TRUCE.
La Caille started and his cry was echoed from one end of the camp to
the other. Officers and men, aroused by the commotion, started up,
seizing their weapons, running here and there in bewilderment. The
trumpets blared and there was a clanking of steel as the sick and
starving men gladly arrayed themselves in the ranks of battle. Ribault,
aroused for the moment by the martial sounds and sights, marched before
the company, his eyes flashing and his sword bare, giving orders in
so inspiring a way that the men took great heart and stood strong and
reliant. The arquebusiers loaded their pieces and at an order from
their captains, marched down the beach to the end of the sand-spit
opposite the Spaniards, where they grounded their arms and waited.
But regardless of this warlike show upon our part, the Spaniards made
no move to show their numbers or intentions. Many more men appeared
upon the hills and others to the number of three-score or more came
out of the bushy hollows between the sand dunes and stood unconcerned
looking across at us. There seemed something portentous in this
calmness and confidence, and this notion of mine was not quieted by the
subsequent actions of the Spanish officers. For three or four of them
came upon the beach and arm in arm walked calmly up and down, talking
together, while their men sat themselves upon the ground and ate their
morning meal.
This calmness of the enemy had its effect upon the companies of the
Frenchmen. We could easily see that, sick, hungry and weak as we
were, our men could prove no match for these hardy Biscayans, with
the confidence born of full bellies and continued good fortune. Our
men stood nervously, their hands to their waistbands and their eyes
starting from their sunken sockets as they saw these gluttons across
the channel contentedly munch their biscuits and drink some steaming
stuff which was brought them in a great iron pot from the camp among
the hills. The hunger, which during the two days had been reduced to
a dull gnawing at the vitals and a general weakness of mind and body,
now at the sight of this steaming potage, suddenly became most keen and
poignant. As I looked, my mouth opened and my tongue came out from my
lips. “Ventre bleu!” shouted De Brésac. “They tantalize us. It is not
to be borne.”
Job Goddard, who was one of my company of seamen, made no concealment
of his suffering, and leaned upon his pike with both hands, craning his
neck, his mouth and eyes wide distended. Then without a word--which
was the surer sign of his madness--and without changing his gaze or
expression, he threw down his weapon and walked forward out of the
ranks, down the beach toward the Spaniards, and into the water until
the surface rose over his head. None among us had a notion of his
intention until he came up sputtering, for he could not swim, drifting
seaward with the tide. He must surely have been drowned had not one of
the company fastened upon him from one of the rafts with a boat-hook.
Ribault then set the men at rest and called a conference of the
officers, at which it was quickly decided to raise a white flag and
call for a parley with those in authority among the Spaniards. A
white shirt was thereupon fastened to a staff, and La Caille, the
sergeant-major, went out upon a raft in plain sight of the enemy,
waving this standard to and fro. Presently an officer emerged from the
bushes on the other shore, replying. Then La Caille raising his voice
so that it echoed plainly among the distant sand hills, shouted,
“We are Frenchmen,--company of Jean Ribault, Admiral of France. If you
would parley, send an envoy.”
There was a pause before the answer came. In our ranks, so great was
the interest, no word was spoken.
Then we heard in a harsh, commanding voice,
“You have a raft. Come yourselves!”
But the raft would have been of little avail in the current of this
channel. So Brunel, the valiant swimmer who had gone first ashore from
the _Trinity_, swam quickly to the opposite side, and seeing a canoe
which lay there, entered it and paddled back to us unmolested. La
Caille presently returned with him to the Spaniards as an envoy from
the Admiral. We saw La Caille, who feared nothing, directly approach
a group of the officers among the bushes, whom we could make out by
reason of the swords they carried. These he saluted, and one in a cloak
arose and acknowledged him courteously. Then he sat down and talked
with them.
Ribault meanwhile had gone back among the dunes, where many of those
most religiously inclined had fallen upon their knees in prayer. It
was not proper that he should have left the front of his command when
a mission so delicate as this was trembling in the balance. It is not
my desire to belittle the use of prayer at any time; since, if meet and
fitting, such petitions are frequently heard, and the great God is very
good. But it was little like this gallant man to give a public sign
of his doubts to cope with any questions or adversaries. And such,
perhaps, a prayer would not have been had not all his actions since the
wrecking of the _Trinity_ shown a timidity unaccountable. A great gloom
had fallen upon those petitioners, but there were few of us who had not
come under its ban. By and by they sang a hymn. The melancholy cadences
rolled and echoed from one sand hill to another, until the sound sunk
deep into our souls and made us weak and womanish. So dispirited were
my men that I perforce gave out a few sharp orders of discipline, and
so set them to rights.
The face of La Caille wore no great signs of encouragement as he
returned. The Admiral met him upon the beach as the canoe touched the
shore.
“Is it----?” he began.
“It is Menendez de Avilés, the Adelantado,” said La Caille gravely.
