Latest / This Country of Ours, Part 1 / 10 - This Country of Ours, Part 1 by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall

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10 - 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 ten. 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. Is
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  Speaker 1: reading by Kara Shallenberg, This Country of Ours, Chapter ten,
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  Speaker 1: How a Frenchman avenged the death of his countrymen. When
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  Speaker 1: the news of these terrible massacres reached France, it was
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  Speaker 1: greeted with a cry of horror, even the boy King
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  Speaker 1: Charles the ninth Catholic, though he was demanded redress. But
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  Speaker 1: the King of Spain declared that the Frenchmen had been
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  Speaker 1: justly served. The land upon which they had settled was his,
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  Speaker 1: he said, and they had no right to be there.
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  Speaker 1: He was sorry that they were Frenchmen, but they were
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  Speaker 1: also pirates and robbers, and had received only the just
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  Speaker 1: reward of their misdeeds. Neither Charles nor his mother, who
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  Speaker 1: was the real ruler in France at this time, wished
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  Speaker 1: to quarrel with the King of Spain. So, finding that
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  Speaker 1: no persuasions would move him, and that instead of being punished,
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  Speaker 1: Menendez was praised and rewarded, they let the matter drop.
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  Speaker 1: But there was one man in France who would not
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  Speaker 1: Thus tamely submit to the tyranny of Spain. His name
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  Speaker 1: was Dominique de Gorges. He hated the Spaniards with a
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  Speaker 1: deadly hatred, and when he heard of the Florida massacre,
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  Speaker 1: he vowed to avenge the death of his countrymen. He
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  Speaker 1: sold all that he had borrowed what money he could,
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  Speaker 1: and with three ships and a goodly company of soldiers
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  Speaker 1: and sailors, set sail. At first, however, he kept his
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  Speaker 1: real object secret. Instead of steering straight for Florida, he
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  Speaker 1: steered southward, making believe that he was going to Africa
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  Speaker 1: for slaves. But after encountering storms and contrary winds, he
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  Speaker 1: turned westward, and when off the coast of Cuba, he
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  Speaker 1: gathered all his men together and told them what he
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  Speaker 1: had set out to do. In vivid, terrible words, he
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  Speaker 1: recounted to them the horrible slaughter. Shall we let such
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  Speaker 1: cruelty go unpunished? He asked, what fame for us if
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  Speaker 1: we avenge it to this end? I have given my
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  Speaker 1: fortune and I counted on you to help me. Was
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  Speaker 1: I wrong? No? They all cried, we will go with
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  Speaker 1: you to avenge our countrymen. So, with hearts filled with
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  Speaker 1: thoughts of vengeance, they sailed onward to Fort Caroline. The
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  Speaker 1: Spaniards had repaired the fort and now called it Fort Matteo.
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  Speaker 1: They had also built two small forts nearer the mouth
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  Speaker 1: of the river to guard the entrance to it. Now
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  Speaker 1: one afternoon the men in these forts saw three ships
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  Speaker 1: go sailing by. These were the French ships belonging to
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  Speaker 1: Gorge and his companions, But the men in the forts
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  Speaker 1: thought that they were Spanish ships, and therefore fired a salute.
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  Speaker 1: Gorge did not undeceive them. He fired a salute in reply, and,
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  Speaker 1: sailing on as if he were going elsewhere, was soon
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  Speaker 1: lost to sight. At length, having found a convenient place
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  Speaker 1: out of sight of the forts, he drew to the shore.
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  Speaker 1: But when he would have landed, he saw that the
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  Speaker 1: whole beach was crowded with savages, armed with bows and arrows,
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  Speaker 1: and ready for war. For the Indians, too had taken
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  Speaker 1: the strange ships to be Spanish, and as they had
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  Speaker 1: grown to hate the Spaniards with a deadly hatred, they
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  Speaker 1: were prepared to withstand their landing. Fortunately, however, Gorge had
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  Speaker 1: on board a trumpeter who had been in Florida with Laudonniere.
