The Paracoussi, on parting with Laudonniere, renewed his
assurances of good will, and repeated the promises which had been
given to ensure his deliverance from captivity. The engagement
required that a certain number of days should be allowed him, in
which to gather supplies in sufficient quantity to discharge his
ransom. Laudonniere left his lieutenants, Ottigny and D'Erlach,
with the two hostages, in one of the barks, to receive the provisions
which Utina was to furnish, while he himself returned to
La Caroline. The lieutenants moored their vessel within a little
creek which emptied into the May, and adopted all necessary
precautions against savage artifice. The vigilance of Alphonse
D'Erlach, in particular, was sleepless. He knew, more certainly
than his superior, the necessities and dangers of the French, and
the subtlety of the Indians. By day and night they lurked in the
contiguous thickets, watchful of every opportunity for assault.
An arquebuse presented in wantonness against the ledge which
skirted the river, would frequently expel a group of shrieking
warriors, well armed and covered with the war paint; and, with
the dawn of morning, the first thing to salute the eyes of our Frenchmen
would be long strings of arrows, planted in the earth, their
barbs of flint turned upwards, from which long hairs shreds from

[figure description] Page 284.[end figure description]

heads which had been shorn for war, were to be seen waving in the
wind. These were signs, too well understood by previous experience,
of a threatened and sleepless hostility

It was soon found that the Paracoussi either could not or would
not comply with his engagements. He sent a small supply of
grain to the lieutenant, but said that more could not be provided
except by a surrender of the hostages. The Frenchmen were
required to bring the captives to the village, when and where they
should be furnished with the full amount of the promised ransom.
Satisfied that all this was mere pretence, indicating purposes of
treachery, the Frenchmen were yet too much straitened by want
to forego any enterprise which promised them provisions. They,
accordingly, set forth for the place appointed, in two separate
bodies, marching so that they might support each other promptly,
under the several leads of D'Erlach and Ottigny. The former
held the advance. The village of Utina was six French leagues
from the river where they left their barque, and the route which
they were compelled to pursue was such as exposed them frequently
to the perils of ambuscade. But so vigilant was their watch, so
ready were they with matches lighted, and so close was the custody
in which they kept their hostages, that the Indians, whom
they beheld constantly flitting through the thickets, dared never
make any attempt upon them. They reached the village in
safety, and immediately proceeded to the dwelling-house of Olata
Utina, raised, as before described, upon an artificial eminence.
Here they found assembled all the chiefs of the nation; but the
Paracoussi was not among them. He kept aloof, and was not to
be seen at present by the Frenchmen. His chiefs received their
visitors with smiles and great professions; but, as their own proverb
recites, when the enemy smiles your scalp is in danger.

[figure description] Page 285.[end figure description]

They pointed to great sacks of mil and beans which had already
been accumulated, and still they showed the Frenchmen where
hourly came other of their subjects adding still more to the pile.

“But wherefore,” they demanded, “wherefore come our white
brethren, with the fire burning in their harquebuses? See they
not that it causes our women to be afraid, and our children to
tremble in their terror. Let our brethren put out this fire, which
makes them dread to come nigh with their peace-offerings, and
know us for a friend, under whose tongue there is no serpent.”

To this D'Erlach replied—“Our red brothers do themselves
wrong. They do not fear the fire in our harquebuses. They know
not its danger. The Frenchmen have always forborne to show
them the power that might make them afraid. But this power is
employed only against our enemies. Let the chiefs of the people
of the Paracoussi Utina show themselves friends, and the thunder
which we carry shall only send its fearful bolts among the foes
of Utina, the people of Potanou, and the warriors of the great
mountain of Apalatchy.

“If we are thus friends of the Frenchmen, why do they keep
our beloved men in bondage? Are these the ornaments proper
to a warrior and a great chief among his people?”

They pointed as they spoke to the fetters which embraced the
legs and arms of the hostages, who sat in one corner of the
council-house.

“Our red brothers have but to speak, and these chains fall
from the limbs of their well beloved chiefs.”

