WE FORM AN ALLIANCE.
That night as we slowly crept up the Bahama Channel under the
resplendent tropic moon, I told my story to De Gourgues. He heard it
throughout, saying no word but sighing now and then, his melancholy
eyes looking down the glimmering streak, into which we were sailing
as into a glory. That this strange man had once been loved, and had
passionately loved in return, I did not doubt; for despite his ugliness
of visage there was that in his expression which would command the
adoration of women, who often reckon deeper than by mere lineaments
of feature; and softly illumined as he was by the pale and ghostly
translucence of the night, I thought no more of his ugliness, but of
his soul. For he was transfigured, and looked in his calmness even as
he looked in all the majesty of passion, inspired and of this world a
thing apart.
When I had done, he put his hand upon my shoulder, saying,
“It is not often that Englishmen love as do you, my friend. Build not
your hopes too high, for you have suffered much to suffer so much
again. It will not be long before we shall know--we shall know----” and
he paused, sucking in his lip ominously. After that he took my hand and
said,
“I have taken a great fondness for thee, mon ami; and our solemn duty
performed, what can be done shall be done, upon that you may rely. We
will first sail to the northward of the River of May to the Indians of
Satouriona. If what the Chevalier de Brésac says be true, they will
be willing allies upon this expedition.” De Brésac, hearing his name
spoken, now joined us.
“We were wondering, seigneur, how great a value to set upon these
Indians of yours,” De Gourgues said.
“I have ventured but an humble opinion, my Captain,” replied Brésac,
“but I would stake my honor that there is no love lost between
Satouriona and De Baçan.” De Baçan, the despatches had said, was the
new-appointed Commander at San Mateo.
“I pray God that it may be as you say. For a palisaded fort of stone
with half a thousand men is no slight obstacle even for the brave
fellows of the fleet of the _Vengeance_.”
“All of us who have been at Fort Caroline know of the love which the
great Paracousi bore for Jean Ribault. Dariol, the trumpeter, who was
with the first expedition, has lived among them longer than I; and he
has boasted that he will go among them without fear.”
“It is in my mind to sail directly to the country of this chief; his
boast may not prove an idle one,” replied De Gourgues. And then to the
guard, “Pass the word below to Dariol the trumpeter. We shall see.”
Presently the man came from the fore-castle and stood before us.
“You have no fear of the Indians of Florida, Dariol?” asked De Gourgues.
“None more than I have of M. Killigrew or M. de Brésac, my Captain,”
replied the man with a smile.
“You have lived among them longer than M. de Brésac?”
“A year and more, my Captain.”
“They were friendly to M. de Laudonnière?”
“Until the madness for gold, when his soldiers broke faith with them.”
“And Monsieur Ribault?” asked de Gourgues.
“Satouriona thought the Admiral a great chief, M. le Chevalier. They
swore an eternal friendship.”
“M. de Brésac says you speak their language, Dariol.”
“As I do my own.”
“You know their customs. How think you they will look upon our landing?”
“Monsieur,” replied the trumpeter firmly, “I believe with M. de Brésac
that if they think us Spaniards they will dispute our landing. If
we prove ourselves Frenchmen and friends, they will receive us with
gladness.”
“Why so?”
“It is my belief that they hold the Spaniards in great enmity. For no
arrogance will be borne by Satouriona. He is a great King, with great
pride of spirit, and numbers his people by many thousands.”
“But the Spanish have friends among the Indians? M. de Brésac has said
so.”
“Yes, my Captain. But they are the false-hearted, dirt-eaters of
Outina. Against these, Satouriona wages a war more fierce even than
against the Spanish.”
De Gourgues stroked his mustache, saying,
“When we reach the coast, I will call for you, Dariol. For the present,
that is all.”
The man saluted and went below.
“Par la mort, his words ring true as steel,” muttered De Gourgues.
“If these Caribs are valiant, as he says, we will sweep this scum of
pestilence from off the western land.”
The next day at noon we sighted the coast of the Terra Florida, and
at the thought of all Diane had suffered there my heart welled full of
emotion. Now as we came nearer and nearer our mission’s ending, the
cloud fell down upon my spirit again, and the same struggle between
hope and fear--of pain which is the price of joy--tossed me to and
fro--held and freed me, like the embrace of some temptation. The sun
was yet above the foreyard when we came in sight of the River of May,
but De Gourgues, wishing to reconnoiter, stood on until sunset, when
we were within less than three leagues from the coast. Suddenly we
saw several puffs of smoke spurt from the beach as the Spaniards,
suspecting no enemy, fired their cannon in salute. Not until then did
we know of the new defenses which the enemy were putting upon the shore
at either side of the river’s mouth. Our three vessels, to better keep
up the guise of friendship, boomed forth a salute in reply, after which
we put out to sea again and soon lost the shore line in the rapidly
falling dusk.
