The Lily and the Totem; or, The Huguenots in Florida

by William Gilmore Simms

  CHAPTER IV.

  THE COUNCIL OF WAR AT SELOOE.

  It was midnight when the assemblage of the Spanish captains took placein the great council house of the savages of Selooe. Already, thatnight, had the place been consecrated by the performance of a solemnmass in honor of the Holy Spirit. The purposes of the present gatheringwere, in the opinion of Melendez, not less honorable to the Deity. Rudelogs strewn about the building, even as they had been employed by thered-men, furnished seats for the Spanish officers. They surrounded agreat fire of resinous pine, which now blazed brightly in the centreof the apartment. In this respect the scene had rather the appearanceof savage rites than of Christian council. In silence, the nobles ofCastile, of Biscay and the Asturias took their places. Their eyes werevacant, and their hearts were depressed. They caught nothing of thatexulting blaze which lightened up the features of Melendez.

  "Oh! ye of little faith!" he exclaimed, rising in their midst, "isit thus that ye give acknowledgment to God for the blessings ye havereceived at his hands, and for that care of the Guardian Shepherd, towhich ye, thus far, owe your safety? Have ye already lost the memory ofthat wondrous sign wrought this day for your deliverance,--when youreyes beheld a wall of storm and thunder pass between your captainand his little barques, and the overwhelming squadron of the hereticRibault? Was this manifestation of his guardian providence made for usin vain? Said it not, plainly as the voice of Heaven might say, that ourmission was not ended--that there was other work to be wrought by ourhands, and that he was with us, to help us in the great achievement ofhis purposes. Lo! you now, the very storm, that rages about us, andbeneath the terrors of which ye tremble, is but a further proof of hisguardianship. Under cover of the rages of the tempest, shall we press onto the complete achievement of our work. We shall march to the conquestof La Caroline,--we shall destroy these arch-heretics--these enemies ofGod, in the very fortress of their strength--in the very place whichthey have set apart, in the vain hope of security, as their home ofrefuge!"

  Audible murmurs here arrested the speaker.

  "What is it that ye fear, my children?" continued Melendez.

  Then some among them cried out--"What madness is it that we hear?Shall we, thus enfeebled as we are, with our great ships speeding toHispaniola, here, left as we are on the wild shores of the savage, notyet entrenched, shall we divide our strength, in the hope to conquer LaCaroline, leaving to the heretic Ribault to fall upon our camp when wedepart, to pursue us as we tread the great forests of the Floridian, andto destroy us between the power which he brings and that which awaits usat La Caroline?"

  "Oh! my brethren! would ye could see with my vision! Ribault will nottrouble our camp, neither will he pursue us in our absence. He speedsbefore the terrors of the tempest. He flies from the destruction whichwill scarcely suffer him to escape. A voice cries to me that he alreadyperishes beneath the engulphing waters of the Mexican sea; or is castupon the bleak and treacherous shores and islands which guard the domainof the Floridian. Even if he should escape these dangers, weeks mustpass before he can return to these waters of Selooe, the heathen empireof which we have consecrated with the name and confided to the holykeeping of the blessed St. Augustine! This tempest is no summer gale,subsiding as rapidly as it begins. It will rage thus for many days. Inthat time, encouraged by the Lord, we shall pass the forest wastes thatlie between us and La Caroline. With five hundred men, and a host ofthese red warriors, we shall penetrate in less than four days to thefortress of the heretics--and while they dream that they sleep securelyunder the shadows of the tempest, we shall rush upon their slumbers,and give them to sleep eternally. My valiant comrades, this is theresolution which I have taken; but I would hear your counsel. I wouldnot that ye should not cheerfully adopt the resolve which is assuredly adictate from Heaven itself. For, if we destroy not these heretics, theywill destroy us. If we cut off the people of La Caroline ere Ribaultshall return, his fortress is ours, the cannon of which we shall turnupon him. It is a war _a l'outrance_ between us. They will give us noquarter: they shall have none. This tempest gives us the assurance thatwe shall have no danger from Ribault, if we seize the precious momentsfor our enterprise, when he is vainly striving with the tempests of thedeep, and vainly striving against the winds that bear him away hourlystill farther from the scene of our achievements."

