ht that he spoke by
authority. Mr. Secretary Winwood, it is admitted, calculated upon a
collision with the Spaniards, and even upon Ralegh's seizure of the
plate-fleet. He would not shrink from the capture of a Guiana fort. They
alone will treat Ralegh's assertion, if it were his, as 'evidence of his
unblushing effrontery,' to whom his accounts are necessarily mendacious,
and those of the Court, King James's Court, necessarily honest. In any
case the point matters little, as Ralegh is admitted to have himself
decided against the plan. His final instructions to Keymis and George
Ralegh were that they should endeavour to reach the Mine, as he imagined
they might, without a struggle. He bade them encamp between it and the
town, which, as he believed, lay beyond. Thus the soldiers would cover
the miners as they worked. 'If,' said he, 'you find the Mine royal, and
the Spaniards begin to war upon you, you, George Ralegh, are to repel
them, and to drive them as far as you can.' To Keymis he said, 'If you
find the Mine be not so rich as may persuade the holding of it, and
draw on a second supply, then you shall bring but a basket or two, to
satisfy his Majesty that my design was not imaginary, but true, though
not answerable to his Majesty's expectation.' If there appeared to be
many new soldiers, 'so that, without manifest peril of my son and the
other captains, you cannot pass towards the Mine, then be well advised
how you land. For I know, a few gentlemen excepted, what a scum of men
you have. And I would not, for all the world, receive a blow from the
Spaniards to the dishonour of our nation. I myself for my weakness
cannot be present. Neither will the companies land, except I stay with
the ships, the galleons of Spain being daily expected. My nephew is but
a young man. It is therefore on your judgment that I rely. You shall
find me at Puncto Gallo, dead or alive. And if you find not my ships
there, you shall find their ashes. For I will fire, with the galleons,
if it come to extremity; run will I never.'

[Sidenote: _Departure for the Mine._]

The expedition started with a month's provisions on December 10. Its
progress was slow, and accidents detained Whitney's and Wollaston's
vessels. The rest took three weeks to reach the Isle of Yaya, styled by
Ralegh Assapana. The isle is opposite to the modern town of St. Raphael
of Barrancas. Preparations had been made by the Spaniards to resist
further progress. Antonio de Berreo