oisy braggart. He managed to throw the man
into a chair and bind him with a rope. Then he knotted the man's beard
and moustache together so that his mouth was sealed. The rest of the
tavern applauded him for his neat manner of silencing the boaster.

He did not always come out on top, however. On one occasion he fought in
the street with Sir Thomas Perrot, and was arrested by the town watch.
He was brought to trial, and sent to the Fleet prison for six days. The
imprisonment meant very little to him, it was simply part of the life of
adventure he was so fond of living.

We must remember that all England, in this age of Elizabeth, was full of
this same spirit of adventure. Young men were rising rapidly; there were
a hundred ways to gain distinction, and many of them, although ways
which we might consider rather doubtful nowadays, were then regarded as
quite proper. Walter Raleigh kept his eyes wide open, and when he saw a
promising chance, he was always ready to accept it. The first adventure
that offered was to take part in a seafaring expedition.

Englishmen of fortune in those days were in the habit of fitting out
privateers to roam the seas, much like pirates. Sir Humphrey Gilbert had
planned to send some such ships to the banks of Newfoundland to capture
any Portuguese or Spanish vessels that might have gone there for the
fishing. He intended to bring his prizes back to some Dutch port, and
there sell them. Walter liked this plan and he talked it over with Sir
Humphrey, but for some reason the plan failed.

A very little while afterward, however, Sir Humphrey asked him to sail
in an expedition that was supposed to be searching for the northwest
passage to Cathay, but which in reality was intended to seize any
heathen lands it might find and occupy them in the name of England. The
fleet sailed, but soon fell in with a Spanish squadron that was looking
for just such English rovers. Sir Humphrey's fleet was beaten, and
forced to return home. So for a time young Raleigh's chances of winning
fortune on the seas were ended.

He went back to London, and took up his former life at court. Very soon
he was sent with some troops to Ireland, and there again he had a chance
at the same sort of fighting he had known in France. He proved himself a
good soldier; he shunned no toil nor danger. But the life he had to lead
was a hard one, and very poorly paid, and Raleigh saw no chance to make
his fortune in that path.

Now, how