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  Speaker 1: So now he sent him on shore to talk with
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  Speaker 1: the Indians, and as soon as they recognized him, they
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  Speaker 1: greeted him with shouts of joy. Then they led him
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  Speaker 1: at once to their chief, who was no other than Satouriona,
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  Speaker 1: Laudonniere's one time friend. So amid great rejoicings, the frenchmen landed.
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  Speaker 1: Then Satouriona poured into their ears the tail of his wrongs.
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  Speaker 1: He told them how the Spaniards stole their corn, drove
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  Speaker 1: them from their huts and their hunting grounds, and generally
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  Speaker 1: ill treated them. Not one peaceful day, he said, have
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  Speaker 1: the Indians known since the Frenchmen went away. When Gourge
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  Speaker 1: heard this, he was well pleased. If you have been
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  Speaker 1: ill treated by the Spaniards, he said, the French will
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  Speaker 1: avenge you. At this, Satouriona leaped for joy. What he cried,
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  Speaker 1: Will you fight the Spaniards, Yes, replied Gorge. But you
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  Speaker 1: must do your part also. We will die with you,
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  Speaker 1: cried Satouriona. If need be. That is well, said Gorge.
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  Speaker 1: How soon can you be ready? For if we fight,
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  Speaker 1: we should fight at once. In three days we can
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  Speaker 1: be ready, said the Indian. See to it, then said
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  Speaker 1: Gorge that you are a secret in the matter so
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  Speaker 1: that the Spaniards suspect nothing, have no fear, replied Satouriona,
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  Speaker 1: We wish them more ill than you do. The third
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  Speaker 1: day came, and true to his word, Satouriona appeared surrounded
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  Speaker 1: by hundreds of warriors, fearful in paint and feathers, then
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  Speaker 1: some by water, some by land. The French and Indians
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  Speaker 1: set forth, and after many hardships and much toil, they
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  Speaker 1: each one of the forts which the Spaniards had built
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  Speaker 1: near the river's mouth. From the shelter of the surrounding trees,
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  Speaker 1: they gazed upon it. There cried gorge. There at last
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  Speaker 1: are the thieves who have stolen this land from our king.
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  Speaker 1: There are the murderers who slew our countrymen. At his words,
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  Speaker 1: the men were hardly to be restrained. In eager whispers,
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  Speaker 1: they begged to be led on. So the word was given,
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  Speaker 1: and the frenchmen rushed upon the fort. The Spaniards had
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  Speaker 1: just finished their midday meal when a cry was heard
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  Speaker 1: from the ramparts, to arms, to arms, the French are coming.
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  Speaker 1: They were taken quite unawares, and with but short resistance
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  Speaker 1: they fled. The French and Indians pursued them and hemmed
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  Speaker 1: them in so that not one man escaped. In like manner,
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  Speaker 1: the second fort was also taken, and every man slain
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  Speaker 1: or made prisoner. The next day was Sunday, and Gorge
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  Speaker 1: spent it resting and making preparations to attack Fort Matteo.
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  Speaker 1: When the Spaniards in Fort Matteo saw the French and
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  Speaker 1: their great host of yelling, dancing Indians, they were filled
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  Speaker 1: with fear, and, in order to find out how strong
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  Speaker 1: the force really was, one of them brest himself as
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  Speaker 1: an Indian and crept within the French lines. But almost
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  Speaker 1: at once he was seen by a young Indian chief,
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  Speaker 1: and his disguise being thus discovered, he was seized and questioned.