The river that the Indians of Satouriona call Tacatacourou, after the
name of their second greatest warrior, enters the ocean by two mouths
at a distance of not more than fifteen leagues to the northward of the
River of May. Within the bar there is a safe harbor, and it was for
this haven that Dariol and the Chevalier de Brésac were directing our
course. But not wishing to pass over the bar until day, De Gourgues
held out to sea, not coming in sight of land again until well into the
forenoon. Then, the river entrance being easily discerned, he put his
helm over and entered the channel, coming safely to anchor at an early
hour of the afternoon.
Now that we had come to our journey’s ending there was a great stir
and excitement aboard the little vessels of the fleet. The arm chests
and ammunition lockers were opened and all hands put merrily to work
setting the arquebuses to rights, fixing new match cords, seeing to the
barrels and rests that no disaster might befall them by reason of any
negligence of their own. The grinding stones were brought out into the
sunshine of the open deck and the grit of the polishing steel and the
rattle of the pike heads made music brave and martial to the ear. The
seaman sang about their work as the lighter yards came clattering down
upon the deck, and the culverins, unharnessed from their sea-apparel,
shone anew in the brightness of the summer sun. The shore upon both
sides was plain to the view at a distance of half a league, and once or
twice we saw the dusky figures of Indians upon the beach. Bourdelais
and one or two of the gallants, unaware of the plans of De Gourgues,
were for going ashore at once and giving battle; but he was in no
haste,--when he was ready for all emergencies he would go, and not
before.
Night fell again; and with the coming of dawn a great surprise awaited
us, for in the gathering light, we saw that the beach was alive with
savages. They made no sound but stood in groups as far as the pines,
where they were lost in the misty shadows of the forest behind them.
Here and there a figure was moving from one group to another, and we
knew that their runners had gone out to the nearer villages and that
they had assembled to combat our landing. De Gourgues frowned as he
came upon deck.
“Crebleu!” he scowled, “there must be three thousand of them at least.
Fools that they are! I have no men to waste upon such carrion as these.
You are a wise soothsayer, M. de Brésac!”
“Monsieur!” replied the Chevalier with some dignity, “I have only
replied to your questions with the best of my understanding.”
“But these red devils,” De Gourgues continued, “are armed to the very
finger-nails. They look from here little like the allies you have
promised us, M. de Brésac. Ho! Dariol, come aft!”
De Gourgues was striding up and down in a ferment. He saw his anchors
gone and his plans set adrift by this unexpected resistance. When
Dariol came, he stopped before him savagely, and pointing to the dark
mass upon the beach said with scorn:
“Look you, master trumpeter, at your friends yonder! Look, I say! Must
we cut our way through all this red vermin before we may reach the
Spanish Fort? Explain it,--if you can. What has happened?”
Dariol wore a most serious face.
“The matter is bad, my Captain, for these Indians are surely bent upon
war----”
“Well!”
“If we cannot prove our friendship we shall not land without a battle.”
“’Tis plain as a pike-handle,” said Bourdelais.
“A pretty pickle, sure enough----”
“M. de Gourgues, had you thought,” interrupted De Brésac quietly, “that
they may take us for Spaniards?”
“But even so----”
“Seigneur, I am willing to take a risk. If Dariol will go with me, I
will go to the beach asking for Satouriona----”
A murmur arose among those within hearing. It seemed to many a most
daring thing to offer; for to our people, many of whom had never passed
the borders of France, these Indians were as wild beasts or Africans,
fit only to be shot or captured as slaves. For me, I believed with
Brésac and having been at the council table with Satouriona I foresaw
little harm if he were put among the natives upon the beach. So when
Dariol had said that he would go, I too offered my services.
But De Gourgues in his uncertain and dangerous mood was of a different
mind.
“I have no humor to lose all my men upon such a fool’s venture,” he
said. “Dariol may go, if he have the hardihood. M. de Brésac----”
“Seigneur,” interrupted the Chevalier, “this man must be rowed ashore.
He cannot talk and make signs to these Indians, rowing at the same
time. It is I who first offered this service.”
