After sinking some unimportant Spanish ships, the English squadron captured a large Portuguese galleon, from which they took a valuable treasure. The Portuguese had been unfriendly to the English on more than one occasion, and this was Drake's way of informing them that such had been the case. And after a long voyage he came to the mouth of the River de la Plata in South America, dropping anchor at the entrance to that great stream. Fires blazed on the shore and weird figures were seen dancing around the flames. They were the savage natives, praying to their heathen gods for the shipwreck of Drake's party, for they believed that by their prayers and fires a host of devils would alight upon the English vessels and destroy them. Drake himself was too eager to continue his voyage to think of landing, and pointed his prows southward, bound for the Strait of Magellan.
After a battle with the gigantic and savage Patagonians, in which Drake saved his men from massacre by his usual quick decision and energy, he continued his voyage until trouble that had developed in his crew compelled him to take action against his friend and lieutenant, Doughty. It seems that even before they sailed from England, Doughty had become jealous of Drake and had commenced to work for his undoing. And now proofs were only too evident that he had tried to provoke a mutiny in the crew.
He was called before a court consisting of Drake's officers and was found guilty. And then Drake, in spite of his grief that he had been deceived by his most trusted friend, decided that stern measures were necessary to preserve his authority over the men. He told Doughty that he had but one course to take and that was to punish him for his crime. But he gave him the choice of three fates,—to be executed then and there, or put ashore to fend for himself among the savages, or to be cast in chains into the hold of the ship and tried by his peers on the return to England.
The unhappy Doughty asked time to think over what he should choose, and this was granted. On the following morning he was taken before Drake and with courageous mien declared that he preferred to be executed rather than be left among the savages or taken home as a prisoner. And in a few hours and before the entire company Doughty met his fate, but he did not place his head upon the block until he had sat at dinner with Drake himself and shared communion with him. And after this Drake continued his voyage, until he found himself at the southernmost part of South America.
Beating his way through the dangerous Strait of Magellan, Drake tried to sail northward, but was driven back by severe gales and contrary winds until it seemed as though the spirit of the new ocean had arisen in wrath, forbidding his further progress. He was even driven south of the strait to Cape Horn, where he landed and looked from the southernmost pinnacle of the cape to the mysterious southern sea, declaring triumphantly that he had been farther south than any man in the world and had placed his foot on the extreme of the new continent. Then all at once the weather changed and Drake sailed rapidly up the coast.
By this time only one ship remained to him, for storms had scattered his squadron and he had destroyed one of his own ships, thinking he had too many to hold together. Another basely deserted him in the Strait and sailed back to England. In the Golden Hind, however, he himself met all obstacles and continued his voyage where no English keel had ever cut water before.
Coming to the northern part of South America, Drake was given word by the natives that a Spanish galleon with a cargo of treasure lay near at hand, and swooping down on the great vessel before the Spaniards were aware of his presence he captured it and transferred the treasure to the Golden Hind. He then got news of a second galleon which he pursued, and when he boarded her discovered that she too bore rich bars of gold and silver destined for the treasure house of the King of Spain. He had now accomplished his purpose and sailed in the Pacific. He had beneath his hatches a treasure that would have gladdened the heart of Midas—a harvest of the yellowest gold and whitest silver—of sparkling gems, rich silks and spices, and many costly curios that he had gathered in his voyage. He believed, however, that the Spaniards would be watching the Strait and Cape Horn to intercept him, and planned to try to find a passage around the northern part of the continent. In sailing north he dropped anchor at a harbor not far from the Golden Gate, and here he had his first experience with North American Indians.
He found these savages very different from the treacherous natives of South America. They greeted him with the utmost ceremony, treating him as a god and bringing him a profusion of gifts of various kinds. With Indian guides, the English hunted and slew the deer with which the region abounded and shared the wigwams of the redskins in ceremonial gatherings. When they finally took their departure the savages made bitter lamentation and stood on the hilltops waving their farewells until the sails of Drake's little ship had sunk beneath the horizon.
Drake had now altered his plan of sailing north and had conceived the bolder project of sailing directly across the Pacific Ocean to the Far East, from which he could proceed to the Cape of Good Hope and skirt the Coast of Africa. So he resolutely turned his prow into an unknown sea, and after sixty-eight days sighted land.
Again the savages crowded around his ship in their canoes, but they were far different from the Indians of California. These men were naked with blackened teeth and sullen looks. Finding the ship not to their liking, they loosed a shower of stones, to which Drake responded by firing one of his cannon, which frightened them until they fell out of their canoes into the water, and remained there until the Golden Hind had sailed away.