CHAPTER XVIII
THE FRENCH HAVE COME AGAIN
Three years had passed from the time the Spaniards established theirpower in this part of the New World, by their fearful massacres of theFrench at Fort Caroline and among the sand dunes of the coast, belowSan Augustin. They were years of cruelty and injustice on the part ofthe Spaniards, and of great suffering to those nations who fell intotheir hands; but to the dwellers in the distant land of the Alachuas,among whom Rene de Veaux had taken up his abode, they were years ofpeace, prosperity, and contentment. The little encampment, that thegood chief Micco had established beside the great spring, had growninto a populous village, surrounded, in all directions, by broad fieldsof waving maize and yellow pumpkins, besides an abundance of otherthings pleasant and useful. The forests still teemed with game, andthe rivers with fish, and the skill of the Indian hunter was such thatboth could be obtained in plenty at all seasons.
In this beautiful land, with every want anticipated, surrounded bydevoted friends, and leading a life of active usefulness, it would seemas though no man could be unhappy. There was, however, at least oneamong its dwellers who was so, and he was their ruler, the chief ofthem all, whose word was their law, and whose slightest command theyhastened to obey. They called him Ta-lah-lo-ko (the White Chief),though in another land he would be known as Rene de Veaux.
It was a great longing to visit once more this other land, the fairFrance of his birth, and the apparent impossibility of ever doing so,that made the white chief unhappy, and caused his people to regard himsorrowfully, as one troubled by an evil spirit. The old medicine menof the tribe used their most powerful incantations against it, and madecharms with which to drive it away; but they did not succeed, becausethey could not understand it, and did not even know its name, which was"Homesickness."
When the good old chief Micco died, which he did a few months beforethe time which this chapter opens, greatly lamented by all his people,the person who would have naturally succeeded to his office wasYah-chi-la-ne (the Eagle). When it was offered to him, this braveyoung Indian declared that he was not nearly so wise or fit to become aruler as his friend Ta-lah-lo-ko, who, though younger in years than he,was so much older in wisdom that his equal did not exist in all theland. He therefore begged them to hail Ta-lah-lo-ko as head chief ofthe nation. Greatly to Rene's astonishment, this was done, and hefound himself anxiously wondering how he should act in this new andunexpected position.
His modesty, bravery, and ready tact were, however, as quick to aid himnow as when they had guided the boy Rene de Veaux on his perilousjourney in search of food for the starving garrison of Fort Caroline;and, day by day, the white chief steadily gained the love andapprobation of his people.
He had entered upon the performance of his new duties with all hisheart and soul, and it was only within a few days that he had felt thegreat longing to see once more his own land, and that his thoughts hadbeen constantly turned towards the old chateau in which his earlyboyhood had been passed. He felt so strongly that in some way he wasto receive tidings from his native land, that one day, when atravel-stained runner from the East was brought to his lodge, he atonce asked "what word dost thou bring of the French?"
The runner stared at him for a moment in amazement and then answered,
"I bring word that the French have come again. With the new moon threegreat thunder canoes, bearing the banner of lilies, reached the end ofthe salt-waters. It is thought there will soon be fighting betweenthose who come in them and the bad white men who already hold the land.The dwellers of the country of sunrise, by the great river, send aprayer to the chief of the Alachuas. It is that he will come, and withhis wisdom aid these white men, and then tear down and tread in thesands the yellow banner of death and bondage."
"Ay, that will I, and right gladly, not only with my wisdom, which isbut little, but with a hundred warriors, which is more to the purpose!"exclaimed Rene in a tone of such excitement as greatly to astonish therunner once more. Springing to his feet, the white chief ordered hisbow-bearer, who was in attendance, to summon to him, without delay, allthe principal men of the tribe, and in particular the chiefYah-chi-la-ne. He was also to issue orders to his own war-party of ahundred picked braves to prepare themselves, with all possibledespatch, for a forced journey to the great river of sunrise.
These messages from their chief caused the greatest excitement andcommotion among the Alachuas. They were obeyed without hesitation, andwhile the braves of his own war-party restrung their bows, or securednew heads of keenest flint to their lances, the principal men, withYah-chi-la-ne among them, repaired to his lodge.
No word was spoken until all were seated and their stone pipes werewell alight, when Rene, standing in their midst, addressed them andsaid,
"Wise men of the Alachuas: it is now many moons since thou didstreceive Ta-lah-lo-ko into thy tribe, and open wide thy hearts to him.In all this time he has been as one with thee in everything. Now hewould go. His own people, the pale-faces who dwell beyond the land ofsunrise, and beyond the great salt-waters, have come again. The heartof Ta-lah-lo-ko sings for joy within him at the thought of seeing themonce more. The pledge of the Flamingo Feather holds him no longer, forthe old man to whom it was given has passed away. But the singing andgladness of his heart is turned to sighing and to sadness by thethought that he may never again see the land of the Alachuas. This maynot be; for if it is possible for him, he will come again from beyondthe great waters. Now he must go to his own people, who have manywrongs to set right, and must do much fighting before they turn againtowards the sunrise. They call for help from the brave Alachuas.Ta-lah-lo-ko and his own war-party will hasten to them. When thefighting is done, they will return; but he must go first to the land ofthe pale-faces. Until he comes, the brave and wise Yah-chi-la-ne willguide your councils, and lead you on the war-path. Ta-lah-lo-ko hasspoken."
