fury. He laid his hand on his sword and was almost on the point of drawing his blade and running the mutineer through the body; but Melendez was an excellent judge of human nature, and he perceived that such a course would be dangerous to his plans. The mutineers were determined, and the death of one would not overcome them. Many of the officers were in sympathy with them, and the threatened mutiny might become an open revolt. Controlling his anger, he began in a mild

tone:

"Your hardships have been great; you have marched in mud and rain through an unknown wilderness, sustained by very little food; but your hardships are no greater and your sufferings no more than were endured by your countrymen under Cortez of Mexico and Pizarro in Peru. They marched into an unknown country, through cold, heat and rain; they conquered and became rich. You have no food; there is abundance at Fort Carolinia. You want shelter from the rain; there is shelter within the fort. The two Spaniards who escaped and came to us, as well as the Catholic Frenchman, assure us that there is much gold at Fort Carolinia, gathered from the Indians. There are heaps of gold in bars and ingots for every brave and faithful man who has the courage to go forward and take it. Cortez and Pizarro, with but a hand

ful of men, marched against the serried ranks of countless thousands, and conquered, because God commanded them to go. We are marching against a handful of sick men, poorly garrisoned, and wholly unaware of our presence. Shame on those who hesitate from cowardice; more shame on those who refuse God's command. Come! All who are true Spaniards, follow me, and God will protect you!"

Gradually Melendez had warmed up in his speech, his enthusiasm swaying every heart, until, at the close of his harangue, every soldier in the ranks was shouting:

"On to Carolinia! Death to the heretics!"

The army was soon again on the march, and pressed on for four or five hours, when they were met by Gyrot, who had come with some final instructions and information as to the attack.

"The fort is near," he said. "Make your attack to-night, while all sleep, and the victory will be easy."

"Has any rumor of our approach reached the fort?" asked Melendez.

"No; the disappearance of the Spaniards caused some comment; but they do not dream of an attack by land."

"Have they ships in the harbor ?"

'Three; but they are small craft, and will do you no harm.”

"Have they news of Ribault?”

"No, monsieur; and they fear that he and his ships are lost at sea. Is Francisco Estevan with you?"

"No; who is he?"

"He is a Spaniard, proselyted to the Huguenot faith, and a warm friend of Laudonnière.

no doubt a spy watching to betray you."

He is

"In that case I would rather hang him than any other heretic."

John Gyrot then gave the Spaniards the plans of the fort, and left them to return and report that there was no enemy in the wood. Night set in, dark and rainy, and the Spaniards carefully advanced to within a few hundred paces of the fort and halted to await John Gyrot's signal. The historian hesitates to record the awful event at Fort Carolinia on that fatal September 21st, 1565.

CHAPTER XI.

A REIGN OF TERROR.

A FEELING of uneasiness pervaded the garrison at Fort Carolinia. Laudonnière, who had not recovered from his illness, rose from bed and went about the fort, notwithstanding his friends Challus and Le Moyne tried to keep him in out of the pelting rain.

"I cannot," he said, "I feel an impression that all is not right. Something terrible is going to nappen. Has no news come from Ribault?"

"None."

"God pity us if we should be attacked in our wretched condition."

"You are weak and ill, monsieur," said Le Moyne.

"It is my great responsibility—the helpless women and children I have in my keeping that makes me wretched and anxious."

"There is no need to fear, monsieur. Three of the vessels have returned and are in the harbor.

These will keep the enemy from attacking by sea, and we need expect them from no other quarter." "They may attack by land."

"Impossible, monsieur. They would never find their way across the country." "They may have a guide." "Who?"

"We may have a traitor among us.

"A traitor! impossible!" They all three went under a long shed on which the rain continued its unceasing patter, running off by small gutterspouts which carried it to the ditch that drained the fort. Laudonnière, after a long silence said, “I may do wrong to call him a traitor; yet after all I have been to him it would seem ill return to betray me in my weakness."

"Of whom do you speak, monsieur ?”

"A young Spaniard who was captured by the pirates and brought to the fort. I immediately gave him his liberty, and, there being no way to send him to Cuba, he made his home with me. Though a Catholic, I believed him the ideal of a true, noble man. It seems very probable that, when his countrymen came to annihilate us, he went over to them, and is now plotting against our lives.'

"Whom do you mean, monsieur ?" "Francisco Estevan."