growing snowball and victory their familiar spirit. Among the adventurers from the Cygnet there was, moreover, an intoxication of feeling for the man who had led them in that desperate battle, whose subtle gift it was to strike fire from every soul whose circle touched his own. He was to them among ten thousand the Captain of their choice, not loved the least because of that quality in him which gave ever just the praise which bred strong longing for desert of fame. Now he stood beside the Admiral, and spoke with ardor of the Englishmen who had won that fight, and very tenderly of the dead. T

e was done, began to speak of the captured galleon. "A noble ship--the Star come again, glorious in her resurrection robes! Who shall be her captain,

nor I do not desire! As Admiral, I pray

on yesterday more than one felt his cheek grow hot and the blood drum in his ears. Arden cared not for preferment, but Henry Sedley's eyes were very eager. Baldry, having no h

uty to God, the Queen, and every soul that sails upon this adventure, which duty is to strengthen to the uttermost this new sinew of our enterpri

o his lips. "I drink to Captain Robert Baldry, of the Phoenix!" he said, bowed sli

re there from whom Baldry had not won dislike, but fewer yet who knew him not for a captain famous for victory against odds, trained for long years in the school of these seas, at once desper

dmiral of us all, Sir John Nevil! I do understand that it is yours to make disposit

dly. "Favors I keep for friendship

me as Admiral? Then I also adjudge you the command of the galleon. The

nd!" cried Baldry, his exultation breaking bounds. "Sir John, you have kn

htily. "I have but one account with you,

hat was impish in its glee. "Ah, I've needed to feel my hand on my ship's helm! Sir John, shall I have

e they lay at anchor in the crystal harbor, the watchmen in the tops straining eyes, on the decks mariners and soldiers as jubilant as were ever men w

with which the cabin was flooded his countenance now showed of a somewhat worn and haggard beauty. Drunken and forgotten was the wine of battle, gone the lofty and impassioned vein; after the exaltation

he other moved, drew a long breath, and then

too greatly? One might say, I think, that I loved him well,

. My friend, I pray you to somewhat beware yourself. I thin

fastly upon him. "

d your blood doth run as healthfully as a child's. But you are of those who ever breed in others speculation, wilding fancies.... When a man doth all things too well, what is there left for God to do but

said Ferne, slowly. "I think it is always so with tho

r number," answered the other. "The centu

paniolated Englishman, my prisoner?" asked

a scant and silky beard a chin as softly rounded as a woman's.--His name and estate? Francis Sark, gentleman.--English? So born and bred, cousin and sometime servant to my lord of

, "rowing in Spanish galleys, naked, s

lan mail, standing beside the capta

rained to serve detested masters. Where needs must I fight, I fought to the purpose. Doth not

" said Ferne. "Now what w

entinels nod their nights away. In the port ride two caravels--eighty tons, no more--and their greatest gun a demi-cannon. The town is a cowardly place of priests, women, and rich men, but it holds every peso of this year's treasure gathered against the coming of the plate-fleet. There is much silver with pearls from Margarita, and crescents of gold from Guiana, and it all l

r met," said Ferne. "If there are nets about this tree, I

us bird's-nesting

, look you, there are such things as a heavy score and an an

dge. But if what you have told me is leasing and not

truth," swo

the Phoenix shaped their course for the mainland and Nueva Cordoba, where were bars of silver, pearls, and gold crescents, and up in the castle that