As Rene sat down, Yah-chi-la-ne and others sprang to their feet, andbegged him not to leave them. Yah-chi-la-ne declared that as he hadtaken the place of Has-se (the Sunbeam), so he had become a flood ofsunlight to them, and that in losing him they would be buried indarkness.
These appeals stirred his feelings deeply, but could not alter hisfixed purpose; and when they saw that he was determined to leave them,they opposed him no longer, but only begged of him that he wouldspeedily return.
So Rene de Veaux, at the head of his own war-party of picked Alachuabraves, set forth once more on the same journey that he had now made somany times, and under such different circumstances.
As the canoe which bore him shot out from the shore into the middle ofthe river, and was headed up against the current, there arose from themultitude collected on the bank a mighty cry of lamentation for theyoung chief who was departing from them. For answer Rene, standing upso that all might see him, took the Flamingo Feather that was entwinedin his hair, waved it above his head, and replaced it. This was a signthat, though he was leaving them, he would return again, and by it theywere greatly comforted.
Once started, the party moved with the greatest speed, those who pliedthe paddles being frequently relieved by fresh men, and never beforehad Rene accomplished the journey so quickly. At its various stages hereceived many reminders of former passages over the same waters, and ofthe brave and loyal Has-se who had accompanied him on most of them.Here was the point where his loving and beloved friend had sopeacefully breathed his last, and there, at the edge of the greatswamp, the place where Chitta had met with his self-inflictedpunishment. Now they passed the mouth of the little lagoon, from thehead of which the trail led away through the dark mazes of the swamp tothe Seminole island, rising from its slimy waters; and soon they weregliding swiftly down with the current of that other river, that flowedeastward to the coast.
Finally they passed its last bend, and the leading canoe, in which Renesat, shot out into the open waters of the sound. As it did so theheart of the white chief gave a great leap within him, and for a momenta mist swam
before his eyes. He had not expected to find hiscountrymen before passing the vast salt-marshes and reaching the Riverof May; but, to his astonishment, he had already come upon them.Within a mile of him lay three tall ships, riding gracefully at theiranchors, and from their mast-heads floated proudly in the light of thesetting sun the lily banner of France.
They were indeed the ships of his own people, whom he had never daredhope to meet again. There was the emblem of his own land, which, whenhe had last beheld it, had been torn, amid sorrow and defeat, fromabove the walls of Fort Caroline, to give place to the yellow ensign ofSpain.
When Rene had controlled his tumultuous feeling sufficiently to speak,he gave orders for his warriors to proceed to the shell mound in themidst of the marshes, on which he and Has-se had rested after theirflight from Fort Caroline, and there encamp and await his coming. Hisown canoe he ordered to be directed, with all speed, towards the ships.
As he approached them closely, he saw that he was observed by manycurious eyes from their decks, and finally a hoarse voice commanded himto halt and explain his presence there.
At his order, his men backed water so stoutly with their paddles thatthe canoe rested motionless. Standing erect in it, Rene, speaking inFrench, to the great surprise of those whom he addressed, and wearing abold air that sat well upon him, asked,
"Who commands here? and in which ship is he to be found?"
There was a slight stir on the quarter-deck of the ship nearest him;and, from a group of gentlemen who occupied it, one, wearing a plumedhat and a velvet mantle, from beneath which peeped the richly jewelledhilt of his sword, stood forth and answered courteously,
"I, Dominique de Gourges, chevalier of France, am admiral here at thyservice. Who art thou, that while in savage guise yet speakest ourtongue as though born to it?"
"I am known as Ta-lah-lo-ko, and am chief of that western tribe ofIndians called Alachuas," answered Rene, who was not yet ready toreveal his true identity. "If it suit thy convenience, I would have aword with thee in private concerning important matters."
Upon this De Gourges invited his visitor to come on board the ship andmeet him in his own cabin, where he would with pleasure converse withhim.
As Rene stepped upon the quarter-deck, and passed through the group ofgentlemen who still occupied it, they regarded him with the liveliestcuriosity. It was not unmixed with admiration; for his tall andhandsome though slight figure was set off by a costume which, thoughbecoming to him and fashioned with the best of Indian art, was strangeto their civilized eyes.
The long tresses of his sunny hair were bound by a simple fillet, andin them was twined the Flamingo Feather that proclaimed his rank. Hisface was tanned by the burning suns of that country to a shade butlittle lighter than that of his Indian companions, and after the customof the Alachuas he had added to it here and there a touch of war-paint.From neck to feet he was clad in garments of fawn-skin, that fittedlike a glove to his person. These had been made soft as velvet by theIndian process of curing, and were exquisitely embroidered and fringed.Over his shoulders was flung a light mantle of feathers, woven of theglistening plumage of many rare birds and fastened by a clasp of twogreat pearls set in virgin gold. In his hand he bore a slender lance,of which the shaft was of dark wood highly polished, and the tip was asplinter of purest rock-crystal.
