And now to impatience succeeded suspicion and indignation; and there were curses upon sluggishness and upon treachery.  For in the horrible atmosphere of duplicity, in which all Spaniards and Italians of that epoch lived, every man:  suspected his brother, and already Medina Sidonia suspected Farnese of playing him false.  There were whispers of collusion between the Duke and the English commissioners at Bourbourg.  There were hints that Alexander was playing his own game, that he meant to divide the sovereignty of the Netherlands with the heretic Elizabeth, to desert his great trust, and to effect, if possible, the destruction of his master’s Armada, and the downfall of his master’s sovereignty in the north.  Men told each other, too, of a vague rumour, concerning which Alexander might have received information, and in which many believed, that Medina Sidonia was the bearer of secret orders to throw Farnese into bondage, so soon as he should appear, to send him a disgraced captive back to Spain for punishment, and to place the baton of command in the hand of the Duke of Pastrana, Philip’s bastard by the Eboli.  Thus, in the absence of Alexander, all was suspense and suspicion.  It seemed possible that disaster instead of triumph was in store for them through the treachery of the commander-in-chief.  Four and twenty hours and more, they had been lying in that dangerous roadstead, and although the weather had been calm and the sea tranquil, there seemed something brooding in the atmosphere.

As the twilight deepened, the moon became totally obscured, dark cloud-masses spread over the heavens, the sea grew black, distant thunder rolled, and the sob of an approaching tempest became distinctly audible.  Such indications of a westerly gale, were not encouraging to those cumbrous vessels, with the treacherous quicksands of Flanders under their lee.

At an hour past midnight, it was so dark that it was difficult for the most practiced eye to pierce far into the gloom.  But a faint drip of oars now struck the ears of the Spaniards as they watched from the decks.  A few moments afterwards the sea became, suddenly luminous, and six flaming vessels appeared at a slight distance, bearing steadily down upon them before the wind and tide.

There were men in the Armada who had been at the siege of Antwerp only three years before.  They remembered with horror the devil-ships of Gianibelli, those floating volcanoes, which had seemed to rend earth and ocean, whose explosion had laid so many thousands of soldiers dead at a blow, and which had shattered the bridge and floating forts of Farnese, as though they had been toys of glass.  They knew, too, that the famous engineer was at that moment in England.