White thought it would be profitable to imitate the exploits of Drake and
Grenville, and take a few prizes to Roanoke with him. But he was the ass
in the lion's hide. One of his ships was itself attacked and gutted, and
with the other he fled in terror back to London. Raleigh could not help
him now; his own fortune was exhausted; and it was not until the Armada
had come and gone, and the country had in a measure recovered itself from
the shocks of war, that succor could be attempted. The charter which had
been granted to Raleigh enabled him to give liberal terms to a company of
merchants and others, who on their part could raise the funds for the
voyage. But though Raleigh executed this patent in the spring of 1589, it
was not until more than a year afterward that the expedition was ready to
sail. White went with them, and we may imagine with what straining eyes he
scanned the spot where he had last beheld his daughter and grandchild, as
the ship glided up the inlet.

But no one came forth between the trees to wave a greeting to his
long-deferred return; there were no figures on the shore, no smoke of
family fires rose heavenward; families and hearths alike were gone. The
place was a desert. Little Virginia Dare and the Lost Colony of Roanoke
had already passed out of history, leaving no clew to their fate except
the single word "CROATAN" inscribed on the bark of a tree. It was the name
of an island further down the coast; and had White gone thither, he might
even yet have found the lost. But he was a man unfitted in all respects to
live in that age and take part in its enterprise. He was a soft, feeble,
cowardly and unfaithful creature, yet vain and ambitious, and eager to
share the fame of men immeasurably larger and worthier than he. He could
draw pictures, but he could not do deeds; and now, after having deserted
those to whom he had been in honor bound to cleave, he pleaded the excuse
of bad weather and the lateness of the season for abandoning them once
more; and, re-embarking on his ship, he went back with all his company to