Francis Drake in command. He was returning from a profitable pirating
expedition against the Spaniards in the West Indies, and desired to
see for himself how the colony sent out by his friend Raleigh was
prospering. Out of his easily-got abundance he generously supplied the
needs of the colonists, and presented them with a ship into the bargain,
in which they might sail home should circumstances demand it. A couple of
his most experienced officers, too, were added to the gift of the generous
freebooter; and the outlook was now very different from what it had been a
few days before. Yet fate was against them; or, to speak more accurately,
they had lost the spirit which should animate pioneers, and when a touch
of bad luck was added to their indisposition, they incontinently beat a
retreat. A storm arose, which wrecked the ship that Drake had given them,
and thus deprived them of the means of escape in case other disasters
should arrive. They besought Drake to take them home with him; and he,
with inexhaustible good humor, agreed to do so. His fleet, with the
slack-souled colonists on board, had scarcely lost sight of the low shores
of Roanoke, when the supply ship that had been so long awaited arrived
with all the requisites for subduing the wilderness on board. She found
the place deserted, and, putting about, sailed for home again. A fortnight
later came Sir Richard Grenville with three ships more; and he, being of a
persistent nature, would not consent to lose altogether the fruit of the
efforts which had been made; he left fifteen of his men on the island, to
carry on until fresh colonists could be brought from England. But before
this could be done the men were dead, whether by the act of God or of the
savages; and the first English experience in colonizing America was at an
end.

The story of the second colony, immediately sent out by Raleigh, ends
with a mystery that probably hid a tragedy. Seventeen women and two
children accompanied the eighty-nine men of the party. Having established