Ralegh's influence with Queen and Prince Henry—Death of Robert Cecil—Rise of Villiers—Liberty—The undying endeavour—Anecdote—Preparations for expedition—Delays and uncertainty—The King's treachery—The expedition starts—Further delays—Storms—Captain Bailey—Ralegh's illness—At Terra de Bri—His son's death—Return of Keymis—Suicide of Keymis—Mutiny—The return.

Ralegh in the Tower managed to gain influence of a remarkable nature over the Queen and over Prince Henry, who was the idol of the nation. It availed him not, however. James was jealous of the immense popularity of his son, and feared his high spirit. Gradually the tall white-haired man in the Tower became the most talked of man in London. Round him centred the tradition of Elizabeth, which was looked back upon with vain regret. Men did not like the deference that was paid to Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador; they did not like the rise and supremacy of Car. They looked askance at Cecil. But Cecil and Car did not for many years lose their hold on the King, whom they treated adroitly. Nor were James's fear and hatred of Ralegh allowed by them to abate. Whenever the Queen or the Prince sued for favour towards Ralegh, they would not fail to point out the power and influence which caused such appeals to be made, and to play on the King's timidity. Moreover, in spite of Lady Ralegh's supplications and Prince Henry's frequent entreaties, the Sherborne estates were handed over to Car at a price.

The position, however, suddenly changed. Cecil died. Car was sent to the Tower for complicity in the poisoning of Overbury. Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton died, the bitterest of Ralegh's enemies. Sir Ralph Winwood, who was kindly disposed towards Ralegh and an honest man, became Secretary of State. A new favourite of the same stamp as Car, one George Villiers rose to power, and he, for his own reasons, hated the Howards. Ralegh approached him in the usual way. He gave £750 each to his brothers, and obtained in consequence the regard of George Villiers.

Through all the years of his imprisonment Ralegh had continued quietly to urge—through the Prince, through the Queen, through Cecil—how foolish it was to keep imprisoned a man like himself, who could fill the treasury of England with gold from a mine in Guiana, of which he alone knew the site. He persisted always upon the wealth of Guiana, so that little by little it grew to be common talk. To Ralegh, as to Cecil Rhodes, gold meant power; but, more than gold, he desired the sensation of freedom on the wide sea, and the long journey to the unknown land. More than gold, he desired the attainment of the great dream which had become inextricably part of his life. That was his life's object, and nothing could keep him from any possible means of its fulfilment. The quiet labour in the Tower at his history and in the little laboratory only served to lull the pain of captivity, and gave scope to but a part of his great nature, though many men, and many by no means inferior men, have spent their lives in doing work less excellent and less valuable than Ralegh packed into the years of his imprisonment.

For twelve years Ralegh had been in prison. He was sixty-three years old when he regained his liberty. Most men would have been content to continue the quiet habit of work formed during his long imprisonment. Ralegh's spirit was, however, undaunted; not even habit could deaden his unconquerable vitality. His release had been gained that he might arrange and lead an expedition to Guiana. Indeed, he was still under the charge of a keeper, and his sole permitted business was to arrange the detail for the fitting out of the expedition—ships, men, supplies and so forth.

It would throw a light on all life if we could know what were Ralegh's feelings as he left the Tower; if we could know how long the first exhilaration of freedom held him, and when that exhilaration yielded to intense unutterable consciousness of the stress and the pain of life; for he must surely have felt as if he were beginning the whole business of life again, and many moments must have come even to Ralegh when he asked himself, "Is it good enough?" and looked back to the quiet of his room in the Tower with active regret—the room where he had dreamed and worked, had had the satisfaction of a persistent desire, and from which he had watched great ships making their way down the Thames to the sea. The same detail of his old life awaited him, in transacting the manifold business which he knew so well—countless interviews with innumerable men, endowed with the same amount of ignorance, or astuteness, or malice, or knowledge, or good-will. In some ways the world must have appeared to him to have remained very dully the same; but its aspect must have changed amazingly. Different fashions were in vogue; different favourites caught the public eye; new faces showed everywhere. The streets had been widened; many were better paved. They were more crowded with carriages than they were twelve years before. New buildings had arisen, among which the New Exchange, close to Durham House, and the Banqueting House at Whitehall were the most notable. The first thing Ralegh did was to walk round London. In the twentieth century, an active man might, by clever arrangement of train and tube and electric tram, traverse the extent of London in a day without seeing any of the sights, and but few of the streets. Ralegh could see everything in London, poor walker as he was, in three or four hours, less than three hundred years ago. For London clung to the banks of the river which was the main way, and by which watermen thronged at countless landing-stages with innumerable boats and barges. It must have been a strange experience for Ralegh to notice the new fashions of the Court, to pass among men unknown, himself almost unheeded, who had been the great Queen's lover, and to see faces of new favourites, acclaimed at their passing through the streets. For he had become to the people little more than a name and a tradition; he would be recognizable at his window in the Tower, but in the ordinary surroundings of life he would be regarded with surprise rather than recognition. And men who recognized would hesitate to notice his presence, not knowing whether suspicion might not cling to them of treasonable intentions if they appeared too glad at his release.

To this time belongs probably a story which Aubrey tells, and which, like other stories of that inimitable gossip, bears the stamp of truth. Its telling lightens the gloom that these first months of freedom, with their terrible realization of time gone, inevitably raise. Aubrey had it from his old friend, James Harrington, who was well acquainted with Sir Benjamin Ruddyer, a friend of Ralegh's. In Aubrey's own delightful words the story runs as follows: "Sir Walter Ralegh, being invited to dinner to some great person where his son was to go with him, he sayd to his son 'Thou art expected to-day at dinner to goe along with me, but thou art such a quarrelsome affronting ... (Aubrey has forgotten the exact word) that I am ashamed to have such a beare in my company.' Mr. Walter humbled himself to his father and promised he would behave himself mighty mannerly. So away they went, and Sir Benjamin I think with them. He sate next to his father and was very demure at least halfe dinner time. Then sayd he 'I this morning not having the feare of God before my eyes but by the instigation of the devil went....' Sir Walter being strangely surprised and put out of countenance at so great a table gives his son a damned blow over the face. His son, as rude as he was, would not strike his father, but strikes over the face the gentleman that sate next him, and sayd 'Box about; it will come to my father anon.' Tis now a common proverb."

