When the spy, Captain Bailey, arrived in England he despatched his account of the proceedings at Lanzarote to Buckingham, and Buckingham lost no time in acquainting King James. On October 22 Gondomar wrote fully to the King of Spain about the expedition, and Philip was more urgent than ever in pressing Sir John Digby and Lord Cottington and Lord Roos, who had been sent to Madrid by James to arrange the terms of the marriage between the Infanta and Prince Charles, that Ralegh might be immediately recalled and punished. King James was abject in his apology, and became more and more inclined to the sacrifice of Ralegh. But the spy Captain Bailey's account was too carelessly prepared; Cottington discovered divergences; Lord Carew, Master of the Ordnance, declared "those who malice Sir Walter boldly affirm him to be a pirate, which for my part I will never believe." Moreover "the poor Englishman riding in the road," whose name was Reeks, arrived on the scene and told a different story of the event. It was most unfortunate for the spy, Captain Bailey, who was sent to the Gatehouse at Westminster. [Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEGH] His pretty story was proved to be an invention, but that mattered little subsequently; the invention served its purpose. Meanwhile Ralegh's fleet had arrived at Gomera, "one of the strongest and best defenced places of all the islands, and the best port; the town being seated upon the very wash of the sea." Guns were fired at the ships at their first approach, and the ships answered. But as soon as Ralegh came up in the _Destiny_ he gave orders that the firing should immediately cease, and sent a Spaniard, whom he had taken on a bark which came from Cape Blanc, to assure the governor of the town that he intended no harm of any kind to the subjects of the Spanish King. The governor replied that he had mistaken the fleet for the Turks who had sacked Puerto Sancto, "but being resolved by the messenger that we were Christians and English, and sought nothing but water, he would willingly afford us as much as we were pleased to take, if he might be assured that we would not attempt his town houses nor destroy his gardens and fruits." Ralegh gave full assurance, vowing to hang up in the market-place any man of his who should lay marauding hands on so much as one orange or a grape. Their courtesies did not end here. The governor's wife happened to be an English gentlewoman, and she sent Ralegh gifts of fruits, of sugar, of rusks, and saw to it that his stay at the island was agreeable. Sir Walter sent her presents of gloves and scent, and a picture of Mary Magdalen which hung in his cabin. These days which he spent at Gomera could have been the only time in this last great adventure of which he could have a pleasant memory.