Latest / This Country of Ours, Part 1 / 07 - This Country of Ours, Part 1 by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall

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07 - This Country of Ours, Part 1 by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall · This Country of Ours, Part 1

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  Speaker 1: This Country of Ours Chapter seven. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. This
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  Speaker 1: Country of Ours by H. E. Marshall, Chapter seven, How
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  Speaker 1: the flag of France was planted in Florida. As years
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  Speaker 1: went on, many voyages of discovery and exploration were made
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  Speaker 1: to the New World, by both the Spaniards and the Portuguese,
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  Speaker 1: but chiefly by the Spaniards. America was the land of
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  Speaker 1: golden hopes, the land of splendid adventure, and the haughty
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  Speaker 1: knights of Spain, thirsting for gold and for fame, were
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  Speaker 1: lured thither. They sought the fabled Seven Cities of Gold.
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  Speaker 1: They sought the fountain of eternal youth. Through the dark,
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  Speaker 1: pathless forests, across the wide prairies, they flashed in glittering array,
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  Speaker 1: awaking the vast silences with the clash of arms. They
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  Speaker 1: came in all the pomp and splendor of warfare. They
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  Speaker 1: brought also the Cross of Christ, threatening the heathen with
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  Speaker 1: death if they did not bow to him and be baptized.
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  Speaker 1: And it seemed for a time as if they and
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  Speaker 1: they only would possess the vast continent. But expedition after
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  Speaker 1: expedition ended in disaster. The Spaniards found neither the far
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  Speaker 1: famed Seven Cities nor the Fountain of Youth, and the
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  Speaker 1: Red Men, instead of accepting their religion, hated them and
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  Speaker 1: it with a deep hatred. But the Spaniards were not
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  Speaker 1: long left in undisputed possession of America. The French king
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  Speaker 1: too desired to have new lands across the seas, and
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  Speaker 1: he saw no reason why Spain and Portugal should divide
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  Speaker 1: the New World between them. I would fain see Father
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  Speaker 1: Adam's will, he said, in which he made you the
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  Speaker 1: sole heirs to so vast an inheritance, until I do
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  Speaker 1: see that I shall seize as mine whatever my good
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  Speaker 1: ships may find upon the ocean. From France. Therefore daring
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  Speaker 1: men sailed forth to the New World, and there they
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  Speaker 1: set up the arms of their country, claiming broad lands
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  Speaker 1: for their king. And now came the time when all
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  Speaker 1: Christian lands were torn asunder by religious strife. The Reformation
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  Speaker 1: had begun, and everywhere there was discord between the people
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  Speaker 1: who followed the old religion and those who followed the new.
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  Speaker 1: In France, those who followed the new religion were called Huguenots.
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  Speaker 1: They were often hardly used and were denied freedom to
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  Speaker 1: worship God in their own way. Many of them therefore
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  Speaker 1: longed to get away from France and go to some
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  Speaker 1: new country where they would have the freedom they desired.
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  Speaker 1: So a few grave, stern men gathered together and determined
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  Speaker 1: to set out for some place in the new world
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  Speaker 1: where they might make a home. Then, one February day
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  Speaker 1: in fifteen sixty two, two little ships sailed away from
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  Speaker 1: France westward. They sailed until about two and a half
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  Speaker 1: months later they landed in what is now Florida. It
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  Speaker 1: was May day, the sun shone, and all the world
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  Speaker 1: seemed gay and green, and these Protestant adventurers thought they
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  Speaker 1: had never seen so fair a land. It was, they said,
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  Speaker 1: the fairest, fruitfulest, and pleasantest of all the world, abounding
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  Speaker 1: in honey, venison, and wild fowl. The natives were friendly
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  Speaker 1: and told the newcomers by signs that the Seven Golden
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  Speaker 1: Cities were not far off. That rejoiced their hearts, for
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  Speaker 1: even those stern old Huguenots were not above following the
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  Speaker 1: quest for gold. Here then, in this far off land,
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  Speaker 1: the Huguenots set up a stone pillar carved with the
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  Speaker 1: arms of the King of France, and kneeling round it,
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  Speaker 1: they gave thanks to God for having brought them to
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  Speaker 1: so fair a coy. Then, returning to their ships, they
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  Speaker 1: sailed northward along the coast, for they had not come
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  Speaker 1: to settle, but merely to explore and find out a
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  Speaker 1: good spot on which to found a colony. But the
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  Speaker 1: land seemed so fair, the air so balmy, that they
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  Speaker 1: were ready to settle there at once, and never returned
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  Speaker 1: to France at length. After inspecting several places, the adventurers
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  Speaker 1: reached a spot not far from what is now Beaufort
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  Speaker 1: in South Carolina. Here they landed, and, knowing that many
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  Speaker 1: of the men were already eager to remain in this
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  Speaker 1: beautiful country, Jean Ribaud, their leader, resolved to found a colony.