The story is far too good to be false. Gossip needs no verification. It stands or falls unsupported by the props which the stern matter of history demands, like an authentic relic which has survived to please.

Meanwhile the business of the expedition went on apace. Ralegh had from King James a commission which empowered him to voyage "to places in South America, or elsewhere, inhabited by heathen and savage people, etc." The commission was very similarly worded to others which he had had from Queen Elizabeth, and Ralegh set no greater store by the clause which forbade him to attack the subjects of any European king, especially of the King of Spain, than he had done before. Ralegh did not realize how much things had changed since his Queen ruled. He knew as well as every one else that the Spaniards in Guiana would not allow him to land and proceed quietly to the mine without a determined effort to stop his progress. But he did not know what a hold Sarmiento, the Spanish ambassador, had acquired over James, and how well-disposed James had become towards Spain. He did not understand that he was the last man in England who upheld the Elizabethan tradition, and that therefore he was the man whom Spain best hated.

One month after Ralegh's release Sarmiento wrote to the King of Spain warning him that another company was being prepared "for Guiana and the river Orinoco, which is near Trinidad, the prime promoter and originator of which is Sir Walter Ralegh, a great seaman.... I am informed that he will sail in the month of October with six or eight ships of 200 to 500 tons, some belonging to himself, some to his companions, all well provided. He will also take with him launches in which to ascend the Orinoco, and he is trying to get two ships of very light draught to take them as high up the river as possible. He has already been in the country and assures people here that he knows of a mine that will swell all England with gold." He urges the King of Spain to increase the navy and not to allow any merchant to sail without a proper convoy; and assures him that he in England will do all in his power to prevent the expedition. Sarmiento's power was very great.

Sir Ralph Winwood, the Secretary of State, was the only man in authority who was not in favour of a Spanish alliance. The King, as Major Martin Hume points out, "was besotted with Gondomar and the Spanish power; Digby and Cottington were humbly negotiating in Madrid for the marriage of the Prince of Wales with the Infanta, and greedy Buckingham was bribed by the Spaniards to his heart's content."

King James played with Ralegh. The King wanted money, and wanted the friendship of Spain. There was a remote chance that Ralegh might obtain the money. In that case the money would be useful and Ralegh could be disposed of at his convenience, as an atonement to Spain. On the other hand, if the expedition failed, Ralegh could even more easily be disposed of, and his sacrifice would strengthen the tie between Spain and England. In either case James saw carefully to it that he should lose nothing and Ralegh everything.

The King's treatment of Ralegh is absolutely typical of him, and illustrates his treacherous weak nature with decision.

Men did not believe that Guiana was the object of Ralegh's journey. The whole scheme seemed incredible as affairs then stood. The general opinion was that the mine was the merest blind; for how could a sane man give, or a sane man accept, the conditions under which the search was to be carried out? Some thought that Ralegh was taking any opportunity that might lead to his freedom; that once he found the wide sea round him he would not again return to England where he had been so badly handled. Some thought that the expedition was intended not for Guiana but for a sudden raid on Genoa; others thought that Ralegh was going to succour the Huguenots at the King's wish. All the foreign ambassadors were uneasy as to the real intent of the voyage, and had long conferences with Ralegh and wrote long letters to their powers at home. Ralegh alone, loyal to his traditions of Elizabeth, remained steadfast in his purpose.

James demanded from Ralegh the details of the expedition, the number of ships and men and arms, promising on his honour as a king (what more fragile pledge could he find?) not to divulge the secrets to any man. But Sarmiento, the Spanish ambassador, had the exact measure of James. He laughed at the story of the mine, and laughed at James for his childishness in thinking that a man who was no fool would be gulled by such a child's tale. The real motive of the expedition, Sarmiento assured James with laughing suavity, he and all the world knew very well was nothing else than to rob Spain at the distant source of her wealth while keeping her off her guard by the show of friendliness at home. James could not bear his ridicule and his assurance. He swore to Sarmiento that if a hair on the head of one Spanish subject were touched, Ralegh should be sent to Madrid in chains to be hanged in Madrid's chief square. That was not all. To prove that Ralegh's end was the mine, he handed over to Sarmiento all the secret papers of the expedition. So Sarmiento gained his purpose; he had the papers carefully copied and a special messenger was soon on his way to Spain bearing the copy to the Spanish king, as has been seen.

James was friendly with Sarmiento. A weak man likes to deceive himself. James wanted to be friendly with Spain, from fear of Spain's power. But if Ralegh could break Spain's power at the risk only of his life, James was quite content to accept the first place in Europe and then dispose of Ralegh. It was not his nature, however, to face anything and strike boldly. He kept up the illusion in his own mind that the mine was all he wanted, and all that Ralegh intended to make for and, like the weak creature he was, he allowed his personal dislike of Ralegh to hinder his plan, and his fear of ridicule to render the whole scheme ridiculous.

Meanwhile Ralegh's arrangements were proceeding, and gradually the new ship, the Destiny, which he had built, became a fashionable resort, even as his destination was the common talk not only of the Court in London, but also of many foreign Courts. Did England intend to support Spain and the Catholics, or the Protestant cause? The diplomacy of James was even more intricate and twisted than diplomacy is wont to be.

