contributed evidence towards
Boyle's defence against some demands founded by Ralegh's old partner
Pyne upon a lease alleged by him to have been granted him by Ralegh
many years before, in extension of a shorter term. Ralegh, though on
good terms at the time with Pyne, seems to have assured Boyle of his
belief that the second demise was a counterfeit fabricated by Meere. His
dealings, however, were very complicated, and his remembrance of them
necessarily not always clear. In 1618 he became dubious if he had not
been too positive against Pyne's title. He requested, on the eve of his
death, that he should not be considered a witness either for or against
it.

[Sidenote: _Fray at Lancerota._]

The fleet stayed at Cork from June 25 to August 19. Then it made a fresh
start. Off Cape St. Vincent, Captain Bayley, of the ship Southampton,
boarded four French vessels, and took from them a fishing net, a
pinnace, and some oil. A report of the capture reached Madrid, where it
was denounced as piracy. In truth Ralegh had been scrupulous. He
insisted on buying the goods of the owners at the price of sixty-one
crowns, to the high indignation of Bayley. The captor's argument was
that he found the Frenchmen had procured their cargo by piracy in the
West Indies, and he, therefore, had lawfully confiscated it. Ralegh did
not admit that the charge would, if true, justify him in refusing
compensation. Frenchmen and Englishmen alike, he held, could plunder
Spaniards 'beyond the line.' Lancerota, one of the Great Canaries, was
reached on September 6. The islanders happened to be under the influence
of a special panic. Barbary corsairs had been ravaging a neighbouring
island. Next year they laid Lancerota itself waste. When Ralegh's fleet
appeared it was supposed to be the Barbary squadron. Some sailors having
landed, three were murdered. Ralegh showed remarkable forbearance. He
would suffer no vengeance to be taken. An English merchantman, belonging
to one Reeks of Ratcliff, lay in the harbour. Ralegh knew it would have
to bear the penalty of retaliation by him. Bayley, however, seized upon
the pretext of the broil. He affected to see in that, onesided as it
was, evidence of Ralegh's piratical temper. In a fit of virtuous horror
at his Admiral who had docked his prize money of sixty-one crowns, he
deserted, and sailed home.

[Sidenote: _Sickness in the Fleet._]

At Gomera, one of the Lesser Canaries, the fleet found more hospitality.
T