my friends will not believe them; and for the
rest I care not.' This 'scum of men' being gone, he told Winwood he
should be able, if he lived, to keep the sea till the end of August,
with four reasonably good ships. His object he did not specify. Off
Newfoundland the soldiers in his ship, he declared, wanted him to turn
pirate with them. They compelled him to swear he would not go home
without their leave. Among them were four convicted criminals. These
were afraid to set foot in England unless Ralegh obtained their pardons
from the Crown. He compromised by landing them at Kinsale, where he
touched after a storm had scattered his ships. There is no record that
Boyle or other old friends came now to salute him. But Sir Oliver St.
John, at the time Lord Deputy, wrote word on May 30 to George Carew of
his arrival, probably on May 24. Three ships, commanded by Sir John
Ferne, Captain Pennington, and Captain King, happened also to have taken
refuge in Kinsale harbour. St. John expressed his deep sorrow for
Ralegh's ill-success, which he attributed to 'the failing and mutinying
of those that ought rather to have died with him than left him.' He
instructed Lord Thomond to 'secure those captains, mutineers, and their
ships.' Captain King was the one loyal man among them. In the
_Declaration_ of 1618 Ralegh was alleged, as they may believe who will,
to have offered the Destiny at Kinsale to his officers, and also
previously off Newfoundland to some of his chief captains, if they would
only set him aboard a French bark, 'as being loath to put his head under
the King's girdle.'

CHAPTER XXVII.

RETURN TO THE TOWER (June-August, 1618).

[Sidenote: _Bayley's Calumnies._]

He arrived in his flagship the Destiny at Plymouth on June 21. No other
ships accompanied him. At the news Lady Ralegh, sorrowing and glad,
hastened from London. No painter has tried to portray the meeting, one
of the most pathetic scenes in English history. His return had long been
provided for by others than his noble wife. Captain Bayley, who stole
away from Lancerota early in September, 1617, reached England in
October. There he skulked about, spreading his fable that he had
deserted because he was persuaded Ralegh intended to turn pirate. He
circulated among his friends copies of a journal kept by him while he
remained in the fleet, in which that view was enforced. The Lord
Admiral, no partial friend of Ralegh's, had his ship and cargo seized,
an