At length, at the beginning of April, Ralegh's small fleet of seven vessels weighed anchor, and sailed down the Thames. Even at the very moment of his sailing his purpose was not credited. Lionello, a Venetian resident, wrote to the Senate of Venice, "I know very well that Sir Walter Ralegh's only object in embarking in this enterprise was to free himself from his imprisonment. He would gladly change this scheme for any other. Many people know the fact as well as I."

But Ralegh was firm in his purpose. He was now an old man, if age be counted in years; he was still vigorous and alert, if age be counted by the measure of a man's vitality. Now, at the age when most men take to the fireside and friendly counsel, Ralegh was glad to undertake a desperate venture to win freedom and wealth for himself and for his family, prosperity and greatness for his country.

The seven ships in the Thames weighed anchor. They were: the Destiny, of 440 tons, carrying 36 pieces of ordnance; the Jason, of 240 tons, carrying 25 pieces of ordnance, of which the commander was John Pennington, "of whom to do him right," as Ralegh wrote, "I dare say he is one of the sufficientest gentlemen for the sea that England hath"; the Encounter, of 160 tons, commanded at first by Edward Hastings and afterwards by Whitney, carrying 17 pieces; the Thunder, of 180 tons, commanded by Sir Warham St. Leger, carrying 20 pieces; the Flying Joan, the Husband, alias the Southampton, and the Page, all smaller vessels of 120, 80, and 25 tons respectively. The fleet was joined before it left the coast of England by Keymis in the Convertine, Wollaston in the Confidence, and Sir John Ferne in the Flying Hart. The Destiny was the flagship. It had been built at Sir Walter's own charge, and his son Walter was placed in the position of captain. Of the two hundred men on board, eighty were gentlemen volunteers, who were for the most part friends or relations of Sir Walter.

But months of valuable summer weather elapsed before the fleet left the coast of England. From the outset evil chance brooded over the expedition. Captain Pennington put in to the Isle of Wight with the Jason to obtain provisions, and had not the needful money. He accordingly was obliged to ride post haste to Lady Ralegh in London and wait while she went through the business of a bond, on which the money was raised. At Plymouth Captain Whitney had the same experience, and Ralegh was obliged to sell his plate to the silversmith; Sir John Ferne was also insufficiently supplied with money, and Ralegh borrowed £200 from two friends. The men began to feel that the expedition found no favour, and that their commanders were not trusted. In consequence, they grew uneasy and discontented. The delay lasted nearly three months, their enthusiasm began to abate, their resolution to weaken. The proper time of the year was passing.

While the fleet lay in Plymouth harbour Ralegh issued orders for the conduct of his men to be observed by the Commanders of the Fleet and Land Companies. He ordained that divine service should be read in every ship twice every day: in the morning before dinner and at night before supper; or at least, if there be interruption by foul weather, once the day, praising God every night with singing of a psalm at the setting of the watch. He ordained special care to be taken that God be not blasphemed in the ships. The offender is to be admonished and then fined out of his adventures, and then if no amendment be found the matter is to be reported to Ralegh himself. For if it be threatened in the Scriptures that the curse shall not depart from the house of the swearer, much less shall it depart from the ship of the swearer. Two captains of the watch must be chosen, and they shall pick two soldiers every night to search between the decks that no fire nor candle-light be carried about the ship, nor that any candles be burning in any cabin without a lanthorn. "For there is no danger so inevitable as the ship's firing which may as well happen by taking of tobacco between the decks, and therefore forbidden to all men but aloft the upper deck."

The landsmen must be taught the names and places of the ropes in order that they may assist the sailors in their labours upon the decks, though they cannot go up to the tops and yards. And the sailors must learn the art of land-fighting, otherwise the troops will be very weak when they come to land without the assistance of the sea-faring men. No vessel should be pursued or disfurnished in any way, except under compulsion of absolute necessity, and then bonds shall be entered into for the repayal of what was taken. "You shall every night fall astern the general's ship, and follow his light, receiving instructions in the morning what course to hold, and if you shall at any time be separated by foul weather, you shall receive certain billets sealed up, the first to be opened on this side of North Cape, if there be cause; the second to be opened at the South Cape; the third after you shall pass twenty-three degrees; and the fourth from the height of Cape de Verd." Minute instructions were given for signalling in case of distress or attack, or the sighting of a foreign vessel. In foul weather every man shall fit his sails to keep company with the rest of the fleet and not run so far ahead by day but that he may fall astern the admiral before night. He gave full instructions to the captains how to fight their ships. They are of exceptional interest. "In case we should be set upon by sea the captain will appoint a sufficient company to assist the gunners, after which if the fight require it, the cabins between the decks shall be taken down, and all beds and sacks employed for bulwarks. The gunners shall not shoot any great ordnance at other distance than point blank. An officer or two shall be appointed to take care that no loose powder be carried between the decks, or near any linstock or match in hand. You shall saw divers hogheads in two parts and filled with water set them aloft the decks. You shall divide your carpenters, some in the hold, if any shot come between wind and water, and the rest between the decks, with plates of lead, plugs, and all things necessary laid by them. The master and boatswain shall appoint a certain number of sailors to every sail, and to every such company a master's mate, boatswain, mate, or quarter-master, so as when every man knows his charge and place, things may be done without noise or confusion, and no man to speak but the officers.... You shall take a special care for the keeping of the ship clean between the decks, to have your ordnance in order, and not cloyed with trunks and chests."

Then follow further instructions as to conduct, which forbid any man to play at cards or dice, either for his apparel or arms, upon pain of being disarmed and made a swabber. And whosoever shall show himself a coward upon any landing or otherwise, he shall be disarmed and made a labourer and carrier of victuals for the rest.

And finally a few essential points are mentioned for all fully to realize when God shall suffer them to land in the Indies, namely, the danger of sleeping on the ground, of eating unknown fruits, or any flesh until it be salted, of bathing in rivers. Especial stress is laid upon the necessity of treating the Indians with courtesy in order to win their help and friendship. "For other orders on the land we will establish them (when God shall send us thither) by general consent. In the mean time I will value every man's honour according to their degree and valour, and taking care for the service of God and prosperity of our enterprise."

