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Charles Kingsley: Salterne

Following that voyage came fighting in Ireland in the company of Sir Walter Raleigh and the poet Spenser; and then an expedition with Sir Humphrey Gilbert wherein, because of mutinies, disease, ill-found ships, and great storms, Sir Humphrey met his death; and Amyas came home in sadness. At this time Amyas, with a score of other Devon gallants, was in love with Mistress Rose Salterne; but she was for no Devon cavalier. A Spanish captain of bravery and charm was dwelling in Devon till his ransom should be coming, and it was he who captured the fancy of the lovely but capricious Rose, and carried her off to Caracas, whereof he had been appointed governor. Whether Rose went as Don Guzman's wife or leman, no one could say. Mr. Salterne, father to Rose, and rich merchant of the port, gave a ship and five hundred pounds toward the fitting out, the same to be commanded by Amyas, by now experienced in seamanship and the handling of rough men; and so he sailed on his first venture on the good ship Rose, of two hundred tons burthen and one hundred men, with beef, pork, and good ale in abundance, and culverins, swivels, muskets, calivers, long-bows, pikes, and cutlasses aplenty. He was to discover the whereabouts and condition of Rose if he could but surely to damage to his utmost what Spaniards he should fall afoul of. A commission to his liking for it was an article of faith with Amyas as with most young English rovers of that day, that all Spaniards were cruel and cowardly, even as his own great Queen Elizabeth was all white purity. With Amyas went Frank his brother scholar and courtier, and mad likewise for love of Rose Salterne; also Salvation Yeo, his own Captain Oxenham being long dead. Westward they sailed to tropic shores; to low wooded hills, spangled by fireflies; westward through wondrous seas where islands and capes hung suspended in air. In a wooden bight they spied a caravel, which they captured, and in her they found a store of brown pearls; also a cargo of salt hides, which smelt evilly as they burned.

Amyas sailed on to La Guayra in Caracas, finding Don Guzman not at home, but having sight of Rose Salterne, she being truly Don Guzman's wife, in a garden of the governor's palace. In the fight with Don Guzman's men Frank Leigh was wounded and captured. Amyas was knocked unconscious, but taken safely away by his men.

Leaving fatal La Guayra far behind, the Rose thrashed through rolling seas and overhauled a long caravel, too long indeed to maneuver with the nimble Rose. Two galleys were also with her. Victory fell to Amyas, but a victory which left his ship so battered and his crew so decimated that he ran into a little bay for repairs and recuperation. Here, with their culverins and swivels behind a stock-ade, Don Guzman came upon them, in force too strong for their shattered numbers; so, first burning the Rose, they turned their backs to the sea and marched inland.

And now came hope of glory for their Queen and for themselves great treasure in quest of the Golden City in the Kingdom of Manoa, whereof friendly Indians told them. Through untrodden hills and forests they marched, past the falls of the Orinoco and the upper waters of the great Amazon, from low swamps to high plateaus, wherefrom they viewed the eternal snows of Chimborazo towering above the thunder-cloud and the fiery cone of Cotopaxi flaming against the stars; a region eight hundred miles in length by four hundred miles in width they traversed. Three years of fever and cold and famine they spent on that trail, and once a gold pack-train loosely guarded fell to their hands; but of the Golden City never a trace.