naval commanders, when the news was received that the Armada was off
the coast. He supposes them assembled at Plymouth on the 19th of July,
engaged in the then favorite game of bowls.

23. "Those soft, long eyes and pointed chin you recognize already.
They are Sir Walter Raleigh's. The fair young man in the flame-colored
suit at his side is Lord Sheffield; opposite them stand Lord
Sheffield's uncle, Sir Richard Grenville, and the stately Lord Charles
Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral of England next to him is his
son-in-law, Sir Robert Southwell, captain in her Majesty's service.

24. "But who is that short, sturdy, plainly dressed man, who stands
with legs a little apart, and hands behind his back, looking up with
keen gray eyes into the face of each speaker? His cap is in his hand,
so you can see the bullet-head of crisp brown hair and the wrinkled
forehead as well as the high cheek-bones, the short square face, the
broad temples, the thick lips, which are yet as firm as granite. A
coarse, plebeian stump of a man; yet the whole figure and attitude are
those of boundless determination, self-possession, energy; and, when
at last he speaks a few blunt words, all eyes are turned respectfully
on him, for his name is Francis Drake.

25. "A burly, grizzled elder, in greasy, sea-stained garments,
contrasting oddly with the huge gold chain about his neck, waddles up,
as if he had been born, and had lived ever since, in a gale of wind at
sea. The upper half of his sharp, dogged visage seems of a brick-red
leather, the brow of badger's fur, and, as he claps Drake on the back,
with a broad Devon accent he shouts, 'Be you a-coming to drink your
wine, Francis Drake, or be you not? saving your presence my lord.'
The lord high admiral only laughs, and bids Drake go and drink his