The story of his first ruin off Vera Cruz, of his
campaign of vengeance, of his piratical voyage to the Pacific, of his
doings with the California Indians, of his fight in the Armada--any one
of these would fill an ordinary volume. Only that part of his life
bearing on American exploration has been given here, and that
sacrificed in detail to keep from cumbering the sweep of his adventure.
No attempt has been made to pass judgment on Drake's character. Like
Baranof of a later day, he was a curious mixture of the supremely
selfish egoist, and of the religious enthusiast, alternately using his
egoism as a support for his religion, and his religion as a support for
his egoism; and each reader will probably pass judgment on Drake
according as the reader's ideal of manhood is the altruist or the
egoist, the Christ-type or "the great blond beast" of modern
philosophic thought, the man supremely indifferent to all but self,
glorying in triumph though it be knee-deep in blood. Nor must we
moderns pass too hypocritical judgment on the hero of the Drake type.
Drake had invested capital in his venture.
Pages:
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224