Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/155

 1579 ] VOYAGE OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 139 thousand miles of unknown, water lay between Drake and Plymouth Sound, and he was not a man to run idle risks. Running on till he had left the furthest Spanish station far to the south, he put into the Bay of 'Canoa in Lower California. There he laid his ship on shore, set up forge and workshop, and refitted her with a month's labour from stem to stern. 1 ^ Leaving him thus occupied, we must glance for a moment at the effect produced in England and Spain by the news of his performances. The fastest vessel at Portobello carried the messenger of the Viceroy of New Spain to Cadiz, and before the summer all Europe was ringing with the fame of the English freebooter. The Viceroy's letter found Philip intensely occupied with the annexation of Portugal. The Cardinal King was at the point of death, and the available force of Spain by sea and land was being held in readiness to use the. opportunity. Terribly agitated, yet unwilling to add a August. war with England to his other responsibilities, Philip enclosed the letter to Mendoza. Beyond the in- sult to the Spanish nation, the loss of so much treasure was at the moment particularly inconvenient. The cor- sair who had pillaged the Indies might repeat his inso- lence on the coast of Spain itself, where wealthy towns lay open and unguarded. 'It is a most extraordinary proceeding,' Philip wrote ; ' learn all that you can about it. The spoil it is likely will be brought to England. 1 March 16 to April 16, 1579.