Unfortunately for the daring Oxenham, he was not contented with silver and gold, but delayed on the island for fifteen days in search of pearls. During this time, as he might have foreseen, intelligence of his presence reached the Spaniards; and Captain Ortega was despatched with four barques in search of him. The Spaniard learned that Oxenham had gone up the river, and astutely traced his course by the quantity of fowls’ feathers floating down the stream. After four days’ pursuit, Oxenham’s pinnace was descried; but the Englishmen, all save six, had left her, taking the treasure with them. The treasure, however, was soon afterwards discovered, and with this Ortega was about to depart, when Oxenham came down upon him with about two hundred _Symerons_. The Spaniards, who were eighty in number, had the better of the fight, killing eleven of the English, together with some Indians, with very slight loss on their own side.
Oxenham now endeavoured to make the best of his way to his ship; but information of its presence had been sent to _Nombre de Dios_, and his vessel had been carried a prize to that port. Meanwhile a party of a hundred and fifty men were scouring the mountains in search of the English. On their being found, some were made prisoners and others fled; but in the end all were conveyed to _Panamá_, where the fearless rover, not being able to produce any power or commission from the Queen, was sentenced, as were his companions, to suffer the death of a pirate. All of the party were then executed, with the exception of Oxenham, his master, his pilot, and five boys, who were sent to _Lima_. There the boys were pardoned, but the three men suffered the fate to which they had been condemned.
To return to Drake: that famous captain set out from Plymouth in a squadron, manned by one hundred and sixty-three seamen, on the 13th of September 1577, and sailed to the coast of _Barbary_ for refreshments. He commenced his depredations by seizing three Spanish fishing-boats; he likewise captured three _caravels_. From _Cape Blanco_ he proceeded to the _Cape de Verdes_, and thence stood for the Island of _St. Iago_, where he captured a Portuguese ship. Near the equator his vessels were becalmed for three weeks, and for fifty-five days Drake saw no land before arriving on the coast of _Brazil_.