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Updated: May 15, 2025
Ribaut, having surrendered with the remaining hundred and fifty, was led away behind the sandhills and his hands were tied. Then he knew that he had been duped, and calmly faced his doom. "We are of earth," he said, "and to earth must return! Twenty years more or less matter little." As before, the deluded Frenchmen were brought over in tens, led away, tied, and, at a given signal, butchered.
On the heels of the explosion came a furious burst of discharging artillery. "This must be what you have been expecting, Major," shouted Ribaut over the racket. "A barrage!" Down the line ran the noise of bombardment, the thing becoming more furious every instant. Then some shells landed in first-line trenches nearby. "Take shelter!" shouted Captain Ribaut. "Now! At once!"
If foes, the garrison was lost, for the fort was defenceless. Then the river was seen full of armed barges coming up. Imagine the wild joy of the garrison, when the sentry's challenge was answered in French! It was Ribaut. He had come at last, with seven ships, bringing not only soldiers and artisans, but whole families of settlers. One might imagine that Fort Caroline's dark days had passed.
After a stay in Mexico, the young enthusiast reaches the shores of the distant Pacific. Commandante Miguel is delighted. Francisco Ribaut is of French blood, graceful and kindly. The Fathers of the mission hasten to provide the needs of Lagunitas chapel. The barges are loaded with supplies, councils and business despatched.
All were put to death, "as I judged expedient for the service of God and of your Majesty," wrote the Spanish commander to Philip II.," and I consider it a great piece of luck that this John Ribaut hath died in this place, for the King of France might have done more with him and five hundred ducats than with another man and five thousand, he having been the most able and experienced mariner of the day for knowing the navigation of the coasts of India and Florida."
There were such among the French disciples of Calvin; but no Mayflower ever sailed from a port of France. Coligny's colonists were of a different stamp, and widely different was their fate. An excellent seaman and stanch Protestant, John Ribaut of Dieppe, commanded the expedition. Under him, besides sailors, were a band of veteran soldiers, and a few young nobles.
Their Bad Faith to the Indians, and its Fatal Results. The Thirst for Gold, and how it was rewarded. Buccaneering. A Storm-cloud gathers in Spain. Misery in the Fort on the St. John's. Relieved by Sir John Hawkins. Arrival of Ribaut with Men and Supplies. Don Pedro Menendez captures Fort Caroline and massacres the Garrison and Shipwrecked Crews. Dominique de Gourgues takes Vengeance.
They were in full paint, in honor of the occasion, and in a most friendly mood. With their squaws and children, they presently drew near, and, strewing the earth with laurel-boughs, sat down among the Frenchmen. The latter were much pleased with them, and Ribaut gave the chief, whom he calls the king, a robe of blue cloth, worked in yellow with the regal fleur-de-lis.
Meanwhile, the fleeing French ships had turned, followed the Spaniards, and seen them land. Then they went back to Fort Caroline with the news. While these things had been happening Laudonnière had been very ill. He was still in bed when Ribaut, followed by several of his chief officers, came to his room to tell him the news which the returning ships had just brought.
As to Cartier, Ribaut, Laudonnière, Champlain, and La Salle, the writer has not gained any new light by referring to the original documents, and has drawn his material chiefly from that great master, Parkman, by whom the first four are treated in his "Pioneers of France in the New World," and the last-named in his "La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West."
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