



Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England




Across the Spanish Main, by Harry Collingwood.

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This book, of average length, is set at the end of the sixteenth
century, when the English were in a state of war against the Spanish.
The heroes of the story are two boys from Devon, a county in the
south-west of England.  They set off with a view to repairing the
fortunes of the family of one of them, by chasing and capturing Spanish
treasure ships.

Their adventures are many and various, and include being captured by a
famous pirate.  They are also, later on in the book, condemned to be
burnt to death by the Inquisition.  Luckily they are able to escape this
disagreeable outcome.

They also come across a cryptogram, which is rather difficult to solve,
but which eventually they manage to decypher, and which leads them to
the treasure hoarded by the pirate, who by that time has met his end.

This is a good book, and one which makes a very nice audiobook.

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ACROSS THE SPANISH MAIN, BY HARRY COLLINGWOOD.



CHAPTER ONE.

HOW ROGER TREVOSE AND HARRY EDGWYTH MADE A CERTAIN COMPACT.

"Now now, Roger, my lad; what are you thinking of?"  These words were
addressed to a tall, fair young man of about eighteen or nineteen years
of age, who was standing on Plymouth Hoe, gazing earnestly at the Sound
and the evolutions of certain vessels which had just entered it round
Penlee Point.

The speaker was a lad of about the same age, but shorter in height,
sturdier in build, and altogether more robust and healthy-looking than
his companion, who belonged rather to the class of dreamers than that of
workers.

The time was a bright summer morning in the month of June, in the year
1586; and although the great Armada--which Philip of Spain fondly
believed was to crush England--was as yet undreamed of, war was even
then being carried on in a somewhat desultory manner between England and
Spain, very much to the disadvantage of the latter country.

English gentlemen, who called themselves "gentlemen adventurers", were
fitting out merchant-vessels as warships, and sailing for the Spanish
Main and the Indies in the hope of securing some of the splendid prizes
that were at that time to be obtained through pluck and audacity, in the
shape of Spanish galleons richly and heavily laden with spices and gold
from Manila, plate from Acapulco, or costly silks and fabrics and
treasure untold from the new Spanish colony of Mexico.

It was of these stirring deeds and adventures that Roger Trevose of
Pentillie Manor, on the river Tamar, in the county of Devon--fairest and
sweetest of all English counties,--was thinking when his friend Harry
Edgwyth, who had just arrived upon the scene, put his question: "How
now, Roger, my lad; what are you thinking of?"

"I was thinking, Harry, what a splendid thing it would be if you and I
could join some of these gentlemen adventurers (heroes I call them), and
try our luck in the Spanish seas, fighting for our fortunes, and the
glory of dear old England.  Just think of it, lad!  That is a life for a
man to lead; is't not so, Harry?  Pentillie Castle, as you know well, is
heavily mortgaged; and my poor father and mother are very hardly put to
it to make sufficient money to keep the old place up; and what would be
more fitting, Harry, I ask you, than for the only son, the heir to those
fair estates and that grand old mansion, to sail in some ship going to
the Indies, and endeavour to retrieve the fortunes of his house?  Think
for a moment, Harry; who knows but that we might sight some rich Spanish
galleon, laden almost to the water's edge with plate, and, having
sighted her, chase and capture her!  Why, a share of one of those
splendid cargoes that the plate galleons carry would probably be
sufficient to enable me to restore the fortunes of the dear old home,
pay off its mortgages, and free my dearly-loved parents from the load of
care that is now oppressing them.  And that," continued Roger, becoming
wildly enthusiastic, "need not be the finish of it all.  With some of
the money I could and would fit out an expedition of my own, and sail
for the Indies on my own account