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  Speaker 1: So he called them altogether, and, speaking wise and brave
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  Speaker 1: words to them, asked who among them would remain. Declare
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  Speaker 1: your minds freely unto me, he said, and remember that
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  Speaker 1: if you decide to remain, you will forever be famous
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  Speaker 1: and be known as the first white men who inhabited
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  Speaker 1: this land. Ribaut had scarcely finished speak king, when nearly
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  Speaker 1: all the men replied with a shout, we ask nothing
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  Speaker 1: better than to remain in this beautiful country. Indeed, so
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  Speaker 1: many were anxious to remain that Ribaut had enough to
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  Speaker 1: do to persuade a sufficient number to man the ships
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  Speaker 1: to return with him. In the end, thirty men were
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  Speaker 1: chosen to remain. At once. They set about building a fort,
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  Speaker 1: which they called Charles Fort, in honor of the boy
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  Speaker 1: King Charles the ninth, who was then upon the throne.
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  Speaker 1: The men worked so well that in a very few
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  Speaker 1: days the fort was so far finished that it was
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  Speaker 1: fit to live in. Food and ammunition were brought from
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  Speaker 1: the ships, and a man named Albert de la Pieria
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  Speaker 1: was chosen as governor. Then, for the last time, Ribau
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  Speaker 1: gathered all the men together and took leave of those
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  Speaker 1: to be left behind Captain Albert. He said, I have
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  Speaker 1: to ask you, in the presence of all these men,
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  Speaker 1: to quit yourself so wisely in your charge, that I
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  Speaker 1: shall be able to commend you to your king. And you,
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  Speaker 1: he said, turning to the soul, I beg you to
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  Speaker 1: esteem Captain Albert as if he were myself, and to
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  Speaker 1: yield to him that obedience that a true soldier owes
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  Speaker 1: to his general and captain, I pray you live as
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  Speaker 1: brethren together without discord, and in so doing God will
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  Speaker 1: assist you and bless your enterprises. Then farewells were said,
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  Speaker 1: and Ribau sailed away, leaving the thirty white men alone
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  Speaker 1: in the wilderness. From north to south, from east to west,
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  Speaker 1: in all the vast continent, there were no white men
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  Speaker 1: save themselves. The little company was made up of young nobles, sailors, merchants,
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  Speaker 1: and artisans. There were no farmers or peasants among them,
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  Speaker 1: and when they had finished their fort, none of them
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  Speaker 1: thought of clearing the land and sowing corn. There was
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  Speaker 1: no need. Ribau would soon return, they thought, bringing with
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  Speaker 1: him all they required. So they made friends with the
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  Speaker 1: Indians and roamed the forest wilds in search of gold
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  Speaker 1: and of adventures, without care for the future. But the
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  Speaker 1: days and weeks passed and Ribaut did not return. For
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  Speaker 1: when he arrived home, he found that France was torn
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  Speaker 1: with civil war, and that it was impossible to get
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  Speaker 1: ships fitted out to sail to America. Soon, the little
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  Speaker 1: colony began to feel the pangs of hunger. Daily they
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  Speaker 1: scanned the pitiless blue sea for a glimpse of Ribau's
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  Speaker 1: returning sail, No sail appeared, and daily their supplies dwindled away.
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  Speaker 1: Had it not been for the friendly red men, they
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  Speaker 1: might all have perished. For the Indians were generous, and
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  Speaker 1: as long as they had food themselves, they shared it
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  Speaker 1: with their white friends. But at length they could spare
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  Speaker 1: no more. Indeed, they had already given the pale faces
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  Speaker 1: so much food that they themselves, they said, would be
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  Speaker 1: forced to roam the woods in search of roots and
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  Speaker 1: herbs to keep them from starving until harvest was ripe.
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  Speaker 1: They told the Frenchmen, however, of two rich and powerful
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  Speaker 1: chiefs who held sway over land which lay to the south,
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  Speaker 1: where they might obtain endless applies of corn and vegetables.
