Drake had not been two days out when a storm struck
his fleet and scattered it over the face of the sea. For three days it
raged with extraordinary fury. Drake's own flag-ship was in dire peril,
and, when the heavens cleared, only three of the battle-ships and half a
dozen smaller craft were together. Not a single merchant-ship was to be
seen, and the Lion, Borough's flag-ship, on which he was still a
prisoner, was missing too. Before leaving St. Vincent Drake had told
Walsingham that he ought to have at least six more cruisers to do his
work properly, and now two-thirds of what he had before were gone. Still
he held on, hoping to find some of the missing ships at the rendezvous
in the Azores.
On the morning of June 8th St. Michael's was sighted, but not a sail had
rejoined the flag except the Spy, one of the Queen's gunboats, with the
captain and master of the Lion on board, and they reported that the crew
of Borough's ship had mutinied and carried him home. Then, in the depth
of his disappointment, Drake's fury blazed out anew. His fierce
self-reliance and fanatic patriotism had taught him to see a traitor in
every man that opposed him, and the bitter experience of his lifelong
struggle against the enemies of his country and his creed could bring
him but to one conclusion--Borough was the traitor who had ruined the
greatest chance of his career! A jury was impanelled, the deserter tried
for his life, found guilty, and condemned to death.
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