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

by William Gilmore Simms

  V.

  GOURGUES WELCOMED BY THE FLORIDIANS.

  It was not very long before his vessels drew in sight of one of theForts of the Spaniards, situated at the entrance of May River. So littledid they apprehend the approach of any French armament, that theysaluted that of De Gourgues, as if they had been ships of their ownnation, mistaking them as such. Our chevalier encouraged their mistake.He answered their salute, gun for gun; but he passed onward without anyintercourse, and the night following entered the river, called by theIndians Tacatacourou, but to which the French had given the name of theSeine, some fifteen leagues distant.

  Here, confounding the strangers with the Spaniards, a formidable host ofIndians were prepared to give them battle. The red-men had by thistime fully experienced the tender mercies of their brutal and bigotedneighbors; and had learned to contrast them unfavorably with what theyremembered of the Frenchmen under Ribault and Laudonniere. With all thefaults of the latter, they knew him really as a gentle and moderatecommander; by no means blood-thirsty, and doing nothing in mere lust ofpower, wantonly, and with a spirit of malicious provocation only. Therewere also other influences at work among them, by which to impress themfavorably towards the French, and make them bitterly hostile to theusurpers by whom they had been destroyed. It needed, therefore, onlythat Gourgues should make himself known to the natives, to discovertheir hostility. He employed for this purpose his trumpeter, who hadserved under Laudonniere, and was well known to the king, Satouriova,whose province lay along the waters of the Tacatacourou, and with whosetribe it was the good fortune of our Frenchmen to encounter. Satouriova,knew the trumpeter at once, and received him graciously. He soonrevealed the existing relations between the red-men and the Spaniards,and was delighted when assured that the Frenchmen had come to renew andbrighten the ancient chain of friendship which had bound the red-menin amity with the people of La Caroline. The interview was full ofcompliment and good feeling on both sides. The next day was designatedfor a grand conference between Satouriova and Gourgues. The interviewopened with a wild and picturesque display, which, on the part of theIndians, loses nothing of its dignity because of its rudeness. Thestem and simple manners of the red-men, their deliberation, theirforbearance, the calm which overspreads their assemblies, the statelysolemnity with which the orator rises to address them, their patientattention; these are ordinary characteristics, which make the spectatorforgetful of their poverty, their rude condition, the inferiorityof their weapons, and the ridiculous simplicity of their ornaments.Satouriova anticipated the objects of Gourgues. Before the lattercould detail his designs, the savage declared his deadly hatred of theSpaniards. He was already assembling his people for their destruction.They should have no foothold on his territories!

  All this was spoken with great vivacity; and he proceeded to give a longhistory of the wrongs done to his people by the usurpers. He recurred,then, to the terrible destruction of the Frenchmen at La Caroline, andat the Bay of Matanzas; and voluntarily pledged himself, with all hispowers, to aid Gourgues in the contemplated work of vengeance.

  The response of our chevalier was easy. He accepted the pledges ofSatouriova with delight. He had not come, he said, with any presentdesign to assail the Spaniards, but rather with the view to renew theancient alliance of the Frenchmen with the Floridians; and, should hefind them in the proper temper to rise against the usurpers, then, tobring with him an armament sufficiently powerful to rid the country ofthe intruders. But, as he found Satouriova in such excellent spirit,and filled with so brave a resolution, he was determined, even with thesmall force at his command, to second the chief in his desires to ridhimself of his bad neighbors.

  "Do you but join your forces to mine,--bring all your strength--putforth all your resolution--show your best valor, and be faithful to yourpledges, and I promise you that we will destroy the Spaniards, and rootthem out of your country!"

  The Cassique was charmed with this discourse, and a league, offensiveand defensive, was readily agreed upon between the parties. Satouriova,at the close of the conference, brought forward and presented toGourgues a French boy, named Pierre de Bre, who had sought refuge withhim when La Caroline was taken, and whom he had preserved with care, ashis own son, in spite of all the efforts of the Spaniards to get himinto their power. The boy was a grateful gift to Gourgues; useful asan interpreter, but particularly grateful as one of the first fruitsof his mission. That night Satouriova despatched a score or more ofemissaries, in as many different directions, to the tribes of theinterior. These, each, bore in his hands the war-macana, _le BatonRouge_, the painted red-club, which announces to the young warriors thewill of their superior. The runner speeds with this sign of blood to thedistant village, strikes the war-post in its centre, waves his potentsign to the people, declares the place of gathering, and darts away tospread still more the tidings. When he faints, the emblem is seized byanother, who continues on the route. In this way, the whole nation isaroused, as by the sudden flaming of a thousand mountain beacons. Asingle night will suffice to alarm and assemble the people of an immenseterritory. The Indian runner, day by day, will out-travel any horse.The result of this expedition was visible next day, to Gourgues and hispeople. The chiefs of a score of scattered tribes, with all their bestwarriors, were assembled with Satouriova, to welcome the Frenchmen tothe land.