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But the enthusiasm excited by the dispersion of Ribault's vessels,
and the escape of their own, was of short-lived duration
among the Spaniards at Selooe. Human nature may obey a
grateful impulse, and,while it lasts, will be insensible to common
dangers and common necessities; but the enthusiasm which excites
and strengthens for a season, is one also which finally exhausts;
and when the enervation which succeeds to a high-strung
exultation, is followed by great physical trials, and the continued
pressure of untoward events, the creature nature is quite too apt
to triumph over that nobler spirit whose very intensity is fatal to
its length of life. The sign of providential favor which they had
beheld wrought visibly in their behalf, the inspiriting language of
their stern and solemn leader, the offices of religion, meant to
evoke the presence of the Deity, and to secure, by appropriate
rites, his farther protection, of which they had recently witnessed
so wonderful a manifestation; these wore away in their
effects upon our Spaniards, and in the toils and sufferings which
they were subsequently to endure.

Perhaps nothing more greatly depresses the ordinary nature
than an abode in strange and savage regions during a prevalence
of cheerless, unfriendly weather. The soul recoils as it were
upon itself, under the ungenial pressure from without, and looking
entirely within, finds nothing but wants which it is impossible to
satisfy. Memory then studiously recals, as if for the purposes
of torture and annoyance, the aspects of the beloved ones
who are far from us in foreign lands. The joys which we have
had with old and loving associates, the sweets of dear homes, and

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the sounds of friendly voices, these are the treasures which she
conjures up at such periods, in mournful contrast with present
privations and all manner of denial. But if, in addition to these,
we are conscious of accumulating dangers; if the storm and
savage howl without; if hunger craves without being answered,
and thirst raves for the drop of moisture to cool its tongue, in
vain, we must not wonder if the ordinary nature sinks under its
sorrows and apprehension, and loses all the elastic courage which
would prompt endeavor and conduct to triumph. The master
mind alone, may find itself strong under these circumstances—the
man of inexorable will, great faith, and a far-sighted appreciation
of the future and its compensations. But it is the master
mind only which bears up thus greatly. The common herd is
made of very different materials, and in quite another mould.

Don Pedro de Melendez was one of the few minds thus extraordinarily
endowed. His prudence, keeping due pace with his
religious fanaticism, approved him a peculiar character; a man
of rare energies, extraordinary foresight and indomitable will.
Resolute for the destruction of the heretics of La Caroline, he
was yet one of that class of persons—how few—who can forego
the premature attempt to gratify a raging appetite, in recognition
of those embarrassing circumstances, which if left unregarded,
would only operate for its defeat. He could wait the season,
with all patience, when desire might be crowned with fruition.
Yet was his thirst a raging one—a master passion—absorbing every
other in his soul. All that had taken place on land and sea, had
been certainly foreseen by him. Thus had he dispatched his
ships seasonably to Hispaniola, as well for their security, as to
afford him succor. If he doubted for the safety of those which
remained to him, on the approach of Ribault, he was relieved of

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his doubts by his faith in the interposition of the Deity, and went
forth to the encounter, himself heading the forlorn hope, as it
were, without any misgivings of the result. He knew that the
Deity would, in some manner, make himself manifest in succor
for the true believer, even then engaged in the maintenance of
His cause. He had foreseen the threatening aspects of the heavens,
the wild tumults of the sea, the sullen and angry caprices
of the winds. He felt that storm and terror were in prospect,
and that they were meant as his defences against his enemy!
But this did not prevent him from adopting all proper human
precautions. He did not peril his prows beyond the shoals which
environed the entrance to his harborage. He did not trust them
beyond the natural bars at the mouth of the Selooe, leaving them
to the unrestrained fury of the demon winds that sweep the blue
waters of the gulf. Nor, assuming the bare possibility that the protection
of the Deity might be withheld from the true believer, as
much for the trial of his valor as his faith, in the moment of encounter
with the heretic, was the Adelantado neglectful of the means for
further struggle, should the assailants, successful with his shipping,
approach the shores of Selooe in the endeavor to destroy
his army. This he sought to protect by the best possible defences.
His troops were under arms in order for battle. Every
possible advantage of trench and picket was employed for giving
them additional securities. His people had already taken possession
of the Indian village, from whence the savages had been
expelled; and their dwellings were converted into temporary fortresses,
each garrisoned with its selected band. It is wonderful,
how the veteran chieftain toiled, in the endeavor to secure his position.
While he felt how little the Deity needed the strength of
man, in working out the purposes of destiny, he well knew how

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necessary it was that man should show himself worthy, by his
prudence and preparations, of the intervention and the care of
Deity.

