He had hardly reached there when an
arrow from the bow of one of the Spanish allies pierced him with a mortal
wound, and the gallant boy leader fell dead in the arms of his followers.
A fierce combat followed, the works being stormed and the fight not ending
till none of the Araucanians remained alive. The Spaniards then withdrew
to Santiago, where for three days they celebrated the death of their foe;
while his countrymen, dismayed by his fall, at once abandoned the siege of
the invested cities and returned home.
A remarkable career was that of this young captain, begun at sixteen and
ending at nineteen. History presents no rival to his precocious military
genius, though in the centuries of war for independence in his country
many older heroes of equal fame and daring arose for the defence of their
native land against the Spanish foe.
DRAKE, THE SEA-KING, AND THE SPANISH TREASURE-SHIPS.
At the end of October, 1578, Sir Francis Drake, the Sea-King of Devon, as
he was called, and the most daring and persistent of the enemies of the
Spanish settlements in America, sailed from Cape Horn, at the southern
extremity of the continent, and steered northward into the great Pacific,
with the golden realm of Peru for his goal.
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