e galleys escaped both Spanish and English
fury.

[Sidenote: _The Spoil._]

To the English leaders were allotted many rich prisoners. 'Some,' wrote
Ralegh, 'had for them sixty-six, or twenty, thousand ducats, some ten
thousand, beside great houses of merchandise.' Had it not been for his
wound, he avows with candour that he also should have possessed himself
of 'some house.' As it was, his part of the spoils was 'a lame leg and
deformed. I have not been wanting in good words, or exceeding kind and
regardful usage, but have possession of nought but poverty and pain.'
His complaint was an exaggeration. It is inconsistent with the report of
the royal commissioners. They drew up an inventory subsequently at
Plymouth of the spoil appropriated by the chiefs, except Essex and the
two Howards. In their tables Ralegh's plunder is valued at L1769, which
he was allowed to keep. But he fared ill in comparison, for example,
with Vere, who secured an amount of L3628. He appears also to have been
disappointed in an expectancy he had of L3000 prize-money from the
proceeds, among other booty, of those two well-furnished Apostles
aforesaid, as he familiarly terms the St. Matthew and St. Andrew.
Another and more generous grievance was the inferiority of the gains of
his seamen to those of the soldiers. With other principal officers of
the fleet he offended Vere by backing the sailors in their demand for a
search of the soldiers' chests. Throughout there had been ill-will
between Vere and him. Before they set out they disputed precedence. The
contention was compromised on the terms that Vere should have priority
on land, and Ralegh on water. During the voyage the strife was inflamed
by Sir Arthur Throckmorton's hot temper. On the return to England a
fresh outburst of professional jealousy fretted the sore.

[Sidenote: _Return of the Expedition._]

Essex was for holding Cadiz; and Vere engaged for its retention if he
might keep four thousand men. But it was known the measure would be
disliked at Court. The owners of booty, moreover, wanted to convey it
home. Consequently, most of the town was demolished, and its
fortifications were dismantled. As Ralegh writes in the _History of the
World_, describing Cadiz as one of the three keys of the Spanish Empire,
bequeathed by Charles the Fifth to Philip: 'We stayed not to pick any
lock, but brake open the doors, and, having rifled all, threw the key
into the fire.' On July 5 the army embarked.