ed English
blood. It was Philip that taught our men primero--and the best player is
he who can bluff, so playing his hand that his enemy guesses not the
truth. And the stake in this game is--Empire."

Ralegh's head lifted as if he saw visions. In silence the three
joined the company now assembling to see the masque of the children.
Bravely it went, nimbly the dancers footed it, sweetly rang the
choruses, and well did the little chief and captain play their parts. At
the end the Queen, saying in merry courtesy that she could do no less
for him who had found her a kingdom and him who freely gave it,
presented a ring set with a carnelian heart to Hal Kempe who played
Cabot, but about the neck of Tom Poope she hung a golden chain, for if
he had to wear her fetters, she said, they should at least be golden.
And so the play came to an end, and work began.

[Illustration: "IF HE HAD TO WEAR HER FETTERS, THEY SHOULD AT LEAST BE
GOLDEN."--_Page_ 245]

On April 27, with a fair wind, the two ships of Ralegh's venture went
down to the Channel and out upon the western ocean. They had good
fortune, for not a Spaniard crossed their course. Nine weeks later they
sighted the coast which the French had once called Carolina. Before they
were near enough to see it well they caught the scent of a wilderness of
flowering vines and trees blown seaward, and as they neared the shore
they saw tall cedars and goodly cypresses, pines and oaks and many other
trees, some of them quite unknown to English soil. It is written in
Armadas's journal that the wild grapes were so abundant near the sea
that sometimes the waves washed over them; and the sands were yellow as
gold. The first time that an arquebus was fired, great flocks of birds
rose from the trees, screaming all together like the shouting of an
army, but there seemed to be no fierce beasts nor indeed any large
animals.

"With kine, sheep, cattle, and poultry, and such herbs and grain as can
be brought from England," said Armadas, "this land would sure be a
paradise on earth."

"You forget the serpent," returned Barlowe, who had been reared by a
Puritan grandfather and knew his Bible.

"I am not likely to forget our great enemy while the name of Ribault or
Coligny remains unforgotten," said the other. "All the more reason why
this land should be kept for the Religion."

Indeed when they landed they found little in the country or the people
to recall Adam's doom. They set up their Engli