“Heh!—We speak!—Let them fall!”

“Speak to your people that these piles be complete,” pointing
to the grain.

“They have heard. See you not they come?”

[figure description] Page 286.[end figure description]

“But very slowly;—and hearken to us now, brothers of the
red-men, while we ask,—do the skies that pavilion the territories
of the Paracoussi Utina rain down such things as these.”

Here D'Erlach showed them a bunch of the arrows which they
had found planted by the wayside as they came. The thin lips of
the savages parted into slight smiles as they beheld them.

“These grow not by nature,” continued D'Arlach; “they fall
not from heaven in the heavy showers. They are sown by the
red-men along the path which the white man travels. What is
the fruit which is to grow from such seed as this?”

The chiefs were silent. The youth proceeded:

“Brothers, we are calm;—we are not angry, though we well
know what these arrows mean. We are patient, for we know our
own strength. The Paracoussi has promised us supplies of grain,
and hither we have come. Four days shall we remain in waiting
for it. Till that time, these well-beloved men shall remain in our
keeping. When we receive the supplies which have been promised
us, they shall be yours. We have spoken.”

Thus ended the first conference. That night the French
lieutenants found their way to the presence of the Paracoussi. He
was kept concealed in a small wigwam, deeply embowered in the
woods, but in near and convenient neighborhood to the village.
He himself had sent for them, and one of his sons had shown the
way. They found the old monarch still maintaining the state of
a prince, but he was evidently humbled. His captivity had
lessened his authority; and his anxiety to comply with the engagements
made with the French had in some degree impaired his
influence over his people. They had resolved to destroy the
pale-faces, as insolent invaders of their territory, consumers of its
substance and enemies of its peace. It was this hostility and this

[figure description] Page 287.[end figure description]

determination that had interposed all the obstacles in the way of
procuring the supplies promised.

“They resist me, their Paracoussi,” said Utina bitterly, “and
have resolved on fighting with you! They will wage war against
you to the last. See you not the planted arrows that marked
your pathway to my village? These arrows are planted from
the territories of Utina, by every pathway, to the very gates of
La Caroline. They will meet your eyes wherever you shall return
to the fortress. They mean nothing less than war, and such
warfare as admits of no peace. Go you, therefore, go you with
all speed to your vessels, and make what haste you can to the
garrison. The woods swarm with my warriors, and they no
longer heed my voice. They will hunt you to your vessel.
They mean to throw trees athwart the creek so that her escape
may be cut off, while they do you to death with their arrows,
and I cannot be there to say to my people—`stay your shafts,
these be our friends and allies.' They no longer hearken to my
voice. I am a Paracoussi without subjects, a ruler without obedience,—
a shadow, where I only used to be the substance.”

The despondency of the king was without hypocrisy. It
sensibly impressed our Frenchmen. They felt that he spoke the
truth. He was then, in fact, excluded from the house of council,
as incurring the suspicion of the red-men as fatally friendly
to the whites. While they still conversed, they were alarmed by
violent shrieks, as of one in mortal terror.

“That scream issues from a French throat!” exclaimed
D'Erlach, as he rushed forth. He was followed by Lieutenant
Ottigny and another. The Paracoussi never left his seat. The
screams guided them into a neighboring thicket, into which they
hurried, arriving there not a moment too soon. A Frenchman

[figure description] Page 288.[end figure description]

struggled in the grasp of five stalwart savages, who had him down
and were preparing to cut his throat. He had been beguiled
from the place which had been assigned him as a watch, and was
about to pay the penalty of his folly with his life. In an instant
the gallant Alphonse D'Erlach had sprung among them, his sword
passing clear through the back of the most prominent in the
group of assailants. His body, falling upon that of the captive,
prevented the blows which the rest were showering upon him.
They started in sudden terror at this interruption. Their own
and the clamors of the Frenchman had kept them from all knowledge
of the approaching rescue. In an instant they were gone.
They waited for no second stroke from a weapon whose first address
was so sharp and sudden. They left their captive, bruised
and groaning, but without serious injury to life or limb.