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  Speaker 1: He owned that there were scarce three hundred men in
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  Speaker 1: the fort, and that, believing the French to number at
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  Speaker 1: least two thousand, they were completely terror stricken. This news
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  Speaker 1: delighted Gorge, and next morning he prepared to attack. The
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  Speaker 1: fort was easily taken. When the Spaniards saw the French attack,
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  Speaker 1: panic seized them and they fled into the forest, But
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  Speaker 1: there the Indians, mad with the desire of blood and vengeance,
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  Speaker 1: met them. Many fell before the tomahawks. Others turned back,
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  Speaker 1: choosing rather to die at the hands of the French
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  Speaker 1: than of the Indians. But which way they turned there
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  Speaker 1: was no escape. Nearly all were slain, a few only
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  Speaker 1: were taken prisoner. When the fight was over, Gorge brought
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  Speaker 1: all the prisoners from the three forts together. He led
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  Speaker 1: them to the trees where Menendez had hanged the frenchmen
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  Speaker 1: a few months before. There he spoke to them, Did
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  Speaker 1: you think that such foul treachery, such abominable cruelty, would
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  Speaker 1: go unpunished? He said, nay, I, one of the most
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  Speaker 1: lowly of my King's subjects, have taken upon myself to
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  Speaker 1: avenge it. There is no name shameful enough with which
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  Speaker 1: to brand your deeds, no punishment severe enough to repay them.
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  Speaker 1: But though you cannot be made to suffer as you deserve,
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  Speaker 1: you shall suffer all that an enemy may honorably inflict.
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  Speaker 1: Thus your fate shall be an example to teach others
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  Speaker 1: to keep the peace and friendly alliance which you have
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  Speaker 1: broken so wickedly. And having spoken thus sternly to the
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  Speaker 1: trembling wretches, Gorge ordered his men to hang them on
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  Speaker 1: the very same trees upon which Menendez had hanged the frenchmen,
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  Speaker 1: and over their heads. He nailed tablets of wood, upon
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  Speaker 1: which were burned the words not as Spaniards or as mariners,
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  Speaker 1: but as traitors, robbers and murderers. Then, at length the
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  Speaker 1: vengeance of Gorge was satisfied, But indeed it was scarce complete,
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  Speaker 1: for Menendez, the chief mover and leader of the Spaniards,
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  Speaker 1: was safe in Europe and beyond the reach of any
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  Speaker 1: private man's vengeance. The Spaniards, too, were strongly entrenched at
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  Speaker 1: Saint Augustine, so strongly indeed, that Gorgs knew he had
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  Speaker 1: not force enough to oust them. He had not even
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  Speaker 1: meny enough to keep the three forts he had won,
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  Speaker 1: so he resolved to destroy them. This delighted the Indians,
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  Speaker 1: and they worked with such vigor that in one day
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  Speaker 1: all three forts were made level with the ground. Then,
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  Speaker 1: having accomplished all that he had come to do, Gorge
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  Speaker 1: made ready to depart, whereupon the Indians set up a
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  Speaker 1: wail of grief with tears. They begged the french Men
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  Speaker 1: to stay, and when they refused, they followed them all
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  Speaker 1: the way to the shore, praising them and giving them gifts,
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  Speaker 1: and praying them to return, so leaving the savages weeping
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  Speaker 1: upon the shore, the Frenchman sailed away, and little more
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  Speaker 1: than a month later they reached home. When they heard
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  Speaker 1: of what Gorge had done, the Huguenots rejoiced, and they
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  Speaker 1: greeted him with honor and praise. But Philip of Spain
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  Speaker 1: was furiously angry. He demanded that Gorge should be punished,
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  Speaker 1: and offered a large sum of money for his head.
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  Speaker 1: King Charles, too, being in fear of the King of Spain,
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  Speaker 1: looked upon him coldly, so that for a time he
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  Speaker 1: was obliged to flee away and hide himself. Gorge had
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  Speaker 1: used all his money to set forth on his expedition,
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  Speaker 1: so for a few years he lived in poverty. But
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  Speaker 1: Queen Elizabeth at length heard of him and his deeds,
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  Speaker 1: and as she too hated the Spaniards, she was pleased
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  Speaker 1: at what he had done, and she asked him to
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  Speaker 1: enter her service. Thus, at length he was restored to
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  Speaker 1: honor and favor, And in honor and favor he continued
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  Speaker 1: all the rest of his life. End of chapter ten.
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  Speaker 1: Read on October twenty six, two thousand seven, in Oceanside, California,