' I was no sooner,' writes Raleigh,' ' come from him
into my cabin than I heard a pistol go off over my
head, and sending up to know who shot it, word was
brought that Reymish had shot it out of his cabin
window to cleanse it. His boy going into the cabin,
found him lying on his bed with much blood by him,
and looking on his face saw he was dead. The pistol
being but little, the bullet did but crack his rib, but
on turning him over found a long knife in his body
all but the handle.'

With the death of Keymish, hia own sickness, the
loss of many of his men, and the mortification which
had been engendered throughout the fleet by the
failure of the expedition, Raleigh saw ruin staring
him in the &ce. He had not the funds, nor had his
dispirited men the wiU, to make another attempt upon
the mine ; besides, he had relied upon Keymish, who
knew the country and who was to have been in charge
of aU mining operations, and he, alas ! in a fit of sen-
sitiveness had perished by his own band. In spite
of all orders to act on the defensive and not on the
aggressive, Keymish and his men had beaten down
the twig huts of St. Thomas, had shot the governor,
and had looted the settlement of what valuables it
possessed. He knew that if Spain remonstrated — and

> Slatt Papers, Bomtttir, Raleigh to Sir Ralph Winwood, March
31, 161&



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188 STtJDIES RE-STUDIED.
