23. "Those soft, long eyes and pointed chin you recognize already.
They are Sir Walter Raleigh's. The fair young man in the flame-colored
suit at his side is Lord Sheffield; opposite them stand Lord
Sheffield's uncle, Sir Richard Grenville, and the stately Lord Charles
Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral of England next to him is his
son-in-law, Sir Robert Southwell, captain in her Majesty's service.
24. "But who is that short, sturdy, plainly dressed man, who stands
with legs a little apart, and hands behind his back, looking up with
keen gray eyes into the face of each speaker? His cap is in his hand,
so you can see the bullet-head of crisp brown hair and the wrinkled
forehead as well as the high cheek-bones, the short square face, the
broad temples, the thick lips, which are yet as firm as granite. A
coarse, plebeian stump of a man; yet the whole figure and attitude are
those of boundless determination, self-possession, energy; and, when
at last he speaks a few blunt words, all eyes are turned respectfully
on him, for his name is Francis Drake.
25. "A burly, grizzled elder, in greasy, sea-stained garments,
contrasting oddly with the huge gold chain about his neck, waddles up,
as if he had been born, and had lived ever since, in a gale of wind at
sea. The upper half of his sharp, dogged visage seems of a brick-red
leather, the brow of badger's fur, and, as he claps Drake on the back,
with a broad Devon accent he shouts, 'Be you a-coming to drink your
wine, Francis Drake, or be you not? saving your presence my lord.'
The lord high admiral only laughs, and bids Drake go and drink his
wine, for John Hawkins, admiral of the fleet, is the patriarch of
Plymouth seamen, if Drake is the hero.
26. "So they push through the crowd, wherein is many another man whom
we would gladly have spoken with face to face on earth. Martin
Frobisher and John Davis are sitting on that bench, smoking tobacco
from long silver pipes; and by them are Fenton and Wishington, who
have both tried to follow Drake's path around the world, and failed,
though by no fault of their own. The short, prim man, in the huge
yellow ruff, is Richard Hawkins, the admiral's hereafter famous son.
27. "But hark! the boom of a single gun seaward directs the attention
of every one to a small armed vessel staggering up the sound under a
press of canvas. A boat puts off; its oars flash quickly in the sun;
the captain lands, and, inquiring for the lord high admiral, is
quickly brought into his presence. He has discovered the formidable
array of the Spaniards bearing down with the wind like so many
floating castles, the ocean seeming to groan under the weight of their
heavy burdens. The lord high admiral proposes to hold counsel with his
principal officers; but, says Drake, with a hearty laugh: 'Let us play
out our play; there will be plenty of time to win the game and beat
the Spaniards, too.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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