the old sentence hung over his head.

The expedition of fourteen vessels started in March, 1617, but even from
the commencement the voyage was disastrous. First a gale was
encountered, which drove the fleet to take refuge in Cork Harbour, where
it lay until August. This seems to have put a damper on the commander,
who now began to realise how much depended on his success. He was
twenty-two years older than when he went on his first voyage to Guiana,
and most of those years he had spent in captivity. Is it any wonder that
when the excitement attendant on his release had gone off he became sick
and utterly prostrated? Such was his condition when the fleet arrived at
Cayenne, where he went to look for his Indian boy Harry, who had gone
back to his people and was now wanted as interpreter.

So low was Ralegh's condition that he had to be carried ashore, and
although he soon became a little better under a course of fresh meat and
fruits, he never wholly recovered. So great was his weakness, both of
mind and body, that he deputed Keymis to lead the party up the Orinoco,
while he rested at Cayenne; in a few days he would go on to Trinidad and
wait there until they returned. Keymis accordingly went on, accompanied
by young Walter Ralegh, a number of other gentlemen, and four hundred
soldiers. They arrived at the site of the supposed gold mine without
accident, but found that since the first expedition some Spaniards had
built "a town of sticks, covered with leaves," and this stood in the way
of their approach to the mine. Possibly Keymis now thought of his
master's expression in regard to St. Joseph, and did not care to "savour
of an ass" by leaving the enemy to interfere with his work. He therefore
attacked this town of St. Thome, and set it on fire. Unfortunately young
Ralegh was killed in the fight, and the thought of how he could tell
this bad news preyed upon the mind of Keymis until all relish for
gold-seeking was lost. The Spaniards took to the bush, from whence they
sallied forth on any small party of the English, and ultimately put them
into a state of confusion. The mine could not be found, the adventurers
began to complain that they had been fooled, and Keymis was so troubled
that he seemed neither to know nor care anything about treasure-seeking.

Ralegh had meanwhile arrived in the Gulf of Paria, where he received the
news of the burning of St. Thome and the death of his son from some
Indians. Presently Keymis arr