rewards; to be one with them in the toil, sorrow, and joy of life,--is to
put oneself in the way of the richest growth and the purest happiness.




Chapter X

Work and Pessimism


When perils thickened about him and the most courageous grew faint-
hearted, Francis Drake's favourite phrase was: "It matters not; God hath
many things in store for us." No man ever wore a more dauntless face in
the presence of danger than the great adventurer who destroyed the
foundations of Spanish power in this continent, and whose smile always
grew sweeter as the situation grew more desperate. That smile carried the
conviction of ultimate safety to a crew which was often on the verge of
despair; its serenity and confidence were contagious; it conveyed the
impression, in the blackest hour, that the leader knew some secret way of
escape from encircling peril. He knew, as a rule, no more than his men
knew; but as danger deepened, his genius became energised to the utmost
quickness of discernment and the utmost rapidity of action. He had no time
for despair; he had only time for decision and action. In his dying hour,
on a hostile sea, half a hemisphere from home, he arose, dressed himself,
and called for his arms; falling before the only foe to whom he ever
yielded with the same dauntless courage which had made him the master of
untravelled seas and the terror of a continent. He so completely
identified himself with the work he had in hand that he sapped the very
sources of fear.