On the 12th of June the fleet at last set sail. But as in the Islands voyage, just twenty years before, a great storm broke upon the ships and drove some back to Falmouth harbour. The bad weather raged for weeks and ended in a tempest that scattered the fleet and wrought fearful havoc among all.

Ralegh was forced to take refuge with his fleet in Cork harbour, where another long delay ensued. Delay was disastrous. It meant lack of confidence among the men. And well Ralegh knew that his authority had been lessened by the reports which had been industriously spread among his company that his commission being granted to a man non ens in law, took from him both arms and actions: "it gave boldness to every petty companion to spread rumours to my defamation and the wounding of my reputation in all places where I could not be present to make them knaves and liars."

Delay meant expenditure of money which was desperately wanted; and what was most serious of all, delay meant loss of time, for only at the most favourable season of the year could these heavily equipped vessels hope to make their voyage with any likelihood of success, and only at the most favourable season could they hope to carry out the great task which awaited them at the end of their long voyage.

Ralegh was once again in Ireland, where he had started his career. Thirty-six years before he had written to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, now long dead, "I have spent some time here under the Deputy in such poore place and charge, as were it not that I knew him to be one of yours, I would disdayne it as much as to keepe sheepe." Here, too, he had spent those quiet months with Edmund Spenser, his friend, by Mulla's shore; nearly twenty years had passed since rebels burned Spenser's house to the ground and Spenser himself died of very grief. And here was Ralegh still living, still in quest of the dream's fulfilment, of which he had talked with the poet who was at rest, and still fretting at this last delay which was quietly ravelling away the fabric of all his hopes. Spenser had given the world his vision of the fairy realm into which his spirit had now passed; Ralegh had written the first half of his great History of the World, over which he desired to extend his country's dominion.

Richard Boyle was still at Cork. Boyle had bought Ralegh's estates in Ireland and they were flourishing under his direction. Here as elsewhere Ralegh broke the ground from which others reaped a rich harvest. One Henry Pine of Mogelie was vexing Boyle as grievously as he had in years gone by vexed Ralegh with whom he was connected in industrial enterprises. So Boyle took advantage of Ralegh's visit to Cork to question him concerning the terms of a lease, and Ralegh spoke vigorously against the claims of Henry Pine, remembering well Pine's former bad treatment of him. He spoke so vigorously that in the following year, when he was reviewing all the many events of his great life, his words came back to him. He was then on the threshold of departure, and not wishing to think that any man had been harmed by him unjustly, he expressed a strong desire that the terms of this lease might be examined closely again. The action witnesses Ralegh's attention to justice and to detail.

But at last a favourable wind sprang up, and on the 19th of August, though late in the year for its enterprise, the fleet set sail from Cork harbour. Nothing could deter Ralegh from his last venture. The wide sea opened out before him once again, and far away the rich land of his dreams, where wealth was waiting for him and greatness for his country. Behind him he left his adventurous past life, and his soul was inclined towards this new adventure.

From Cork they set sail for Cape St. Vincent, and presently four ships hove in sight, to which Ralegh at once gave chase. The long delay made it dangerous to allow ships to pass unheeded, for by this time Ralegh must have known to some extent how much the Spaniards knew. Neither he nor any man could have suspected the scope of King James's treachery. The pursuit was long and stirring. Eventually the strange vessels were overhauled. Their leader said that they were French vessels bound for Seville. His tale bore small signs of truth. His vessels were so heavily armed, their cut so questionable, that Ralegh's men affirmed that they were merely pirates, and should be treated as pirates. But Ralegh was not in a position to run any risk, which might bring down upon him the King's anger afresh. Accordingly he took the four ships with him for a length of time, sufficient to ensure the harmlessness of any intelligence which they might carry, and treated them with courtesy. The men grumbled. Why should they be expected to believe in a trumped-up story, when the vessels were full of Spanish apparel and Spanish merchandise and unmistakable pirates, and why should they be deprived of their proper spoil? To them Ralegh answered that it was lawful for the French to make prize of the Spaniards to south of the Canaries and to west of the Azores. "And if it were not so, it is no business of mine to examine the subjects of the French King." He bought commodities from them—oil, a pinnace, a fishing-net—to the value of sixty crowns, and let them go on their way. His scruples were well considered, but they did not tend to mollify the feeling of discontent which the untoward delays at the outset of the voyage had brought into existence among the men. The ill-feeling was increased when a little afterwards a Spanish vessel was encountered which had been pillaged by them.

On September 7 the fleet reaching the Canary Islands anchored off Lanzarote, and at Lanzarote an event of importance occurred which exposed the full treachery that was lying hid in the expedition, as well as in its false launching. There is small doubt that the Spaniards on the island had received news of the fleet, and had been advised as to its proper treatment by Gondomar, the ambassador in London. Circumstances lent a specious cover to their conduct. For a band of Moorish pirates was known to be in the proximity of the Canaries, and their presence justified the hostile reception which awaited Ralegh's fleet. Nor would they easily believe that the vessels were English. They demanded that two officers should land unarmed, except with rapiers, and unaccompanied. Ralegh and an officer named Bradshaw landed and conferred with them in a plain, sufficiently open to prevent any secret treachery. Ralegh's demands were simple. All he desired was fresh water and food for his company. The governor of the island consented to supply him, and agreed to sell him the provisions by means of an English merchant, whose ship was at anchor in the harbour. "I sent the English factor according to our agreement, but the governor put it off from one morning to another, and in the end sent me word that except I would embark my men who lay on the seaside, the islanders were so jealous as they durst not sever themselves to make our provisions. I did so: but when the one half were gotten aboard two of our sentinels were forced, one slain, and the English factor sent to tell me that he had nothing for us, whom he still believed to be a fleet of the Turks who had lately taken and destroyed Puerto Sancto. Hereupon all the companies would have marched toward the town and have sacked it, but I knew it would not only dislike his Majesty, but that our merchants having a continual trade with these islands that their goods would have been stayed, and among the rest the poor Englishman riding in the road having all that he brought thither ashore, would have been utterly undone."

