The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-04-22
THE REVENGE.
A Ballad OF tho Fleet.

God ain no coward; q 1"''
But ! Ca cannot mo meet them here, for my ships
Ana me ht h snIIo my men are sick. must fly,
we a WtS FIX fshi9s Of the ne can we fight
Then spake Sir Richard Grenville: 81 know
you are no cowardi
lou ~ 1Tem rhe sa1o, Tor moment to fight with
But I've l ninety men and more that are "
should !Ia, count myself the coward ii left
10 these lnauisition dogs and the devildoms
e Of w MpTd hat 9 Gax away with five ships
TIL ne melted like cloud in the silent Sum-
Rnt ne Mer R h,eayeni ,
Very carefully and slow,
Meh Men OF Bideford and Devon,
anu we !ald them ON the ballast down be-
For We brought them all aboard,
Anu tney D!est him In their pain, that they
10 the thumbscFew and the stake, for the
glory Of the Lord.
e u ~ ohiy hundred seamen to work
the ship and to fight,
And he sail'd away from Flores till the
VIZ. Spaniard came in sight,
with MS huge sea-castles heaving upon the
c shall we fight or shall we fly?
GOOD Sir Richard, let us know,
i mor to fight is but to die!
1herf this Be sum little ba se Of us left by the time
And Sir Richard said again: "We be all
good English men.
Let us bang these dogs Of Seville, the chill
For I never turn'd my back upon Don or
devil YETI
Sir Richard spoke and he laugh'd, and we
~, roard hurrah, and SO
The little Revenge ran on sheer into the
With her hundred lighters OH deck, and
her ninety sick below;
For half of their fleet to the right and half
to the left were seen,
And the little Revenge ran Oh thro' the
long sea-lane between.
Thousands Of their soldiers looked down
from their decks and laugh'd,
thousands of their seamen made mock at
the mad little craft
Running on and on, till delay'd
By their mountain-like San Philip that, of
fifteen hundred TONS
And up-shadowing high above us with her
Took he nrea tiers from ed guns oaf Sails and
stay'd.
And while now the great San Philip hung
above us like cloud
Whence the thunder-bolt will fall
Long and loud,
-Four galieons drew away
From the Spanish feet that day,
thl ar1 &u,o
the starbOard lay.
And the battlethunder broke from them ALL
But anon the great San Philip, she be-
thought herself and went,
Having that within her womb that had left
her i'll content;
And the rest they came aboard us, and they
fought us hand to hand,
For dozen times they came with their
pixies and musqueteers,
ana q uOZen times we shook 'em off as
dog that shakes his ears
When he leaps from the water to the land.
And the sun went down, and the stars came
out far over the Summer sea,
But never moment ceased the fight of the
81, one and the .tifty-three.
Ship i aftsr ship the whole night long, their
Ship art after r; ship the whole night long, with
OHlp dlleE SHIP, the WnOle night long, drew
back with her dead and her shame
For some were sunk and many We're shat
terd. and so could fight us 10 more
God OF battles, was ever a battle like this in
the world before!
For he said, Eight on! fight on!'' ~.
| Tho his vessel was all but a wreck;
Anu 1t cnaa icf,1 that when half of the Sum-
With a grisly wound to be drest he had left
~, the deck,
But SSI1st sF Gss6 him that was dressing it
And himself hin, he was wounded again i'll the
And SIC .s and ths head,
And the night went down, and the sun
smiled out far over the Summer sea,
ana the Spanish fleet with broken sides lay
round us all in a ring;
But tney dared not touch us again, for they
tear'd that we still could sting
SO they watch'd what, the end would be-
AND they had not fought them in vain.
But in perilous plight were we,
Seeing forty or our poor hundred were
slain,
And half Of the rest of us maim'd for life
desperate strife;
And the sick men down in the hold were
most of them stark and cold,
And the pixies were all broken or bent. and
the powder was all of it spent:
ANA the masts and the rigging were living
over the side;
1--WE have fought such a fight for day and
As may never be fought again!
We have won great glory, my men!
And day less or more,
At sea or ashore,
We die-does it matter when!
Sink me the ship. Master Gunner-sink her.
split her III swain!
Fall into the hands Of God, not into the
hands Of Spain!''
And the gunner said, "Ay, ay," but the
seamen made reply:
eve have children we have wives.
And the Lord hath spared our lives.
We will make the spaniard promise, if we
We shall! ' live to f'sh e. again and to strike
And the lion there lay dying, and they
yielded to the foe.
And the stately Spanish men to their flag
ship bore him then,
Where they laid him by the mast, old Sir
And they praised him to his face with their
courtly foreign grace;
But he rose upon the decks, and he cried!
II have fought for Queen and Faith like
valiant man and true;
have only done my duty as man Is bound
to do;
With al oz ytsn, spirit T. Sir Richard eren-
And he fell upon the decks, and he died.
XIV.
And they stared at the dead that had been
SO valiant and true,
And had holden the power and glory Of
Spain so cheap
That he dared her with one little ship and
his English few;
Was he devil or man? He was devil for
aught they knew,
But they sank his body with honor down
into the deep,
And they mannd the Revenge with a
swarthier alien crew,
And away she Said with her loss and long'd
for her own;
When wind from the lands they had
ruind awoke from sleep,
And the water began to heave and the
weather to moan,
And ere ever that evening ended great
gale blew,
And wave like the wave that is raised by
an earthquake grew,
Till it smote on their hulls and their sails
and their nasts and their flags,
And the whole sea plunged and fell on the