The next morning Lord Howard, sending before him a pinnace called the Defiance, provoked the fight by discharging a piece of her ordnance and presently out of his own ship, called the Ark Royal, thundered upon a Spanish craft which he supposed was that of the Spanish Admiral, Medina Sidonia, but which proved to be that of Alphonso de Leon. At the same time Drake, Hawkins and Frobisher fell terribly upon the rear which was valiantly commanded by Juan Martinez de Recaldo. The English invaded, retired, and re-invaded them from every quarter with incredible celerity. The Spanish captain general was nonplused. The English ships ran in, doing as much damage as possible without coming to close quarters, while his lumbering craft were useless to chase and cripple so agile an enemy. The great galleons and galleasses of Spain towered beside the English ships like "Flemish dray horses beside light Arabian coursers." Fiercer waxed the fight. Recaldo finding his vessel much battered, rejoined his chief with difficulty and Medina re-collecting his scattered vessels held on his course. For two hours the fight continued, and then Lord Howard thought best to retire to await the coming of other ships which had not yet left the harbor. Flushed and elated with the victory, with not a single vessel and scarcely a man lost, the English exulted that the great Armada which had been devised to strike terror into their hearts was not so invincible after all. "Is it not glorious, Edward," cried Francis Stafford from a coil of rope upon which she had thrown herself. "How the Dons flew! Oh, 'tis enough to stir a stone to enthusiasm!" "'Twould be glorious, Francis, were it not for thee," answered the youth. "The thought that thou art here hampers my every action, and always am I looking to see that thou art safe. Would thou wert in England; even in the Tower so that thou wert not here." "And wherefore? Do I not bear myself as becomes an English lad?" cried Francis. "In all the wide world there is no place that I would rather be than upon the deck of the Ark Royal. So from henceforth speak no more of this. And, Edward, drop no hint of my sex to any. Wherefore should not an English maiden espouse the cause of her country as well as an English youth? Thou seest that there are lads here as maiden like in appearance as I. Give no thought to me, I beseech you." "I will speak of it no more, Francis," rejoined Devereaux. "And yet I would that thou wert not here." The girl turned from him impatiently, and hastily joined a group of which the admiral was the centre; for Lord Howard had taken them upon his own vessel.