Discretion told him to keep his counsel, and he kept it.
The Drake family published an account of this voyage in the middle of
the next century, but obviously mythical, in parts demonstrably false,
and nowhere to be depended on. It can be made out, however, that he did
go to Nombre de Dios, that he found his way into the town, and saw
stores of bullion there which he would have liked to carry off but could
not. A romantic story of a fight in the town I disbelieve, first because
his numbers were so small that to try force would have been absurd, and
next because if there had been really anything like a battle an alarm
would have been raised in the neighbourhood, and it is evident that no
alarm was given. In the woods were parties of runaway slaves, who were
called Cimarons. It was to these that Drake addressed himself, and they
volunteered to guide him where he could surprise the treasure convoy on
the way from Panama. His movements were silent and rapid. One
interesting incident is mentioned which is authentic. The Cimarons took
him through the forest to the watershed from which the streams flow to
both oceans. Nothing could be seen through the jungle of undergrowth;
but Drake climbed a tall tree, saw from the top of it the Pacific
glittering below him, and made a vow that one day he would himself sail
a ship in those waters.
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