From the moment of its departure misfortune attended the expedition of Raleigh: sickness decimated his crews and stretched him upon a bed of suffering. He found the Spaniards warned of his approach and disposed to oppose his progress. The little squadron which he commissioned to ascend the river Oronoco, in search of the gold-mine, was attacked by the Spaniards of the town of St. Thomas; in return, the English captured and burnt down the town. [Image] Sir Walter Raleigh. {29} The son of Raleigh was killed, the crews mutinied, and the expedition returned without gold and almost without soldiers. Sir Walter Raleigh, distracted with grief and anger, flew into a passion with Captain Kemyss, who commanded the detachment; his old friend, in despair, killed himself. Other captains abandoned their unfortunate chief. The sailors were in revolt, those who remained urged Sir Walter to return to former methods, and to overrun the sea and the coasts with them in order to seize and pillage the Spanish ships and settlements. Raleigh resisted, not without some efforts and relapses. He set sail, however, for England. When he landed in the month of June, 1618, he learnt that a warrant of arrest had been issued against him. Spain had complained of the capture of St. Thomas. The governor, who had been killed, was a relative of Gondomar, the ambassador in England; the latter had raised the cry of piracy and made threats of royal vengeance. The moment was fatal to Raleigh. James was negotiating for the marriage of his son with the Infanta, Donna Anna, daughter of Philip III. He was resolved to please Spain at any price. Raleigh was soon lodged in the Tower once more. "The guilty man is in our hands," wrote Buckingham to Gondomar, "and we have seized his ships; if it please the king your lord, his Majesty will punctually fulfill his engagements, by sending the criminals to suffer their punishment in Spain, unless he should find it more satisfactory and exemplary that the chastisement should be inflicted upon them in England." Philip III. deigned to entrust this business to King James. {30}