University of Virginia Library

7. VII.
FIRST FRUITS OF THE ADVENTURE.

The reconnaissance was completed. The report of Holata
Cara and D'Etampes showed that the Spanish fortress of San
Matheo, formerly La Caroline, was in good order, and with a
strong garrison. Two other forts which the Spaniards had raised
in the neighborhood, commanding both sides of the river, and
nearer to its mouth, were also surveyed, and were found to be
well manned and in proper condition for defence. In these three
forts, the garrison was found to consist of four hundred soldiers,
unequally distributed, but with a force in each sufficient
for the post. Thus advised, the allies proceeded severally to
array their troops for the business of assault. But, before marching,
a solemn festival was appointed on the banks of the Salina
Cani—by the French called the Somme—which was the place
appointed for the rendezvous. Here the red-men drank copious
draughts of their cassine, or apalachine, a bitter but favorite
beverage, the reported nature of which is that it takes away all
hunger and thirst for the space of twenty-four hours, from those
that employ it. Though long used to all sorts of trial and endurance,
Gourgues found it not so easy to undergo this draught. Still,
he made such a show of drinking, as to satisfy his confederates;
and this done, the allied chiefs, lifting hands and eyes, made
solemn oath of their fidelity in the sight of heaven. The march
was then begun, the red-men leading the way, and moving, in
desultory manner, through the woods, Holata Cara at their head;
while, pursuing another route, but under good guidance, and keeping
his force compactly together, our chevalier conducted his
Frenchmen to the same point of destination. This was the

river Caraba, or Salinacani, named by Ribault the Somme,
which was at length reached, but not without great difficulty, the
streams being overflowed by frequent and severe rains, and the
marshy and low tracts all under water. Food was wanting also
to our Frenchmen, the bark appointed to follow them with provisions,
under Monsieur Bourdelois not having arrived.

They were now but two leagues distant from the two smaller
forts which the Spaniards had established and fortified, in addition
to that of La Caroline, on the banks of the May, or, as they
had newly christened it, the San Matheo. While bewildered
with doubts as to the manner of reaching these forts—the waters
everywhere between being swollen almost beyond the possibility
of passage—the red-men were consulted, and the chief, Helicopilé,
was chosen to guide our Frenchmen by a more easy and less
obvious route. Making a circuit through the woods, the whole
party at length reached a point where they could behold one of
the forts; but a deep creek lay between, the water of which rose
above their waists. Gourgues, however, now that his object was
in sight, was not to be discouraged by inferior obstacles; and,
giving instructions to his people to fasten their powder flasks to
their morions and to carry their swords and their calivers in their
hands above their heads, he effected the passage at a point which
enabled them to cover themselves from sight of the Spaniards
by a thick tract of forest which lay between the fort and the river.
It was sore fording for our Frenchmen; for the bed of the creek
was paved with great oysters, the shells of which inflicted sharp
wounds upon their legs and feet; and many of them lost their
shoes in the passage. As soon as they had crossed, they prepared
themselves for the assault. Up to this moment, so well
had the red-men guarded all the passages, and so rapid had been

their march, with that of Gourgues and his party, that the
Spaniards had no notion that there were any Frenchmen in the
country. Still, they were on the alert; and so active did they
show themselves, in and about the fort, that our chevalier feared
that his approach had been discovered.

But no time was to be lost. Giving twenty arquebusiers to
his Lieutenant Casenove, and half that number of mariners,
armed with pots and balls of wild fire, designed to burn the gate
of the fort, he took a like force under his own command, with the
view to making simultaneous assaults in opposite quarters. The
two parties were scarcely in motion, before Gourgues found the
chief Holata Cara at his side, followed by a small party of the
red-men; the rest had been carefully concealed in the woods, in
order to pursue the combat after their primitive fashion. Holata
Cara was armed only with a long spear, which he bore with great
dexterity, and a macana which now hung by his side, a flattened
club, the two edges of which were fitted with the teeth of the
shark, or with great flints, ground down to the sharpness of a
knife. This was his substitute for a sword, and was a weapon
capable of inflicting the most terrible wounds. The spear which
he carried was headed also with a massive dart of flint, curiously
and finely set in the wood, and exhibiting a rare instance of Indian
ingenuity, in its excellence as a weapon of offence, and its
rare and elaborate ornament. Gourgues examined it with much interest.
The instrument was antique. It might have been in
use an hundred years or more. The heavy but elastic wood, almost
blackened by age and oil, was polished like a mirror by repeated
friction. The grasp was carved with curious ability, and
exhibited the wings of birds with eyes wrought among the feathers,
in the sockets of which great pearls were set, the carving of the

