the Trasana was likewise in imminent danger. So the master of this
galley asked the Welsh slave, who had far more experience and seamanship
than he possessed himself, if it were possible to save the vessel. Gwynn
saw an opportunity for which he had been waiting eleven years. He was
ready to improve it. He pointed out to the captain the hopelessness of
attempting to overtake the Armada. They should go down, he said, as the
Diana had already done, and as the Princess was like at any moment to do,
unless they took in every rag of sail, and did their best with their oars
to gain the nearest port. But in order that the rowers might exert
themselves to the utmost, it was necessary that the soldiers, who were a
useless incumbrance on deck, should go below. Thus only could the ship
be properly handled. The captain, anxious to save his ship and his life,
consented. Most of the soldiers were sent beneath the hatches: a few
were ordered to sit on the benches among the slaves. Now there had been
a secret understanding for many days among these unfortunate men, nor
were they wholly without weapons. They had been accustomed to make
toothpicks and other trifling articles for sale out of broken sword-
blades and other refuse bits of steel. There was not a man among them
who had not thus provided himself with a secret stiletto.

At first Gwynn occupied himself with arrangements for weathering the
gale. So soon however as the ship had been made comparatively easy, he
looked around him, suddenly threw down his cap, and raised his hand to
the rigging. It was a preconcerted signal. The next instant he stabbed
the captain to the heart, while each one of the galley-slaves killed the
soldier nearest him; then, rushing below, they surprised and overpowered
the rest of the troops, and put them all to death.

Coming again upon deck, David Gwynn descried the fourth galley of the
squadron, called the Royal, commanded by Commodore Medrado in person,