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  Speaker 1: This was indeed good news to the Frenchmen, and guided
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  Speaker 1: by their Indian friends, they lost no time in setting
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  Speaker 1: out to beg food from those dusky potentates. When the
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  Speaker 1: Frenchmen reached the wigwams of one of these chiefs, they
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  Speaker 1: were received with great honor. They found that their red
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  Speaker 1: skin friends had spoken truly. Here there was food in abundance,
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  Speaker 1: and after a great feast they returned joyfully to the
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  Speaker 1: fort carrying with them a great supply of corn and beans,
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  Speaker 1: and what was still better, a promise from the friendly
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  Speaker 1: chief that he would give them more food whenever they
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  Speaker 1: had need of it. Once more, the colonists rejoiced in plenty,
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  Speaker 1: but not for long, for the very night they arrived home,
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  Speaker 1: their storehouse took fire, and all the food which they
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  Speaker 1: had brought with such joy was destroyed. Again, famine stared
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  Speaker 1: them in the face. In their plight, they once more
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  Speaker 1: appealed to the savage chief, who supplied their wants as
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  Speaker 1: generously as before, promising them that as long as his
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  Speaker 1: meal should last, they should never want. So for the
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  Speaker 1: time being, the colonists were saved from starvation, but another
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  Speaker 1: danger now threatened them, for quarrels arose among the men.
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  Speaker 1: Albert de Pieria, who had been set over them as captain,
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  Speaker 1: proved to be cruel and despotic. He oppressed the men
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  Speaker 1: in many ways, hanging and imprisoning at will those who
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  Speaker 1: displeased him. Soon the men began to murmur under his tyranny.
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  Speaker 1: Black looks greeted Albert de Pieria. He answered them with
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  Speaker 1: blacker deeds at length. One day, for some misdeed he
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  Speaker 1: banished a soldier to a lonely island, and left him
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  Speaker 1: there to die of hunger. This was more than the
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  Speaker 1: colonists could well bear. Their smoldering anger burst forth, and,
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  Speaker 1: seizing the tyrant, they put him to death. Then they
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  Speaker 1: chose one of their number, called Nicholas Barre, to be
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  Speaker 1: their captain. They were rid of their tyrant, and that
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  Speaker 1: brought peace for a time to the little colony. But
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  Speaker 1: the men had grown to hate the place. A land
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  Speaker 1: which had once seemed to them so fair, now seemed
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  Speaker 1: no better than a prison, and they longed to escape
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  Speaker 1: from it. They had, however, no ship, and although all
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  Speaker 1: around them tall trees grew, no one of them knew
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  Speaker 1: anything of ship building. Still so strong was their desire
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  Speaker 1: to leave the hated spot that they resolved to build one.
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  Speaker 1: They set to work with a will. Soon the sound
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  Speaker 1: of saw and hammer awoke the silence of the forest.
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  Speaker 1: High and low, noble and peasant all worked together, the
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  Speaker 1: Indians even lending a hand. At length, their labors were over,
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  Speaker 1: and the rough little ship was afloat. It made but
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  Speaker 1: a sorry appearance. The planks were rough hewn by the
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  Speaker 1: hatchet and calked with the moss, which grew in long
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  Speaker 1: streamers on the trees. The cordage was Indian made, and
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  Speaker 1: the sails were patched together from shirts and bedclothes. Never
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  Speaker 1: before had men thought to dare the ocean waves in
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  Speaker 1: so crazy a craft. But the colonists were in such
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  Speaker 1: eagerness to be gone that they chew. It was rather
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  Speaker 1: to risk almost certain death upon the ocean than remained
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  Speaker 1: longer in their vast prison house. So they loaded the
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  Speaker 1: ship with as much food as they could collect, and,
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  Speaker 1: saying farewell to their Indian friends, they spread their patchwork
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  Speaker 1: sails and glided out to sea, drunken with joy at
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  Speaker 1: the thought of returning to France. At first, the wind
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  Speaker 1: blew fair, and the little ship sped gaily homeward. Then
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  Speaker 1: came a calm, The sun burned overhead, No faintest breeze
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  Speaker 1: stirred the slack sails, and the ship lay as if
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  Speaker 1: at anchor, upon the glassy waters. And as the ship
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  Speaker 1: lay motionless, the slender stock of food grew less and less.
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  Speaker 1: Soon there was nothing left but maize, and little of that.
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  Speaker 1: At first a tiny handful was each man's daily portion.
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  Speaker 1: Then it was counted by grains, but jealously hoarded. Although
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  Speaker 1: it was the maize at length gave out, and there
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  Speaker 1: was nothing left to eat but their leather shoes and jerks.