But sufficient had happened for the spy, Captain Bailey. He needed little evidence for his pretty tale, and having asked and obtained from Ralegh some ordnance and some ironbound casks, he weighed anchor in the night, and set all sail for England, where his employers would listen eagerly to his pretty tale, and pay him for it. It is sad to read all that Ralegh could write of him afterwards in his apology, "what should move Bailey to leave me as he did at the Canaries, from whence he might have departed with my love and leave, and at his return to do me all the wrong he could devise, I cannot conceive.... I never gave him ill-language, nor offered him the least unkindness to my knowledge."

When the spy, Captain Bailey, arrived in England he despatched his account of the proceedings at Lanzarote to Buckingham, and Buckingham lost no time in acquainting King James. On October 22 Gondomar wrote fully to the King of Spain about the expedition, and Philip was more urgent than ever in pressing Sir John Digby and Lord Cottington and Lord Roos, who had been sent to Madrid by James to arrange the terms of the marriage between the Infanta and Prince Charles, that Ralegh might be immediately recalled and punished. King James was abject in his apology, and became more and more inclined to the sacrifice of Ralegh. But the spy Captain Bailey's account was too carelessly prepared; Cottington discovered divergences; Lord Carew, Master of the Ordnance, declared "those who malice Sir Walter boldly affirm him to be a pirate, which for my part I will never believe." Moreover "the poor Englishman riding in the road," whose name was Reeks, arrived on the scene and told a different story of the event. It was most unfortunate for the spy, Captain Bailey, who was sent to the Gatehouse at Westminster.

His pretty story was proved to be an invention, but that mattered little subsequently; the invention served its purpose.

Meanwhile Ralegh's fleet had arrived at Gomera, "one of the strongest and best defenced places of all the islands, and the best port; the town being seated upon the very wash of the sea." Guns were fired at the ships at their first approach, and the ships answered. But as soon as Ralegh came up in the Destiny he gave orders that the firing should immediately cease, and sent a Spaniard, whom he had taken on a bark which came from Cape Blanc, to assure the governor of the town that he intended no harm of any kind to the subjects of the Spanish King. The governor replied that he had mistaken the fleet for the Turks who had sacked Puerto Sancto, "but being resolved by the messenger that we were Christians and English, and sought nothing but water, he would willingly afford us as much as we were pleased to take, if he might be assured that we would not attempt his town houses nor destroy his gardens and fruits." Ralegh gave full assurance, vowing to hang up in the market-place any man of his who should lay marauding hands on so much as one orange or a grape. Their courtesies did not end here. The governor's wife happened to be an English gentlewoman, and she sent Ralegh gifts of fruits, of sugar, of rusks, and saw to it that his stay at the island was agreeable. Sir Walter sent her presents of gloves and scent, and a picture of Mary Magdalen which hung in his cabin. These days which he spent at Gomera could have been the only time in this last great adventure of which he could have a pleasant memory.

The governor too was kindly disposed towards Ralegh, and not realizing how deeply his guest was disliked and feared by the authorities at home, he sent a letter to Gondomar, the ambassador in London, in which he stated how exemplary had been the conduct of Ralegh's men.

The respite from the stress of the voyage was short. On September 24, three days after they left the Canary Islands, the sickness which had been prevalent among the men during their fortnight's stay, broke out with fury. On the evening of the 24th fifty men lay helpless on the Destiny. The other ships were not exempt. Two captains and a provost-marshal died on them. The chief surgeon and several officers followed on the 31st. As the plague-stricken ships made for the Brava roads a hurricane burst over them; the hurricane sank one ship and inflicted terrible damage upon the others. The storm abated, but the sickness continued. Four more officers died, and most of Ralegh's personal servants, so that, though he was himself suffering from a severe calenture, he was attended only by pages. The death of John Talbot grieved him sorely. John Talbot was one of those completely trustworthy old servants that a man of Ralegh's calibre is wont to have. "He was my honest friend," wrote Ralegh, "an excellent general scholar and as faithful and true a man as lived. I lost him to my inestimable grief." John Talbot had shared Ralegh's imprisonment of his own free will. He was as devoted to Ralegh as Keymis even himself. Pigott, the Lieutenant-General of the land service, died on October 13.

It is finely typical of Ralegh that in spite of the calamities which fell thickly upon him, the plague, the tempest, his own illness—he made and recorded observations which, as Edwards points out, furthered nautical science considerably.

On November 11 the fleet arrived at Cape Orange, which was then called Cape Wiapoco, and on the 14th they sailed into the harbour, made by the River Cayenne, which Ralegh calls Caliana. On this voyage every possible disaster had fallen upon the fleet, and yet the full business of the expedition had only now begun. Ralegh lay on a sick-bed, an old man, but he did not falter, though all the weight of arrangement was upon him. As soon as he arrived he wrote to Lady Ralegh. The bearer of the letter was one Captain Alley, who was suffering from an infirmity in his head, and obliged on that account to return home with all speed—"an honest, valiant man," according to Ralegh's description.

"Sweetheart, I can write unto you but with a weak hand, for I have suffered the most violent calenture for fifteen days that ever man did and lived. But God, that gave me a strong heart in all my adversities, hath also now strengthened it in the hell-fire of heat.... We are yet two hundred men, and the rest of our fleet are reasonable strong. Strong enough, I hope, to perform what we have undertaken, if the diligent care at London to make our strength known to the Spanish King by his ambassador have not taught the Spanish King to fortify all the entrances against us." He tells her that their son is in excellent health, "having had no distemper in all the heat under the line," and after recording the names of those who had died, and the disasters which had fallen upon the survivors, he ends the letter with this characteristic sentence: "To tell you that I might be here King of the Indians were a vanity. But my name hath still lived among them here. They feed me with fresh meat and all that the country yields; all offer to obey me." He would always rather be King even of the Indians than king only of his griefs.