“And his force?”
“Many hundreds, I should judge, your Excellency; so disposed that
progress in this direction is impossible.”
Ribault put his hand to his brow as though a great pain were at his
temples. “I thought as much,” he said.
La Caille went on. “I am bidden tell your Excellency that if you
should desire to speak with this Spaniard you may go with four or six
companions, and he pledges his word you shall come back safe.”
Ribault was in a great ferment of spirit. But he could not doubt that
what the sergeant-major said was true, and so he called the Ensign
Arlac, the Sieur de la Notte and myself, who with La Caille, De Brésac
and one other entered the canoe and paddled to the opposite shore.
* * * * *
Upon our approach Menendez de Avilés arose, and with two officers and a
priest walked down upon the beach to meet us. He stood very erect and
bore his hand lightly upon the hilt of his sword. A black cloak thrown
around his shoulders half hid his mouth and chin, but for all that I
could mark the sinister smile and cruel lips, the sight of which had
been burnt into my memory as I lay weak and helpless in the dungeon
at Dieppe. His chaplain, De Solis, was at his heels. The officers
were not ill-favored, only servile and full of fear of him. All four
bowed low, doffing their morions and sweeping them to the Admiral, who
acknowledged the courtesy in kind. Many compliments upon the reputation
of each of these men were passed by the other, and it might have been
thought that they were rather new-found friends than the deadliest
enemies of their generation in this poor world.
De Avilés came well prepared to treat with starving men. He led us
up to the bushes and bidding us be seated, caused wine and preserved
fruits to be placed before us. Though it had seemed I had no mind to
eat, we all partook of these things with great avidity. Were there
great events to come, it were better, I thought, to borrow strength to
meet them. There was little said; Ribault addressed to the Adelantado
a few questions, yet these were for the most part unimportant. The
silence of La Caille and the others was that of hungry men and not to
be mistaken for fear or intimidation. I was using my eyes to as good an
advantage as my teeth and let them travel from one bush and hummock to
another, seeking to discover, if possible, more than La Caille of their
disposition and force. Yet look as I might, everywhere did I see a
breast-piece, morion, pike or arquebus. The bushes seemed fairly alive
with soldiery and at least an hundred and fifty men were in plain sight
from where we sat upon the sand. If this were but an advance guard,
or escort from the army of Menendez, then surely the half-starved,
illy-armed, dispirited three hundred and fifty cavaliers, seamen,
soldiers and tinkers of Admiral Ribault had scant chance of fighting a
victorious battle here or otherwhere.
Though I looked much at the scenes and persons about me, my eyes would
ever return to a low lying bush some fifty feet away upon a sand dune.
For in its shadow was a human leg, booted, the toe of which extended
partly out into the sunlight. I thought it at first the member of some
tired fellow asleep and so gave it no thought. But my gaze came back
upon that foot with a sinister persistency. For follow the line of the
leg into the shadow as I would I could find no companion to it, nor yet
a body. It ended with horrid abruptness half above the knee.
Menendez de Avilés abruptly broke the silence.
“Captain Juan Ribao,” he said with an air of command which jarred
strangely upon his courteous demeanor, “further subterfuge between
us were now a sin and a lie before the face of God our Lord. Are you
Catholics or Lutherans?”
“We are Lutherans of the New Faith,” returned Ribault, staunchly.
The Spaniard sucked in a long breath between his teeth.
“Gentlemen, your fort is taken and in it all are put to the sword.”
He spat the words out mercilessly and hatefully.
There was a dreadful stillness, and then we started up with one accord,
looking around from the one to the other. The Sieur de la Notte tried
to speak, but the words would not come forth from his throat, at which
he clutched and would have gone to the ground had he not fallen back
into my arms. The Admiral was bewildered. La Caille, only, did not
tremble. He stood up, straight and fearless.
“Señor Pedro Menendez de Avilés,” he said calmly and distinctly, “it is
my belief that you lie.”
Menendez seized his sword at this insult and the Spanish officers
rushed forward. They thought surely the Adelantado would run the
valiant Frenchman through the body.
But the devil was not ready yet. It was too pleasant a torture to have
been ended so soon. He thrust his sword back until it rung in the
scabbard and folded his arms, laughing.
“You wish proofs,” he then said quickly. “Very well, you shall have
them!”
And going to the edge of the bushes he gave some orders, while we stood
horror-stricken. In a while came three soldiers bringing some weapons
and a sack. Arlac the Ensign, with a look of dismay upon his face,
seized upon a sword which was thrust toward him.
“Par la bonté de Dieu,” he cried. “It is La Vigne’s very own!”
And then we saw dishes and platters bearing the Arms of Réné de
Laudonnière, two axes, dark-stained and broken at the handle, but
bearing the name of a maker of Dieppe, a canteen, a cross-bow--all of
which were known of De Brésac and La Caille. I pray that never again
may any man upon the earth be given such sufferings of mind as began
for me from that moment.