De Gourgues frowned, debating for some little time, but at last gave
orders that a boat should be lowered into the water. Every persuasion
that I might, I used upon him until I saw that further argument was
mere waste of words. He would not let me go.
“No,” he said shortly, “we are already too small a number. Were you to
go I should be sending--not three, but six, men--and that were already
four too many.”
With great anxiety he watched Dariol and De Brésac drop down into the
boat. They had no weapons and had removed their doublets to row the
better. Dariol had put in the bow a number of small trinkets, such
as mirrors, knives and strings of beads, with which he hoped to show
the signs of friendliness. The morions of our arquebusiers lined the
bulwarks, for the company thought these two men were going most surely
to their death. No word was spoken and the sound of the oars plashing
in the quiet water of the harbor came down clearly upon the breeze
from the land as the little craft drew nearer the shore. When half the
distance had been traversed we saw Dariol lay down his oars and stand
up in the bow shouting, “Antipola! Antipola!” waving a string of beads
in his hand. This brought forth a chorus of cries from the beach, and
the savages came down to the water’s edge shouting and waving their
bows. But De Brésac, at the oars, not even turned his head at the
outcry. He bent steadily to his work like a London waterman, sending
the boat at each stroke nearer and nearer the moving crowd.
The excitement upon the ship was intense, for in a moment the craft
would be grounded upon the beach in the very midst of the enemy.
“Most gallantly done,” said De Gourgues, beside me, below his breath.
Dariol began shouting again, asking for Satouriona, but in the
commotion we could not hear what further was said. Then something
happened; for we saw a tall figure come out to his waist in the water,
holding up his hands before him. In a moment the boat disappeared in
the human wave that engulfed it as the Indians surrounded it upon every
side, seizing the gunwales and running it up on the beach. It was a
most confused mass and we could make out little of what was going on.
A fellow up forward shouted, “They have killed them! They have killed
them!” and a great cry arose on the _Vengeance_ which drowned the
yelling of the savages upon the shore. Some of the Indians were jumping
into the air and throwing their bows aloft; and Bourdelais, who was
looking through the glass, said haltingly,
“I see them--there is the shirt of De Brésac. Three of them are holding
him--no--they are,”--and then excitedly, “upon my faith--they are
clasping him by the hand--they are touching Dariol upon the shoulders.
It is friendship--seigneur--friendship!”
De Gourgues snatched the glass from Bourdelais’ hand and fixed it
quickly to his eye.
“You are right, Bourdelais. They walk up the beach, my comrade! They
converse together. Ah! it is well.”
It was now patent to all on board the _Vengeance_ that no harm had
befallen our comrades, and there was great rejoicing. For there in
plain sight walked Dariol and De Brésac talking with the Indian who
had walked into the water, who, by his stature, wide shoulders and
dignified bearing, I made out to be none other than Satouriona himself.
After awhile we saw the boat push off from the shore and make for the
ship. Dariol and De Brésac rowed; in the stern we marked the figures
of Satouriona and several dusky savages. At this De Gourgues ordered
the company to be drawn up upon the deck, and prepared to welcome his
strange visitors over the side with all the state and formality he
would have shown a King of France. It was a course which diplomacy
suggested.
I had not before seen Satouriona in his war dress, for at Fort Caroline
he and his braves had come smoking the pipe of peace and wearing a
small headdress and only the _aziam_, or breech-clout, upon the body.
As his broad shoulders rose above the bulwarks, we saw that his hair
had been lifted upon his head, and two eagle’s feathers painted with
streaks were stuck upon it. Upon his breast was painted a picture
of one of those beasts which had so frightened us in the swamp--an
alligarto--which was the totem of his tribe. Streaks of red and
white paint were drawn upon his face, making his features fierce and
threatening. I should not have known him but for his bearing, for
at Fort Caroline I had thought him a most comely savage, rugged and
strong-featured, but of a great calm and dignity. Behind him walked
Olotoraca, a young brave, his nephew, and Tacatacourou, the second
great chief of the tribe. They bore no weapons, but walked past the
ranks of the pikemen and arquebusiers, making no sign of any emotion
as they went with De Gourgues below to the cabin. Here he had caused
a feast of wine and preserved fruits to be set forth, of which the
Indians took sparingly. After this Goddard’s pipe and what remained of
his tobacco was brought forth, and De Gourgues, lighting it, himself
passed it to Satouriona, who solemnly puffed it and handed it to his
neighbor.
De Gourgues’ luminous eyes went from one of the chiefs to the other,
as he considered the words best to use in the delicate business before
him. Dariol stood behind his chair ready to interpret.