The ship remained at anchor in the harbour of the river Cayenne until December 4. The sick men were landed, the ships were washed, fresh water was taken in; the barges and shallops which were brought out of England in quarters were put together, ready for the inland voyage to the mine. Ralegh reaped the full benefit of his courtesy to the Indians on his previous visit. Well they remembered him, as he wrote to his wife, and without their kindness it would have fared ill with the plague-stricken, tempest-tossed company. As it was, the Indians tended the sick with every attention possible, and helped the expedition by every means in their power. Ralegh was still too ill to walk. He was carried about in a chair, and in a condition in which most men would need all their strength to fight disease and death, he superintended the arrangements for the five ships which were to make their way up the great river to the mine under Captain Keymis.

In the five ships were five companies, each of fifty men. The Lieutenant-General of the land force, John Piggot, had died of fever on the way out; Sir Warham St. Leger lay sick without hope of life; and accordingly the command of the whole expedition was entrusted to Ralegh's nephew, George Ralegh, "who had served long with infinite commendation," but who was somewhat too young to have over the men the absolute authority which his position required. The five companies were separately commanded by Captain Parker and Captain North, "brethren to the Lord Mounteagle and the Lord North, valiant gentlemen, and of infinite patience for the labour, hunger and heat which they have endured;" by Ralegh's son, Walter; by Captain Thornhurst of Kent, and by Captain Chudleigh's lieutenant.

Ralegh himself stayed with the five larger ships at Puncto Gallo by Trinidad. He was constrained to do so, partly because his health would not allow him to undergo the hardships of the inland voyage, but principally because, a Spanish fleet being expected, no one would venture to pass up the river unless one whom they could trust remained at the base in charge of the big ships. Ralegh vowed that they should find him at Puncto Gallo on their return, dead or alive: "and if you find not my ships there yet you shall find their ashes. For I will fire with the galleons if it come to extremity, but run away will I never."

At last, on December 10, the five ships set sail, and Ralegh moved away with the main fleet. They made Point Barimy on December 15; on the 17th Point Hicacos, which is at the extreme south-west of the island of Trinidad; and on the last day of the year 1617 they anchored at Terra de Bri.

At Terra de Bri Ralegh began his slow period of suspense. The success of the whole scheme was hanging in the balance, the scheme which had been his life's chief business to fulfil, and he was doomed to inaction—to wait while others sought the final prize. Bitter must have been this waiting for Ralegh, bitter all the reasons that combined to keep him back, each in themselves paltry, and united, irresistible. For the first time a bodily ailment hindered him; old age was creeping on. For the first time the great commander found a lack of loyalty in his men; and that lack of loyalty had been generated and nourished by the treachery of his King. How could any man gain the confidence of his men, and have power over them, when he was still under sentence of death for treason? The men who served him were the scum of the earth, bent only on plunder, such, verily, as an unpardoned man would attract to his service. But Keymis, Keymis and his own son—and the few valiant gentlemen—his heart lightened as he thought of them; they were brave and greathearted; they were loyal and steadfast. And George Ralegh, he was young, but nothing would turn him back. Still Ralegh waited. There was no sign of the Spanish fleet, which was expected, and for which he kept ever on the alert. Ah! why had His Majesty been pleased to hold them at so little value as to command him upon his allegiance to set down under his hand the country of his destination and the very river of entry; to set down the number of his men, the burthen of his ships, and the ordnance each ship was bearing! Why had it pleased His Majesty to hand over the document to the Spanish ambassador and break his royal oath?

Still Ralegh waited. No news came from the land force. He tried to break the monotony of suspense by searching out botanical specimens, and examining the chemical properties of the plants; he busied himself with the preparing of balsams, he who pined to be exploring the wealth of the land of his dreams. How could he trust any man's judgment but his own in such an enterprise, at such a time, when success meant prosperity for his country, wealth and freedom for himself and his family; when failure meant ruin, disgrace, and death? Yet Keymis, Keymis was faithful, and young Wat had his father's blood in him.

Still Ralegh waited. At length one day a little boat came in sight, and as it drew nearer it was seen to contain an Indian pilot and a sailor, who had been with the land force. His name was Peter Andrews. A letter was handed to Ralegh, a letter from Keymis. He broke the seal and read—

"All things that appertain to human condition, in that proper nature and sense that of fate and necessity belongeth unto them, being now over with your son, maketh me chuse rather with grief to let you know from the certain truth, than uncertainties from others. Which is, viz. that had not his extraordinary valour and forwardness (which with constant vigour of mind, being in the hands of death, his last breath expressed in these words, Lord have mercy upon me and prosper your enterprise) led them all on, when some began to pause and recoil shamefully, this action had neither been attempted as it was, nor performed as it is, with this surviving honour.... We have the governor's servant prisoner that waited on him in his bedchamber and knows all things that concerned his master. We find there are four refiners' houses in the town; the best houses in the town. I have not seen one piece of coin or bullion, neither gold or silver; a small deal of plate only excepted.

"Captain Whitney and Wollaston are but now come to us and now I purpose (God willing) without delay to visit the mine, which is not eight miles from the town. Sooner I could not go by reason of the murmurings, the discords and vexations, wherewith the sergeant major is perpetually tormented and tired, having no man to assist him but myself only. Things are now in some reasonable order, and so soon as I have made trial of the mine I will seek to come to Your Lordship by way of the river Macario.... I have sent Your Lordship a parcel of scattered papers (I reserve a cart-load), one roll of tobacco, one tortoise, and some oranges and lemons. Praying God to give you strength and health of body and a mind armed against all extremities, I rest ever to be commanded this 8th day of January 1617-1618.