Diane--Diane!----
No, no, I would not believe it! The Sieur de la Notte, who had been
looking vacantly from La Caille to Arlac the Ensign, fell heavily to
the beach uttering a moan which sounded more like that of some poor
beast than of a man. I thought that he was dead. He made no move though
we dashed water at his head again and again. At last his breathing came
with difficulty and when some wine had been poured down his throat he
lifted his head and tried to speak.
“Señor Adelantado,” he cried, trembling and halting at every word,--at
the terror of uttering it,--“my daughter--Diane--Diane de la Notte--she
is not--dead--dead. For the love of God--say that--she is not--dead!”
And the love he bore her in that speech welded his soul and mine so
tight together that not even death could draw us apart.
But the Adelantado would give no answer, only standing there with
folded arms gloating upon our misfortune like some great snake upraised
to strike, yet sure of his prey and charming by his venomousness.
Surely it was the very perfection of cruelty; for the old man lifted
himself to a sitting posture with both hands upraised and then fell
back upon the sand making no sound. Lifting the poor gentleman in my
arms I carried him down the beach to the canoe, where I laid him upon a
boat-cloak.
But that was not all. Fearful of some new discovery, yet bewitched and
trusting in the word of this Spaniard we followed him and his officers
up the beach. One horror but waited upon another. The Spaniards made
no concealment of it, and now I knew the reason of the dread horror
that had hung upon me. Not only did I see dismembered human legs, half
covered with sand, but here and there a body bearing no longer any
human semblance. The Adelantado walked a little in advance, swerving
neither to the right nor to the left for the dreadful things which his
boots frequently touched, regardless,--familiar. Once he stumbled in
the sand and cursing, like to have fallen as he uncovered a human head
which rolled over until it sat upon its neck, the beard spreading out
fan-wise upon the sand and the face through the matted hair grinning
fiercely. Arlac and the Admiral, being in front, fell back shuddering,
turning whiter even than the sand and holding each other by the arms. I
looked at the dreadful object and my blood turned to water. The thing
was Verdier!
The Admiral would now go no further, saying that he had seen enough
and wished only to go away from it all. But Menendez, in great good
humor, smiled, saying it were better to see and know all that could
be known. And we believed him. We were heedless of treachery--or aught
else, for it seemed to matter little now whether we lived or died, and
there was a horrible fascination which seemed to lead us on in spite of
ourselves. And so we followed, trembling.
We had gone a distance of a gunshot or more from the end of the
sand-spit when we came to two sand hills larger than those we had
passed. They lay in two curves, the one toward the other, making an
enclosed place which at the two entrances and on the sides was thickly
grown up with grass and bushes. To the nearest of these entrances
Menendez led us, then stopped and turning grimly to the Admiral,
“Here, Juan Ribao,” he said, “is the company of the _Gloire_!”
And entering by the pathway he motioned us to follow.
But a terror had fallen upon us as at the dread of something
supernatural. There was no wind and a silence heavy and oppressive hung
about the place, the more appalling for the distant roar of the waves
upon the beach.
Overhead high in the sky several vultures were idly wheeling. I looked
at the faces of the others. La Caille was livid, but his jaw was set
and his eye was glassy like that of the dead. Arlac was white as
marble, and hung upon me cold and nerveless. The Admiral had clasped
his hands together before him and bent his head to his breast. His eyes
were closed. He was praying.
For myself I seemed to have no further fear or dread, only a curiosity
which fascinated. Leaving Arlac, I walked forward with La Caille and
entered. At first I could see nothing, for bushes grew about the place.
And God’s pure sand, which had unwillingly drunk up the blood of this
reeking sacrifice, had mercifully blown in upon it and tenderly made a
white coverlet here and there which hid the freshness of the barbarity.
I halt at the horror of it, and I cannot write more of the scene. It is
enough to say that the men of the _Gloire’s_ company had been led to
this place in small parties, their hands bound behind their backs with
the match-cords of their own arquebuses. Menendez de Avilés with his
cane had drawn a line across the entrance. When they had passed within
they were set upon by these savage people like tigers and, defenseless,
were slaughtered like sheep. They were about two hundred in number and
of these not one was left alive. Menendez told us these things calmly,
as one who recites that of which he has been told.
Then he turned once more to the Admiral, saying somewhat softly as
though to atone a little in our eyes for the deeds he had acknowledged,
“It is sad that human beings should be enemies and I would not
pursue war relentlessly. But I believe that this is a just fate for
all heretics. All Catholics I will befriend; but as you are of the
New Sect, I hold you as enemies, and wage deadly war against you. And
this I will do with all cruelty (_crueldad_) in this country, where I
command as Viceroy and Captain-General for my King. I am here to plant
the Holy Gospel, that the Indians may be enlightened and come to a
knowledge of the faith.”
The Admiral made no reply and so he turned back and we followed him.