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  Speaker 1: Then to the pain of hunger was added the pain
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  Speaker 1: of thirst, For the water barrels were empty to the
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  Speaker 1: last drop. Unable to endure the torture, some drank the
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  Speaker 1: sea water, and so died in madness. Beneath the burning sun.
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  Speaker 1: Every timber of the crazy little ship warped and started,
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  Speaker 1: and on all sides the sea flowed in. Still. Through
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  Speaker 1: all their agony, the men clung to life, and sick
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  Speaker 1: with hunger, maddened with thirst as they were, they labored
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  Speaker 1: unceasingly baling out the water. But they labored now with
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  Speaker 1: despair in their hearts, and they gave up hope of
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  Speaker 1: ever seeing their beloved France again. Then at length the
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  Speaker 1: pitiless sun was overcast, a wild wind arose, and the
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  Speaker 1: glassy sea whipped to fury, became a waste of foam
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  Speaker 1: and angry billows. The tiny vessel was tossed about helplessly,
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  Speaker 1: and buffeted this way and that. In the turning of
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  Speaker 1: a hand, says an old writer, the waves filled their
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  Speaker 1: vessel half full of water. And bruised it upon one side.
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  Speaker 1: The wretched men now gave themselves up for lost. They
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  Speaker 1: cared no longer to bail, but cast themselves down into
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  Speaker 1: the bottom of the boat and let it drift where
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  Speaker 1: it would. Only one man among them did not utterly
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  Speaker 1: lose heart. He set himself now to encourage the others,
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  Speaker 1: telling them that if only the wind held in three days,
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  Speaker 1: they would see the shores of France. This man was
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  Speaker 1: so full of hope that at length he aroused the
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  Speaker 1: others from their despair. Once more, they began the weary
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  Speaker 1: work of bailing, and in spite of all the fury
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  Speaker 1: of the wind and waves, the little vessel kept afloat.
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  Speaker 1: At last the storm passed once more, the fainting wanderers
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  Speaker 1: righted their vessel and turned the prow towards the shores
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  Speaker 1: of France. But three days passed and no land was seen,
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  Speaker 1: and they became more despairing than before. For now the
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  Speaker 1: last grain of corn was eaten, the last drop of water.
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  Speaker 1: Drunk mad with thirst, sick with hunger, the men strained
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  Speaker 1: their weary eyes over the rolling waste of waters. No
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  Speaker 1: land was in sight. Then a terrible thought crept into
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  Speaker 1: one mind after another. In a low, hoarse whisper, one man,
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  Speaker 1: and then another spoke out his thought that one man
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  Speaker 1: should die for his fellows. So deep were they sunk
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  Speaker 1: in woe, that all were of one mind. So lots
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  Speaker 1: were cast, and the man upon whom the lot fell
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  Speaker 1: was killed. These tortured wayfarers had become cannibals. Kept alive
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  Speaker 1: in this terrible fashion. The men sailed on, and at
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  Speaker 1: length a faint gray streak appeared on the horizon. It
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  Speaker 1: was the long looked for shore of France. But the
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  Speaker 1: joy was too great for their over strained minds. The
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  Speaker 1: sight of land seemed to rob them of all power
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  Speaker 1: of thought or action. With salvation in sight, they let
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  Speaker 1: the little vessel drift aimlessly this way, And that while
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  Speaker 1: they thus drifted aimlessly, a white sail hove in sight,
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  Speaker 1: and an English vessel bore down upon them. In the
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  Speaker 1: English vessel there happened to be a Frenchman who had
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  Speaker 1: sailed with Ribaut on his first voyage to Florida. He
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  Speaker 1: soon recognized his countrymen in spite of their sorry plight,
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  Speaker 1: and they were brought aboard the English vessel. And when
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  Speaker 1: they had been given food and drink, and were somewhat revived.
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  Speaker 1: They told their tale of misery. The Englishmen were in
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  Speaker 1: doubt for some time as to what it was best
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  Speaker 1: to do. In the end they decided to set the
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  Speaker 1: most feeble on the shores of France, and to carry
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  Speaker 1: the others prisoners to the Queen of England, who at
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  Speaker 1: that time was about to send an expedition to Florida.
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  Speaker 1: So ended the first attempt of the French to found
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  Speaker 1: a colony in North America. End of chapter seven, read
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  Speaker 1: on October nineteen, two thousand seven, in Oceanside, California, fo