This Country of Ours

golden hopes, the land of splendid adventure, and the haughty knights of Spain, thirsting for gold and for fame, were lured thither. They sought the fabled seven cities of gold, they

baptised. And it seemed for a time as if they, and they only, would possess the vast continent. But expedition after expedition ended in disaster. The Spaniar

The French King too desired to have new lands across the seas, and he saw

u the sole heirs to so vast an inheritance. Until I do see that, I s

the New World. And there they set up the arms of

ollowed the old religion and those who followed the new. In France those who followed the new religion were called Huguenots. They were often hardly used, and were denied

and determined to set out for some place i

ay from France. Westward they sailed until about two and

said, the fairest, fruitfullest and pleasantest of all the world, "abounding in honey, venison and wildfowl." The natives were friendly and told the newcomers b

und it they gave thanks to God for having brought them to so fair a country. Then returning to their ships they sailed northwa

balmy, that they were ready to settle th

hey landed, and knowing that many of the men were already eager to remain in this beautiful country, Jean Ribaut, their leader, reso

that if you decide to remain you will for ever be famous,

all the men replied with a shout, "We ask nothin

baut had enough to do to persuade a sufficien

t about building a fort which they called Charlesfort in hon

ood and ammunition were brought from the ships, and a man named Albert de la Pierria was chosen as Govern

ence of all these men, to quit yourself so wisely in your

and to yield to him that obedience that a true soldier owes to his general and captain. I pray you live

ut sailed away, leaving the thirty

. There were no farmers or peasants among them, and when they had finished their fort none of them thought of clearing the land and sowing corn. There was no need: Ribaut would soon retu

he arrived home he found that France was torn with civil war, and

For the Indians were generous, and as long as they had food themselves they shared it with their white friends. But at length they could spare no more. Indeed they had already given the Pale-faces so much food that they themselves, they said, would be forced to roam

ided by their Indian friends they lost no time in

poken truly. Here there was food in abundance; and after a great feast they returned joyfully to the fort, carrying with them a great supply of

the very night they arrived home their storehouse took fire, and

ef who supplied their wants as generously as before; promising them that as long as his meal sh

e who displeased him. Soon the men began to murmur under his tyranny. Black looks greeted Albert de Pierria: he answered them with blacker deeds. At length one day for some misdeed he banished a soldier to a lonely island, and left hi

lony. But the men had grown to hate the place. The land which had once seemed to

ew no one of them knew anything of ship building. Still, so strong was

er awoke the silence of the forest. High and low, noble and p

w in long streamers on the trees. The cordage was Indian made, and the sails were patched together from shirts and bedclothes. Never before had men thought to dare the ocean waves in

g farewell to their Indian friends, they spread their patchwork sails, and

pon the glassy waters. And as the ship lay motionless the slender stock of food grew less and less. Soon there was nothing left but maize, and little of that. At first a tiny handful was each

ed, and on all sides the sea flowed in. Still through all their agony the men clung to life. And sick with hunger, maddened with thirst as they were they laboured unceasingly bailing out the water. But they laboured now with despair in their hearts, and they gave up

ter, "the waves filled their vessel half fu

om of the boat, and let it drift where it would. Only one man among them did not utterly lose heart. He set himself no

their despair. Once more they began the weary work of bailing, and in s

vessel, and turned the prow towards the shores of France. But three days

d their weary eyes over the rolling waste of waters. No land was in sight. Then a terrible thought crept into one mind aft

ere of one mind. So lots were cast, and

wayfarers had b

long-looked-for shore of France. But the joy was too great for their over-strained minds. The sight of land seemed to rob t

be a Frenchman who had sailed with Ribaut on his first voyage to Florida. He soon recognised his countrymen in spite of their sorry plight, and t

decided to set the most feeble on the shores of France, and to carry the others prisone

empt of the French to

er

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