feathers forming a bushy brow above, and a shield all about them,
so that, grasp the weapon as you would, the pearls were secure
from injury. Gourgues examined the owner of the spear with as
much curiosity as he did the weapon. But without satisfaction.
The features of the other were immoveable. But the signals being
all made, Holata Cara waved his hand with some impatience
to the fort, and Gourgues had no leisure to ask the questions
which that moment arose in his mind.

“It was,” says the venerable chronicle, “the Sunday eve next
after Easter-day, April, 1568,” when the signal for the assault
was given. Gourgues made a brief speech to his followers before
they began the attack, recounting the cruel treachery and the
bloody deeds of the Spaniards done upon their brethren at La
Caroline and Matanzas Bay. Holata Cara, resting with his spear
head thrust in the earth, listened in silence to this speech. The
moment it was ended, he led the way for the rest, from the
thicket which concealed them. As soon as the two parties
had emerged from cover, they were descried by the watchful
Spaniards.

“To arms! to arms!” was the cry of their sentinels. “To
arms! these be Frenchmen!”

To the war-cry of “Castile” and “Santiago!” that of
“France!” and “Saint-Denis for France,” was cheerily sent up
by the assailants; and it was observed that no shout was louder or
clearer than that of Holata Cara, as he hurried forward.

When the assailants were within two hundred paces of the fort,
the artillery of the garrison opened upon them from a culverin
taken at La Caroline, which the Spaniards succeeded in discharging
twice, with some effect, while the Frenchmen were approaching.
A third time was this piece about to be turned upon the

assailants, when Holata Cara, rushing forwards planted his spear
in the ground, and swinging from it, with a mighty spring, succeeded,
at a bound, in reaching the platform. The gunner was
blowing his match, and about to apply it to the piece, when the
spear of the Indian chief was driven clean through his body, and
the next moment the slain man was thrust headlong down into the
fort. Stung by this noble example, Gourgues hurried forward, and
the assault being made successfully on the opposite side at the
same instant, the Spaniards fled from the defences. A considerable
slaughter ensued within, when they rushed desperately from
the enclosure.

But they were encountered on every side. Escape was vain.
Of the whole garrison, consisting of threescore men, all were
slain, with the exception of fifteen, who were reserved for a more
deliberate punishment.

Meanwhile the fortress on the opposite side of the river opened
upon the assailants, and was answered by the four pieces which
had been found within the captured place. The Frenchmen
were more annoyed than injured by this distant cannonade, and
immediately prepared to cross the river for the conquest of this
new enemy. Fortunately, the patache, bringing their supplies,
had ascended the stream, and, under cover from the guns of the
Spaniard, lay in waiting just below. Gourgues, with fourscore
soldiers, crossed the stream in her; the Indians not waiting for
this slow conveyance, but swimming the river, carrying their bows
and arrows with one hand above their heads.

The Frenchmen at once threw themselves into the woods which
covered the space between this second fort and La Caroline, the
latter being only a league distant. The Spaniards, apprised of
the movement of the patache, beholding shore and forest lined

with the multitudes of red-men, and hearing their frightful cries
on every hand, were seized with an irresistible panic, and, in an
evil moment abandoned their stronghold, in the hope of making
their way through the woods, to the greater fortress of La Caroline.
But they were too late in the attempt. The woods were
occupied by enemies. Charged by the advancing Frenchmen,
they rushed into the arms of the savages, and, with the exception
of another fifteen, were all butchered as they fought or fled.
Holata Cara was again found the foremost, and the most terrible
agent in this work of vengeance.