He
knew her waywardness to be half assumed, since to let an enemy know
what he can count on is fatal. He had not much doubt of her action, but
he must wait for her to give him his cue.
Within a week came her answer. She demurely suggested that she should be
pleased to see any curiosities which her good Captain had brought home.
Drake went up to London, and with him a pack train laden with the cream
of his spoil. The Spanish Ambassador Mendoza came with furious letters
from Philip demanding the pirate's head. A Spanish force landed that
very week in Ireland. Burleigh and the peace party were desperate. All
that Mendoza could get out of Elizabeth was an order to Edmund Tremayne
at Plymouth to register the cargo of the _Golden Hynde_ and send it up
to London that she might see how much the pirate had really taken. At
the same time Drake himself went down with her private letter to
Tremayne telling him to look another way while her captain got his share
of the bullion. Meanwhile she suggested that Philip call his Spaniards
out of Ireland. Philip snarled that they were private volunteers.
Elizabeth replied, so was Drake. An inquiry was held, and not a single
act of cruelty or destruction of property could be proved against any of
Drake's crews. The men were richly rewarded by their Admiral; the
_Golden Hynde_ came up to Deptford; a list of the plunder was returned
to Mendoza; and London waited, excited and curious.
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