He crossed the quarter-deck, and descended to the admiral's cabin witha proud and dignified bearing, as became his station, but which greatlybelied his feelings, for he was wellnigh overwhelmed by the joyfulemotions he experienced at being once more among his countrymen.
In the cabin he was most courteously received by De Gourges, andinvited to a seat; but before taking it he inquired with a tremblingvoice,
"Oh, sir, know ye aught of a certain noble chevalier of France, by nameRene de Laudonniere, and whether he be still alive or no?"
"Ay, that I do. He of whom thou speakest is not only alive, but iswell known to me. Not only that, but it is owing to his pitiful taleof cruel wrong done to him and those with him in this country that I amhere at this present moment. But thou art overcome with emotion; whathad he to do with thee?"
Upon thus learning that his dearly beloved uncle had escaped, and wasyet alive, Rene had sunk into a seat, and buried his face in his hands.In a moment he obtained mastery of himself, and looking up, answered,
"He was all and more to me than an own father; for I am his onlynephew, Rene de Veaux."
At the utterance of this name De Gourges sprang to his feet, andregarding his visitor intently, exclaimed,
"What! Do I hear thee truly? Art thou indeed that Rene de Veaux sobitterly mourned by the Chevalier Laudonniere, and not the savage thouseemest? If so, there is the best part of my mission to this new worldaccomplished by this meeting."
As Rene satisfied the other of his identity as the nephew ofLaudonniere, De Gourges embraced him warmly, and would have at onceproclaimed the joyful intelligence to those on deck; but the young manbegged of him to refrain from so doing for yet a short while, as therewas still much that he would say to him alone.
De Gourges consented to this, and Rene continued:
"Although I am Rene de Veaux, I am also Ta-lah-lo-ko, head chief of theAlachua nation, and I have brought with me a party of chosen warriorswhich I will place at thy service, if, perchance, thou canst make useof them. Wilt thou not describe to me the nature of thy business inthese parts, and something of thy plans, and what has been alreadyaccomplished?"
"That will I gladly, my noble savage," answered De Gourges, with asmile, "and truly I could but lately have made a most excellent use ofthese brave warriors of thine, whose service thou dost so promptlytender."
Then the admiral gave Rene a brief history of his expedition, itspurpose and results, which was in effect as follows:
He himself had been a prisoner in Spanish dungeons, and had suffered asa Spanish galley-slave. Upon making his escape and returning to hisown country, he had met his old friend, the Chevalier Laudonniere, andlearned from him of the terrible massacres of the Huguenots,perpetrated by Menendez and the soldiers at San Augustin. Upon hearingthis tale of wrong and outrage, he had then and there determined todevote his fortune and his life, if that should be necessary, to thepunishment of these same Spaniards, and to the rescue of such of hiscountrymen as might have escaped with their lives, but who stillremained in the New World.
By selling his estates, he had obtained the means to fit out threeships, and in them had induced a brave company of soldiers and seamento accompany him upon what he considered his holy mission.
Ten days before the coming of Rene he had arrived off San Augustin,where the Spaniards, supposing his ships to be that of their ownnation, had fired a salute of welcome from the guns of their newlyerected fort.
As De Gourges deemed this place too strong for him to attack, and as heonly wished to recover that which had belonged to the French, he hadnot tarried there, but had sailed northward to the River of May, thename of which the Spaniards had changed to Rio de San Mateo.
He found its entrance guarded by two small forts, one on either side,which Menendez had built after his capture of Fort Caroline. As theFrench ships were of too great draught to cross the bar, De Gourges hadorganized an expedition of small boats, and had carried these works,one after another, by assault.
Having thus effected a landing, and being joined by a large body ofIndians, who had joyfully hailed him as a deliverer from Spanishcruelties, he had marched to the attack of Fort San Mateo, by whichname Fort Caroline was now called.
Through a series of blunders on the part of its Spanish commandant hehad been able to capture this fort with comparative ease. By the aidof powder and fire the walls of all these forts had been levelled withthe ground, and their total destruction effected.
Having thus accomplished the main objects of his expedition, De Gourgeshad regained his ships, and sailed still farther northward, to the deepharbor in which Rene had discovered him, and in which he was nowprep
aring for the homeward voyage.
"This," he said, in conclusion, "brings my narrative to the presentdate, and my expedition to the place in which I am granted the greatblessing of a meeting with thee, my noble countryman, who art become atthe same time a noble savage."
Then in his turn Rene gave an account of his experiences at theoverthrow of Fort Caroline, his capture by the Seminoles, his rescuefrom them, and his subsequent life and rise to power among theAlachuas. To all of this De Gourges listened with breathlessattention; and when Rene had finished, he exclaimed,
"No knight of olden time had ever adventures more thrilling than theseof thine, and greatly do I envy thee thy brave record."
After this exchange of experiences the two emerged from the admiral'scabin, where they had been so long closeted as to excite the liveliestcuriosity of those on deck. When Rene was made known to the officersof De Gourges' command, he was most joyfully welcomed by them, as oneof whom they had heard brave things, and who was most worthy to commandtheir respect and esteem.