Spain was not at war with England, and when Drake sailed with four small
ships into the port of the little town of Nombre de Dios in the middle
of the night, the inhabitants of the town were as much astonished as the
people of Perth Amboy would be if four armed vessels were to steam into
Raritan Bay, and endeavor to take possession of the town. The peaceful
Spanish townspeople were not at war with any civilized nation, and they
could not understand why bands of armed men should invade their streets,
enter the market-place, fire their calivers, or muskets, into the air,
and then sound a trumpet loud enough to wake up everybody in the place.
Just outside of the town the invaders had left a portion of their men,
and when these heard the trumpet in the market-place, they also fired
their guns; all this noise and hubbub so frightened the good people of
the town, that many of them jumped from their beds, and without stopping
to dress, fled away to the mountains. But all the citizens were not such
cowards, and fourteen or fifteen of them armed themselves and went out
to defend their town from the unknown invaders.
Beginners in any trade or profession, whether it be the playing of the
piano, the painting of pictures, or the pursuit of piracy, are often
timid and distrustful of themselves; so it happened on this occasion
with Francis Drake and his men, who were merely amateur pirates, and
showed very plainly that they did not yet understand their business.
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