“I have come to the country of the great Satouriona,” he said at last,
“to bring him presents and to continue that friendship which was begun
by the great white chief, Ribault.”
Satouriona nodded gravely. “So it has been said. I and my people are
glad.”
“I thank you, great chief, in the name of my country and of my great
master across the water, who in love and good will has sent me,” said
De Gourgues, from necessity speaking of the King of France. “He has
sent me to give you many gifts which will be useful in your lodges as
well as in the hunting. My master knows of the kindness of the great
Satouriona to his servant Ribault, and prays that this good-will and
friendship will continue through the passing of many years.”
Satouriona arose with great dignity and spoke. His heavy voice, made
to resound under the vaulted arches of the forest, rang mellow and deep
in the little cabin.
“I have said to the great white chief Ribault that the sky shall fall
upon the earth sooner than I will become an enemy to the people of your
nation. Since the great stone house was taken by these dark-bearded
ones there has been no happy day among the people of the nation of
Satouriona. The sun hides his face behind the clouds, and the flowers
and fruits have ceased to blossom and to ripen. There is a blight upon
all the land, and the rivers and streams dry up like the blood which
flows from our hearts. The Spanish have beaten us back with their
sticks which speak a loud noise, and they have burned our cabins. They
have ravished our wives and daughters, they have killed our children;
and our hearts are heavy and ready to burst within us for shame and
anguish.”
Satouriona paused to give his speech a greater value.
“All this we have suffered because we loved the great white Paracousi,
Ribault. But now the end has come. We can endure it no longer, and we
shall make a deadly war against them until the tribe of Satouriona is
no more or the people with the black beards are beaten back into the
sea out of which they came.”
Again fortune seemed to be favoring us. The display of force was meant
for our enemies, not for us. We knew the joy De Gourgues must have
felt; but no sign of it showed upon his face. In Europe his reply would
have been called diplomacy.
“It is a great sorrow to me, O, Paracousi! that the love which
Satouriona bears my people has brought ill treatment upon his tribe.
But such things shall be no longer. If his nation has been abused for
the love of the French, then the French will be his avengers.”
As this was interpreted by Dariol we watched the face of the Paracousi.
Slowly, as the truth of what had been said dawned upon him, Satouriona
arose from his seat and leaning forward upon the table, looked over at
De Gourgues, a broad smile upon his face.
“What!” he exclaimed, “will you fight the Spaniards?”
“I came here,” replied De Gourgues, rising, “only to reconnoitre the
country and make friends with you, and then go back and bring more
soldiers; but when I hear what you are suffering from them I wish to
fall upon them this very day, and rescue you from their tyranny.”
The effect of this speech upon these Indians was great. Their faces,
usually stolid and expressionless, broke into smiles; and all their
dignity and quiet was swept away by the joyful tidings. Their voices
rang through the narrow cabin as they rose to their feet and in rough
gutturals and cries of their own wildly applauded the words of the
Avenger. It was some moments before quiet was again restored, for so
great was the joy of Satouriona that he had no better control upon his
composure than Olotoraca, the youngest of his chiefs.
When the Indians were seated again De Gourgues, raising his hand
commanding silence, continued.
“It is most certain, O, Paracousi! that this expedition is no play
for children; for those we must fight are sturdy men, well armed and
sheltered in a fort built of many thicknesses of stone. You must summon
the greatest chiefs and braves of your tribe, so that we shall make
good our promises. We do not covet all the honor of this victory, and
will share that as well as the spoils of the battle with you and your
people.”
“We will go,” replied Satouriona, solemnly uplifting his hand, “we will
go and die with you, if need be!”
“It is well. There should be no delay. If we fight we should fight at
once; for it will not be many suns before the black-beards will know
that our great white canoes have anchored near their fort. This should
not be, for what we do, we must do in secrecy.”
When this was rendered into his language, Satouriona drew his knife
from his belt,--leaned forward, lifting his hands and elbows,
crouching, the very picture of keenness and stealth. His voice was low
and threatening like the murmur of the rising storm in the tops of the
giant firs of the seashore.
“Do not doubt,” said he. “Do not doubt we hate them more than you can
do.”
After this there followed a long discussion upon the best method of
attack upon the Fort, Satouriona asking but three days to send his
runners to outlying villages that there might be no lack of warriors
for the expedition. It was decided by De Gourgues to send three scouts
at once to learn the strength and position of the two forts at the
river’s mouth as well as many details of the new armament of Fort San
Mateo.