"Yes, your Majesty, we found what is not in all England, for when we landed, the low, sandy shore was so overgrown with grapes that the very beating and surge of the sea overflowed them; the vines ran over hills and plains, they climbed every little shrub, and they made their way to the tops of the cedars. I do think that in all the world the like abundance is not to be found." "Perfumes and grapes," said the queen. "Raleigh, my man, that is a good beginning. Send your skippers away, and tell me what is your request, for I know you have one. When will you ever cease begging, Walter?" "When you cease to be so kind a benefactress," was the courtier's shrewd and graceful reply. The skippers were sent away, and the queen said:-- "Now tell me about this land of grapes. Fruit and perfumes are well enough, but they do little to fill an empty treasury. What else lies within your patent?" "There are beasts of all kinds that roam the forests, there are birds and fish, there are the highest and reddest cedars of the world, coral of red and white, pearls, fruits, vegetables, natives that are gentle and kindly and void of all guile and treason." "What do you call this paradise of yours?" "The natives call it Wingina." "I'll give you a better name. It was visited while a virgin queen was on the throne, so call it Virginia, and I'll be its godmother." "O, Madam," said Raleigh with enthusiasm, "never had a sovereign such a chance to add to the glory of her renown. America is not only a country in which one may make a fortune, it is a fortune in itself. Why should it not become a second home of the English nation?" The queen's eyes kindled. "How could that be?" she asked. "Your Majesty," he answered, eagerly, "the soil of Virginia is the richest in the world. The natives sow their corn in May and they reap it in July; they sow it again in June and July, and they reap it but two months after the planting. Our men put peas into the ground, and in ten days they were fourteen inches high. Beans and wheat and oats may be had for the asking." "And supposing my good friend Philip should fall upon these amazingly fertile lands, he might put the colonists to the sword even before their peas were above the ground." "Might we not also fancy a strong band of colonists building vessels of the goodly trees of the Virginia forests and sailing out boldly into the Atlantic to capture the treasure ships of Spain? Might not the colonists steer to the northward and free our Newfoundland fishing grounds from the hateful presence of the Spaniard?" "'Walter, thou reasonest well,'" laughed the queen, "but one little thing you've mayhap forgot. Tell me, Walter, my man, where shall we find these worthy colonists who are to raise corn in two months and fight King Philip while it is growing?" "Your Majesty," answered the courtier gravely, "those who are driven from England will be our colonists." "Driven from England," repeated the queen, "what mean you by that?"