"Your Lordship's
"Keymis"

His son was dead. His men were unruly and murmuring ... but yet the four refiners' houses, and they were the best houses. Keymis had the governor's servant in his hands, Keymis was within eight miles of the mine: gallant was the death his son had died.... (Would God he were there in person within eight miles of the mine!) He turned to Peter Andrews and the Indian pilot and began to question them eagerly. From them he learned the details of the expedition, since their start on the 10th of December. They came in sight of Point Araya on New Year's Day, and soldiers were landed before sunset. Ralegh frowned to hear that the Spaniards at the newly raised village—San Thome they called it,—were in readiness, and that an ambuscade had been prepared. Palomeque de Acuna had been forewarned by despatch from Madrid—Ah! the accursed delay and the still more accursed disloyalty of his King—Ralegh learned of the treachery and the disaster—slowly, for his heart and mind were heavy at the bad news of his son's death, and Peter Andrews was often interrupted in his confused story by the impatience of his admiral. But this is the gist of what had happened.

The Englishmen had encamped by the river bank. As soon as night fell on the land, Geronimo de Grados led his men from their ambuscade in front of the village down upon the English, who were taken completely at unawares. The common sort were panic-stricken, and had not the captains and some valiant gentlemen, among whom was one John Hampden (a staunch admirer of Ralegh and famous in history), set a valiant example, the whole company would have been cut to pieces. As it was, the Spaniards were at last driven back. They were driven right back to the village of St. Thomas, the position of which was not known. There the retreating men of Geronimo de Grados were joined by a fresh force under Diego Palomeque, the governor, and then the English were checked in their pursuit. They began to waver. But young Walter Ralegh cried out cheerily to the pikemen, who were ahead of the musketeers, to advance after him, and waving his sword he led them to the fight afresh. Straight for Palomeque, the governor, he dashed and slew him. A hand to hand jabbing fight ensued, and muskets were fired at very close quarters. Young Ralegh was wounded. He paid no heed to his wound; with blood streaming from his wound he advanced against a Spaniard named Erinetta. But his quickness had lessened, as his strength ebbed from him. Erinetta swung his musket and the stock crashed on young Ralegh's skull: but Erinetta could not recover himself and he was immediately beaten to the ground. The Spaniards began to give way again. They fled. They fled for refuge to a monastery of St. Francis; the soldiers under George Ralegh and Keymis stormed the monastery and drove the Spaniards into the woods, and finally for refuge into their last stronghold where the women and children had been taken from St. Thomas. The battle was at an end. But the new governor, Garcia de Aguilar, was a man of resource. He gave orders that the survivors should form themselves into small bands, should harass the English whenever an opportunity offered, and fall upon all stragglers. While the funeral ceremony was being conducted over the body of young Walter, Captains Whitney and Wollaston arrived, and Peter Andrews and the Indian pilot were sent back, bearing their tidings to the main body at Terra de Bri.

That was all Ralegh could learn. That his son was dead; that the Spaniards were forewarned and keenly hostile; that his men were shaken.

The suspense became well-nigh intolerable for him as he settled to endure the second long period of inaction—of waiting whilst with others lay the excitement of finishing for good or ill the scheme of his life's imagining. His son was dead. He could not bring himself to write the bitter news to his wife. He himself, an old man, still lived—and waited on the threshold of discovery. Keymis, however, was a trusted man, and nothing would hinder George Ralegh from his purpose. Keymis wrote that he was within some few hours of the mine. Perhaps even now Keymis was on his way back again, his ships laden with gold—and if gold were once found, there would be little difficulty in founding the colony which would become England's great empire across the seas. No old man could live to see that, but his son might ... if his son were not already dead. He would wait to tell the bad news to his wife until he had some good news—the news of prosperity—that she might know his other son, Carew, though not of young Walter's mettle, would be able to continue his father's tradition.

Still he waited—day after day, week after week, month after month, but no fresh news came from Keymis, and no signs were anywhere apparent of a Spanish fleet. He went on with his botanical studies as much as his enfeebled strength would allow him. He studied the little plants that renew their life each year.

Bow down and worship; more than we
Is the least flower whose life returns
Least weed renascent in the sea.

For Ralegh was a poet and so lost his personal sense of loss in the great mystery of things, which his personal griefs made more vivid to his mind. He was a poet and saw much that he could not express. The idea of Death fascinated him always. Death had slain the young Prince, the hope of the nation; his friend, who would have helped him in his project; had left untouched the father, King James, who had betrayed him. And now Death had taken his son, who had only lived twenty-three years, and left him an old man—once again waiting, as he waited those long years in the Tower, waiting whilst others made or marred the fulfilment of his dream. Why was he thus often doomed to inactivity?

Still he waited.... At twenty-three, the age at which his son met death in a Spanish ambuscade on the eve of a great discovery, with a shining future before him, he himself was fighting in Ireland, an obscure soldier of fortune. The days of his past life appeared before him, his Queen's favour, his Queen's displeasure, the high mark which he had touched, the low place to which he had sunk, his captivity, his renewal of hope through the gallant Prince who was dead, his freedom, and this last tremendous effort to bring greatness to his country, prosperity to his family; and he was still waiting, while Keymis and George Ralegh took the last great step. He would tell his wife of their son's death when he could console her with the knowledge of what he had himself achieved. But no news came from Keymis. He could trust Keymis. He knew the man well and cared for him. All through his captivity who had served him as faithfully as Keymis? Who had believed in him so staunchly as Keymis? Who had helped him even so well? Perhaps Keymis and all his men were slain, or lost, or drowned.

Just before the middle of March Keymis returned. There was gladness on his face to see his master alive, but the gladness did not continue. He brought bad news. The faces of his men showed anger and discontent. Keymis brought the worst news that any man could have brought to Ralegh after his long days of waiting. The scheme had failed, failed beyond all hope of recovery, and there was nothing to show for all the lives that had been thrown away, all the dangers and difficulties that had been surmounted.

