Hawkins trusted too much to his gunner; while he with the rest of his officers was busy clearing the decks, lacing the nettings, fastening the bulwarks, arming the tops, tallowing the pikes, slinging the yards, placing and ordering the men,—half his guns were useless from sheer neglect!
"Plenty of cartridges ready, master-gunner?"
"Aye, aye, sir; there be over 500 in readiness."
Yet within an hour the cartridges fell short, and three men had to be employed in making and filling more.
"Master-gunner, I gave you out 500 ells of canvas and cloth to make cartridges, but we can't find a single yard of it."
"Got stowed away somewhere, I suspect, sir; we must make shift to charge and discharge with the ladle—rayther a dangerous job in a hot fight."
"There were brass balls of artificial fire—not one of them will go off."
"Why, no, sir; I guess the salt-water has spoiled them all."
The commander's heart misgave him: was the man false, or incapable? At length he and the master of the ship were forced to play the gunner. They found that few of the pieces were clear when they came to use them, and others had the shot first put in, and after the powder! No wonder that many believed the master-gunner to be a vile traitor.
When the action began Hawkins had only seventy-five men in all, and the Spaniards had 1300, many of them "the choice of Peru."