_The report of a solitary gun booms along the water_, _and cuts short the debate_. _They are all startled_, _but before there is time for utterance_, _it is followed by a discharge from the batteries on the island_, _and successive volleys from a number of Ships in the offing_.
HAWKINS, (_in alarm_), What can this mean? Those are no signal guns, no friendly salutes.
HAMPTON. No, General, no blank cartridges there! The report is too sharp; it has the ring of metal. We are surprised. It is time to get ready, and stand by our guns; it must be a Spanish fleet!
HAWKINS. God grant it be not the outward bound fleet of Spain, we must keep them out. Get ready my pinnace! Bear a hand! We must be off to the island, and see to this. Get your ships under weigh, and stand by, to dispute the mouth of the harbour. (_Exeunt_.)
SCENE II.—AN ISLAND WITH BATTERIES COMMANDING THE MOUTH OF THE HARBOUR.
_The Spanish fleet of thirteen sail_, _sent out expressly to look for_ HAWKINS, _and to treat him as a pirate_. _The English forbid entrance_. _A party of Spaniards_, _with the Spanish Ambassador and the new Viceroy of Spain_, _under a flag of truce_, _await the arrival of the English Commander to treat_.
Enter Sir JOHN HAWKINS, DRAKE, HAMPTON, BOLTON, and others.
SPANISH AMBASSADOR. Have I the honour to address the great, invincible and renowned, Sir John Hawkins, whose fame is throughout the world?
HAWKINS. Your excellency has before you the Admiral and the gallant Captains of a small English fleet, bound on a trading voyage, put in under stress of weather, to victual and re-fit; and for our own security, during the time we find it necessary to occupy the harbour, we intend to prevent the entry of armed vessels.
AMBASSADOR (_amazed_). But we are the fleet of His Majesty the King of Spain, carrying a thousand soldiers, thirteen galleons with others their consorts and tenders. I have the honour to be his Ambassador, and this is his viceroy, with authority to govern his possessions in the New World. Allow me to present to you Don Martini Henriqnez, viceroy of all the Indies. (_Hawkins bows_.) This is His Majesty’s town and dominions, and we claim not only free entrance, but entire jurisdiction. The nations are at peace, and we concede to you the right freely to occupy it as friends, to trade and re-fit, with freedom of departure. What would you more?