We have seen the issue of the unfortunate attempt of Ribault
upon his enemy; with the absence of immediate danger, the first
tumults of exultation on the part of the Spaniards, subsided into
a sullen and humiliating repose. As night came on, they momently
began to feel the increasing annoyances of their situation.
That they were in temporary security from the heretic French,
left them free to consider, and to feel, the insecurity and the
unfriendly solitude of their situation. The frail palm covered
huts of the Floridian savages, on the banks of their now raging
river, with the tempest roaring among the affrighted forest trees,
afforded but a sorry shelter to their numerous hosts. Darkness
and thick night closed in upon them in their dreary and comfortless
abodes, and their hearts sunk appalled beneath the terrific
bursts of thunder that seemed to rock the very earth upon
which they stood. They were not the tried veterans of Spain.
Many among them wore weapons for the first time, and all were
totally inexperienced in that foreign hemisphere, in which the
elements wore aspects of terror which had never before entered
their imaginations. Their officers were mostly able men and
good soldiers, but even these had enjoyed but small experience in
the new world. The levies of Melendez had been hurriedly
made, with the view to anticipate the progress of Ribault. They
were not such as that iron-hearted leader would have chosen for
the terrible warfare which he had in view. Chilled by the ungenial
atmosphere, confounded with torrents such as they had
never before beheld, and which seemed to threaten the return of
the deluge, they exaggerated the evils of their situation and

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feared the worst. They were not ill-advised upon the subject of
their own strength and resources, and whatever they might hope
in respect to the probable ill-fortunes of Ribault and his fleet, they
knew him to be an experienced soldier, and that his armament
was superior, while his numbers were quite equal to their own.
They now knew that they were the objects of his search and hate,
as he had been of theirs, and they still looked with dread to his
reappearance, suddenly, and the coming of a conflict which should
add new terrors to the storm. They could not conceive the extent
of the securities which they enjoyed, and fancied that with
a far better acquaintance with the country than they possessed,
he would reappear among them at the moment when least expected,
and that they should perish beneath the fury of his fierce
assault.

While thus they brooded over their situation, officers and men
cowering in the frail habitations of the Indians, through which
the rushing torrents descended without impediment, extinguishing
their fires, and leaving them with no light but that fitful one,
the fierce flashes from the clouds, which threatened them with
destruction while illuminating the pale faces of each weary
watcher;—Pedro Melendez, strengthened by higher if not a holier
support, disdained the miserable shelter of the hovels where they
crouched together. He trod the shore and forest pathways
without sign of fear or shows of disquiet or annoyance. He
smiled at the sufferings which he yet strove to alleviate. He
opened his stores for the relief of his people, yet partook of none
himself. He gave them food and wine of his own, even while he
smiled scornfully to see them eat and drink. His solicitude
equally provided against their dangers and their fears. He
placed the necessary guards against the one, and soothed or

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mocked the other. He alone appeared unmoved amidst the
storm, and might be seen with unhelmed head, passing from
cot to cot, and from watch to watch, urging vigilance, providing
relief, and encouraging the desponding with a voice of cheer
His eye took in without shrinking, all the aspects of the storm.
He gazed with uplifted spirit as the wild red flashes cleft the
great black clouds which enveloped the forests in a shroud.
“Ay!” he exclaimed, “verily, O Lord! thou hast taken this
work into thine own hands!” And thus he went to and fro,
without complaint, or suffering, or fatigue, till his lieutenants
with shame beheld the example of the veteran whom they had
not soul or strength to emulate. His deportment was no less a
marvel than a reproach to his people. They could not account
for that seemingly unseasonable delight which was apparent in his
face, in the exulting tones of his voice, and the eager impulse of
his action. That a glow-like inspiration should lighten up his
features, and give richness and power to his voice, while they
cowered from the storm and darkness in fear and trembling,
seemed to them indications rather of madness than of wisdom.
But in truth, it was inspiration. Melendez had been visited by
one of those sudden flashes of thought which open the pathway
to a great performance. A brave design filled his soul; a sudden
bright conception, to the proper utterance of which he hurried
with a due delight. He summoned his chief leaders to
consultation in the great council house of the tribe of Selooe, a
round fabric of mixed earth and logs, with a frail palm leaf
thatch, fragments of which, the fierce efforts of the tempest
momently tore away. The rain rushed through the rents of ruin,
the wind shrieked through the numerous breaches in the walls,
but Melendez stood in the midst, heedless of these annoyances,

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or only heedful of them so far as to esteem them services and
blessings. He knew the people with whom he had to deal, their
fears, their weaknesses, and discontents, the base nature of many
of their desires, and the utter incapacity of all to realize the
intense enthusiasm which shone within his soul. He could scorn
them, but he had to use them. He despised their imbecility, but
felt how necessary it was too temporize with their moods, and
make them rather forgetful of their infirmities, than openly to
denounce and mock them. His eye was fastened upon certain
of his chiefs in especial, whose weaknesses were more likely to
endanger his objects than those of the rest, since these were associated
with a certain degree of pretension arising from their
occupance of place. But there is no one in more complete possession
of the subtleties of the politician, than the fanatic of intense
will. All his powers are concentrated upon the single object,
and he values this too highly to endanger it by any rashness.
He can make allowances for the weaker among the brethren,
so long as they have the power to yield service; he only cuts
them down ruthlessly, when,like the tree bringing forth no fruit,
the question naturally occurs to the politician, “Why cumbereth
in the ground?” Melendez was prepared to act the politician
amidst all his fanaticism. For this reason, though his resolution
was inexorably taken, he summoned his officers to a solemn deliberation—
a council of war—to determine upon what should be
done in the circumstances in which they stood.

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