He regarded
this as a mere farce, since there had been no one hurt on either side.
He boasted of having given the greatest satisfaction to the Spaniards
who had dealt with him. De Silva could but bow, report to his master,
and ask instructions how he was to proceed.
Philip was frightfully disturbed. He saw in prospect his western
subjects allying themselves with the English--heresy creeping in among
them; his gold fleets in danger, all the possibilities with which
Elizabeth had wished to alarm him. He read and re-read De Silva's
letters, and opposite the name of Achines he wrote startled
interjections on the margin: 'Ojo! Ojo!'
The political horizon was just then favourable to Elizabeth. The Queen
of Scots was a prisoner in Loch Leven; the Netherlands were in revolt;
the Huguenots were looking up in France; and when Hawkins proposed a
third expedition, she thought that she could safely allow it. She gave
him the use of the _Jesus_ again, with another smaller ship of hers, the
_Minion_. He had two of his own still fit for work; and a fifth, the
_Judith_, was brought in by his young cousin, Francis Drake, who was now
to make his first appearance on the stage. I shall tell you by-and-by
who and what Drake was.
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