The warnings and assurances of the Paracoussi were sufficiently
enforced by this instance of the hostility of the red-men. But
the necessity of securing all the supplies they might possibly procure
from the natives, either through their own artifices or because
of the apprehension for their chiefs, caused our Frenchmen to
linger at the village of Utina. They were determined to wait the
full period of four days which they had assigned themselves. In
this period they saw the Paracoussi more than once. At each
interview his admonitions were delivered with increased solemnity.
They found his chiefs less and less accommodating at every interview.
The piles of grain at the council-house increased slowly.
Occasionally an Indian might be seen to enter and east the contents
of his little basket among the rest. The Frenchmen endeavored
to persuade the chiefs to furnish men to carry the grain
to their vessel, but this was flatly denied. Resolved, finally, to
depart, each soldier was required to load himself with a sack

[figure description] Page 289.[end figure description]

as well filled as it was consistent with his strength to bear. This
was slung across his shoulder, and, in this way, burdened with
food for other mouths as well as their own, and carrying their
matchlocks besides, the Frenchmen prepared to depart, on the
morning of the 27th July, 1565, from the village of Utina to the
bark which they had left. It was a memorable day for our adventurers.
In groups, scornfully smiling as they beheld the soldiers
staggering beneath their burdens, the chiefs assembled to
see them depart from the village. Alphonse D'Erlach beheld
the malignant triumph which sparkled in their eyes.

“We shall not be suffered to reach the bark in quiet;” was his
remark to Ottigny. “Let me have the advance, Monsieur, if you
please; I have dealt with the dogs before.”

To this Ottigny consented; and leading one of the divisions of
the detachment, as at coming, D'Erlach prepared to take the
initiate in a progress, every part of which was destined to be
marked with strife. The immediate entrance to the village of
the Paracoussi, the only path, indeed, by which our Frenchmen
could emerge, lay, for nearly half a mile, through a noble avenue,
the sides of which were densely occupied by a most ample and
umbrageous forest. The trees were at once great and lofty, and
the space beneath was closed up with a luxuriant undergrowth
which spread away like a wall of green on either hand. D'Erlach
remembered this entrance.

“Here,” said he to Ottigny, “Here, at the very opening of the
path, our trouble is likely to begin. Let your men be prepared
with matches lighted, and see that your fire is delivered only in
squads, so that, at no time, shall all of your pieces be entirely
empty.”

Ottigny prepared to follow this counsel. His men were all

[figure description] Page 290.[end figure description]

apprised of what they had to expect; and were told, at the first
sign of danger, to cast down their corn bags, and betake themselves
to their weapons wholly. The grain might be lost—probably
would be—but better this, than, in a vain endeavor to
preserve it, lose life and grain together. Thus prepared,
D'Erlach began the march. He was followed, at a short interval,
by Ottigny, with the rest of the detachment; a small force of
eight arquebusiers excepted, who, under charge of a sergeant,
were sent to the left of the thicket which bounded the avenue on
one hand, with instructions to scour the woods in that quarter,
yet without passing beyond reach of help from the main body.

All fell out as had been anticipated. D'Erlach was encountered
as he emerged from the avenue, by a force of three
hundred Indians. They poured in a cloud of arrows, but fortunately
at such a distance as to do little mischief. With the first
assault the Frenchmen dispossessed themselves of their burdens,
and prepared themselves for fight. The savages came on more
boldly, throwing in fresh flights of arrows as they pushed forward,
and rending the forests with their cries. D'Erlach preserved all
his steadiness and coolness. He saw that the arrows were yet
comparatively ineffectual.

“Do not answer them yet, my good fellows,” he cried, “but
stoop ye, every man, and break the arrows, as many as ye can,
that fall about ye.”