  We need not pursue the deliberations of the Spanish council. It isenough if we report the result. In the speeches of Melendez, alreadymade, we see the full force of his argument, which was sound andsensible, and could only be opposed by the fears of those who soughtto avoid exposure, who dreaded the elements, the unknown in theircondition, and who shrunk from enterprises which promised nothing buthard blows, and which tasked their hardihood beyond all their pastexperience in war. There were arguments and pleas put in by theover-cautious and the timid, to all of which the Adelantado listenedpatiently, but to all of which he opposed his arguments, based at onceupon the obvious policy natural to their circumstances, and to theequally obvious requisitions of the Deity, as shown by an interpositionin their favor, which they were all prepared to acknowledge as ferventlyas Melendez. His quiet but inflexible will prevailed; the councilgradually became of his mind. The unsatisfied were at least silenced,while those whom he convinced were clamorous in their plaudits of ascheme which they ascribed, as Melendez did himself, to the immediaterevelation of Heaven.

  "I thank you, noble gentlemen," were the words of the Adelantado, asthey separated for the night. "That our opinions so well correspondincreases my confidence in our plan. Not that I had doubts before. I hadthy assurance, oh! Lord! that this adventure had thy heavenly sanction._In te Domine speravi_,--let us never be confounded! And now, mycomrades, let us separate. With the dawn, though the storm rages still,as I hope and believe it will, we must prepare for this enterprise. Weshall choose five hundred of our best soldiers, carry with us provisionsfor eight days, and in that time our work will be done. Our force willbe divided into six companies, each with its flag and captain, and aselect body of pioneers, armed with axes, shall be sent before to opena pathway through the forest. That we have no guide is a misfortune;but God will provide so that we fail not. Fortunately we know in whatquarter lies La Caroline--the distance is known also, and we shall notgo wide, if we are only resolved to seek and to destroy the hereticswith firm and valiant hearts, filled with a proper faith in heaven."

  Even as he concluded, one at the entrance of the council-house entreatedentrance. It proved to be a priest, the Reverend Father Salvandi, whobrought with him a strange man, overgrown with beard, and partly in thecostume of a mariner.

  "My son," said the priest, "here is the very man you want. This is oneFrancis Jean, a Frenchman,--once a heretic, but now, conscious of hiserrors, and repentant in the hands of Holy Church. He hath recanted ofhis sins, and hath come back willingly to the folds of Christ. He hathfled from La Caroline, from the cruelties of Laudonniere, the heretic,and will report what he knows, touching the condition of the Lutheranfortress and the people thereof."

  "Said I not, my comrades, that God would provide!" cried Melendez inexultation. "This is the very man whom we want. What art thou?"--to theFrenchman.

  "I was a heretic, my lord,--I am now a Christian. I was beaten byLaudonniere, and I fled from him, taking off one of his barques. He hathsworn my life; I would take his. I know the route to La Caroline. I willshow the way to your soldiers."

  "Ah! Laudonniere will hang you, if he gets you into his power."

  "For that reason, my lord, I would have you get him in yours."

  "You shall have your wish. The Lord hath indeed spoken! Your name?"

  "Francis Jean!"

  "Be faithful--guide my people to this fortress of the heretics, and youshall be rewarded. But, if treacherous, Francis Jean, you shall hang tothe first tree of the forest!"

  "Doubt me not, my lord. I will do you good service!"

  "Be it so! My comrades--the Lord hath provided. Senor Martin de Ochoa,take this man into thy keep
ing. Do him no hurt,--let him be wellentreated, but let him not escape from thy sight."

  The Reverend Father Salvandi bestowed his benediction upon the kneelingcircle, and they separated for the night. And still the storm roaredwithout, and still the rains descended, but the heart of Melendezrejoiced in the tempest, as it were an angel sent by Heaven to hissuccor.