Drake took service in the Queen's Navy, and sailed under Sir William Winter to Rochelle, to convoy English merchantmen to the Baltic. That summer he came home on leave and married Mary Newman, who was living at St. Bordeaux, close to Plymouth. But his domestic happiness was soon broken off by his being ordered to sail with the _Dragon_ and the _Swan_ to the Spanish Indies. He was only to use his senses and find out where Spain was most vulnerable. In the following year Drake sailed again with the _Swan_ only; he made a few prizes, and treated his captives so humanely and generously that his name was at first not a word of terror, but associated with kindness. However, he had come home with such a poor opinion of Spanish prowess that he conceived the idea of sailing to the Gulf of Darien and seizing the treasure-house and all its spoils. On May 24, 1572, Drake sailed out of Plymouth Sound on board the _Pasha_, of 70 tons, with his brother John in command of the _Swan_, of 25 tons. His brother Joseph was there too, and John Oxenham and other volunteers; the crews numbered but seventy-three in all, and the project was to seize the port of Nombre de Dios, and carry off the gold and silver bars. On July 12th he arrived at a tiny land-locked bay, where he had formerly been, and had concealed his stores--Port Pheasant, as he had styled it. On landing they found a warning inscribed on a plate of lead and fastened to a huge tree: "Captain Drake, if you fortune to come into the port, make haste away, for the Spaniards have betrayed this place and taken away all that you left.--Your loving friend, JOHN GARRETT." But Drake had intended to set up three pinnaces here, which he had brought over in pieces; so he cleared and entrenched a spot in the wood and set to work with his carpenters. As they laboured and hammered and sang, suddenly a little squadron sailed in, a ship, a caravel, and a shallop. They were getting ready to defend themselves, when a hearty English "hail" rang out, "Who are you?" "Captain James Ranse, with Sir Edward Horsey's fleet." "What! old Ned Horsey, the pirate! Come along and have a drink, sir!" The frank, blue-eyed Drake laughed heartily and clapped on the back some of the newcomers, who had served under him the year before. --------------------------------------------------------------------- [Illustration: DRAKE CAPTURES NOMBRE DE DIOS] Drake and his men rushed up the main street, some with firearms, others with bows and arrows, and carrying flaming pikes. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The upshot was that these thirty-eight men agreed to join Drake in his mad project; for there was a magnetic power in this born leader of men, as in all great leaders; they could not help believing in him and loving him for his very rashness and devilry--Drake, the Robin Hood of the ocean.