He had seen that the savages, having delivered a few fires, were
wont to rush forward and gather up the spent shafts, which, thus
recovered, afforded them an inexhaustible armory, upon which it
is their custom to rely. When his assailants beheld how his men
were engaged, they rushed forward with loud shouts of fury, and
delivering another storm of darts, they made demonstrations of a

[figure description] Page 291.[end figure description]

desire for close conflict, with their stone hatchets and macanas.
At this show, D'Erlach spoke to his men in subdued accents.

“Make ye still as if ye would stoop for the fallen arrows, ye
of the first rank; but blow ye your matches even as ye do so,
and falling upon your knees deliver then your fire; while the
second rank will cover you as ye do so, and while ye charge
anew your pieces.”

The command was obeyed with coolness; and, as the Indians
darted forward, coming in close packed squadrons into the gorge
of the avenue, the soldiers delivered their fire with great precision.
Dreadful was the howl which followed it, for more than
thirteen of the savages had fallen, mortally hurt, and two of their
chief warriors had been made to bite the dust. Seizing the
bodies of their slain and wounded comrades, the survivors immediately
hurried into cover, and D'Erlach at once pushed forward
with his command. But he had not advanced more than four
hundred paces, when the assault was renewed, the air suddenly
being darkened with the flight of bearded shafts, while the forest
rang with the yells of savage fury. They were still too far
for serious mischief, and were besides covered with the woods;
so, giving the assailants little heed, except to observe that they
came not too nigh, or too suddenly upon him, D'Erlach continued
to push forward, doing as he had done before with the hostile
arrows whenever they lay in the pathway. But the courage of
the red-men increased as they warmed in the struggle, and they
grew bolder because of the very forbearance of the Frenchmen
Besides, their forces had been increased by other bodies, each
approaching in turn to the assault, so as to keep their enemies
constantly busy. In parties of two or three hundred, they darted
from their several ambushes, and having discharged their arrows,

[figure description] Page 292.[end figure description]

and met with repulse, retired rapidly to other favorite places of
concealment to renew the conflict as it continued to advance.
By this time, the whole body of the Frenchmen had become engaged
in the fight. The force under Ottigny, following the
example of that led by D'Erlach, had succeeded in pressing forward,
though not without loss, while making great havoc with the
red-men. These people fought, never men more bravely; and,
but for the happy thought, that of destroying their arrows as fast
as they fell, it is probable that the detachment had never reached
La Caroline. They hovered thus about the march of the Frenchmen
all the day, encouraging each other with shouts of vengeance
and delight, and sending shaft upon shaft, with an aim, which,
had they not been too greatly sensible of the danger of the arquebuse,
to come sufficiently nigh, would have been always fatal.
Yet well did the savage succeed, so long as they remained unintoxicated
by their rage, in dodging the aim of the weapon. As
Laudonniere writes—“All the while they had their eye and foot
so quicke and readie, that as soone as ever they saw the harquebuse
raised to the cheeke, so soon were they on the ground, and
eftsoone to answer with their bowes, and to flie their way, if by
chance they perceived that we were about to take them.”

This conflict lasted from nine o'clock in the morning until night.
It only ceased when the darkness separated the combatants.
Even then, but for the deficiency of their arrows, they probably
would not have withdrawn from the field. It was late in the
night when the Frenchmen reached their boats, weary and exhausted,
their grain wrested from them, their hostages rescued,
and twenty-four of their number killed and wounded. The
Floridians had shown themselves warriors of equal spirit and
capacity. The determined exclusion of their Paracoussi from

[figure description] Page 293.[end figure description]

counsels which it was feared that he would dishonor, their manly
resistance to the white invaders, their scornful ridicule of their
necessities, their proud defiance of their power, and the fierce
and unrelenting hostility with which they had chased their adversaries,
remind us irresistibly of the degradation of Montezuma
by his subjects, their prolonged warfare with the Spaniards,
their sleepless hostility, and that bloody struggle which first drove
them over the causeways of Tenochtitlan. The inferior state
and wealth of the Paracoussi, Olata Ouvae Utina, constitutes no
such sufficient element of difference, as to lessen the force of the
parallel between himself and people, and those of the Atzec
sovereign.

p373-311

Previous section

Next section