For this is what had happened.

After the reinforcement of Captains Whitney and Wollaston, Captain Keymis took two boats further up the Orinoco in search of the mine, leaving the remainder of the company near St. Thomas. Their destination was Seiba, a village on the banks of the river within a two hours' march of the mine. The party made their way without mishap to the creek by the landing-place. But there, too, the Spaniards were in readiness. As the first boat neared the shore, a volley was fired, and nearly all the men in the boat were hit. His force thus enfeebled, Captain Keymis decided to return to St. Thomas for fresh soldiers. He found the company at St. Thomas harassed by sickness and continual attacks of the Spaniards; but they still had spirit enough to make one further effort. This time George Ralegh with three boats made his way right up the Orinoco to inspect the country from the point of view of colonization. He, too, was struck by its richness and beauty. He returned and found the company still more weakened by sickness and assault. The Spaniards made an attempt to burn the English camp. This so infuriated the men that they set upon St. Thomas and razed it to the ground. Captain Keymis discovered from the Indians that in the neighbourhood of St. Thomas also there were rich mines, which lack of labour alone prevented the Spaniards from working; but no other attempt was made to locate them or to test their richness. Then the whole expedition returned. The one actual sign of their toils which they brought, were papers taken from the governor at the sack of St. Thomas, and these papers were documents from Madrid, proving how falsely King James had dealt with Ralegh.

Such was the report which Keymis gave to Ralegh. Ralegh was silent as he listened to the account of the overthrow of all his hopes. When the sad tale was finished, he asked Keymis why he had not obeyed his instructions, why he had not opened the mine and brought back some visible sign of its existence. Keymis gave his reasons at full length. There were not enough men to hold the mine; young Ralegh was dead; his master was ill, dying, nay, for all Keymis knew, he was dead. Why should the mine be opened that others might reap the benefit? But still Ralegh insisted, unwavering in dreadful firmness, on his question, Why had not instructions been obeyed? There were many interviews; there were long discussions that day and the next. Still Ralegh answered, "You should have obeyed instructions." "When I was resolved to write unto your Honour (wrote Ralegh to Sir Ralph Winwood, not knowing that his friend, the Secretary of State, had been dead for five months) he prayed me to joyne with him in excusing his not going to the mine. I answered him, I would not doe it; that if himself could satisfy the King and the State that he had reason not to open it, I should be glad of it; but for my part, I must avow it that he knew it and that he might with little losse have done it; other excuse I would not frame."

The position was a terrible one. Ralegh had been waiting for months, trusting to the loyalty of Keymis to execute his great enterprise; and it was Keymis's very loyalty to Ralegh which was the real cause of his failure; for he would not open the mine unless he was quite sure that his master alone should benefit. Keymis was wrong. But he could not bear Ralegh to think that his conduct had been remiss; he could not bear to think that he had injured the master for whom he would gladly have given his life. Nor could he make Ralegh understand even the reason of his action. "I know then, sir, what course to take," said Keymis, when he found he could not move Ralegh from his attitude of censure, and he went away "out of my cabin into his own, in which he was no sooner entered, but I heard a pistol go off. I sent up to know who had shot a pistol. Keymis himself made answer, lying on his bed, that he had shot it off because it had long been charged, with which I was satisfied. Some half-hour after this, the boy going into his cabin found him dead, having a long knife thrust under his left pap through his heart, and his pistol lying by him, with which it appeared that he had shot himself, but the bullet lighting upon a rib, had but broken the rib, and went no farther."

Such was the end of Ralegh's long period of waiting. The tragedy is great and real. He had trusted to Captain Keymis implicitly; and Keymis, through excess of loyalty, had failed him. The only fault in either is that each was a little too true to his own character. Keymis's death shook Ralegh to the depths of his nature. Now more than ever he had need of men staunch as the dead Keymis.

For mutiny broke out among the men. Captains Whitney and Wollaston deserted. The men declared that they had joined the expedition merely to loot the Spaniards and plunder they would have. The mine had failed. Well, they would turn pirates and attack the Spanish fleet on its way home. They threatened to throw Ralegh into the sea if he persisted in his resolution to return. He quieted them as much as lay in his power; but at last his great power was shaken and enfeebled, by imprisonment, by long sickness, by age, by the King's treachery, by disaster on disaster. He had still sufficient power to keep to his resolution and to force his men to some semblance of obedience, but in the old days no mutiny would have happened. Sulkily the men set sail for home, and Ralegh knew from the letters which Keymis had brought him from St. Thomas, that he was returning to disgrace and death.

From St. Christopher's, on this sad journey back, he forced himself to tell his wife the bad news of their son's death. He had no comfort for her. He was inured to grief. "God knows I never knewe what sorrow meant till now," he writes. "My braines are broken, and it is a torment for me to write, and especially of misery." And in a postscript, "I protest before the Majesty of God that as Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins died hart broken when they failed of their enterprize, I could willingly doe the like did I not contend against sorrow for your sake in hope to provide somewhat for you, and to comfort and relieve you."

The remainder of the voyage back was as disastrous as had been the outward voyage. Storms broke upon the ships and separated them. Some put in at Ireland; Captain Pennington, who had ridden back at the last moment to obtain money for supplies from Lady Ralegh, put in at Kinsale, and his ship was immediately seized. The Destiny arrived at Plymouth on June 21 alone; and at Plymouth Ralegh met his wife, and there he stayed until the second week of July.

In his last great enterprize he had failed, and he returned to give an account of his failure, and to face the ignominy which his failure entailed. He was resolved, however, to make one last effort to clear his name, and to reinstate his family in some semblance of prosperity. He was an old man now, and one who had been buffeted by misfortune, but the spirit of life was still strong in him.

CHAPTER XIX