CHAPTER VII.
VAE VICTIS.
And now, it falls to our lot to record the most cruel passage in allthis history; to relate the mournful and terrible fate which befelthe wretched Huguenots taken at the capture of La Caroline, and thesanguinary deed by which the Spanish chief, through a gloomy fanaticism,stained foully the honorable fame which his skill and courage in armsmight have ensured to his memory. All resistance having ceased on thepart of the Huguenots of La Caroline, the standard of Castile wasunrolled from its battlements, instead of the white folds and thesmiling lilies of France. The name of the fortress was solemnly changedto San Matheo, the day on which they found themselves in its possessionbeing that which was dedicated to the honor of that saint. The arms ofFrance and of Coligny, which surmounted the gateways of the place, wereerased and those of Spain were graven there instead, and the keeping ofthe fortress was assigned to a garrison of three hundred men, under thecommand of Gonzalo de Villaroel. These duties occupied but little time,and did not interfere with other performances of the Adelantado, whichhe thought not the less conspicuous among the duties required at hishands. His prisoners were brought before him. These were, perhaps, notso numerous, though forming a fair proportion of the number left byRibault in the garrison. It is perhaps fortunate that no greater numberhad been left, since, in all probability, the same want of watch andcaution by which the fortress had been lost, would have equally beenshown, with any numbers, under such an easy commandant as Laudonniere,and in the particular circumstances which had taken place. Of theseprisoners many were women and children. We have seen that Laudonnieresucceeded in rescuing some twenty persons. Several had fled to theforests and taken shelter with the tribes of neighboring Indians. Insome few instances, the red-men protected them with fidelity. But inthe greater number of cases, terrified by the sudden appearance and thestrength of the Spaniards, they had yielded up the fugitives at thefierce demand of the Adelantado. Others of the miserable Huguenots,warned by the Indians that they could no longer harbor, were shot downby the pursuing Spaniards, as they fled in terror through the forests.Twenty perished in this manner, offering no resistance, and long afterthe struggle in La Caroline had ended.
The surviving prisoners were then brought before the conqueror. Theywere manacled, and presented a spectacle which must have moved thesympathies of any ordinary nature. But Pedro de Melendez was not ofan ordinary nature. The natural sympathies had given way to a morbidpassion amounting to insanity, by which his judgment was confounded. Thesight of weeping, and trembling women and children; of captives naked,worn, exhausted, enfeebled by years, by disease, by cruel wounds--allpleading for his mercy--only seemed to strengthen him in the mostcruel resolution. "The groans of the heretic, are music in the ears ofheaven!" Upon this maxim he designed an appropriate commentary.
"Separate these women from the other prisoners."
It was done.
"Now detach from these last, all children under fifteen years."
His command was obeyed. The women and children thus set apart wereconsigned to slavery. Of their farther fate the historian knows nothing.The young and tender were probably persuaded to the Roman Catholicaltars, and thus finally achieved their deliverance. The more stubborn,we may reasonably assume, perished in their bonds, passing from onecondition of degradation to another. Of the rest the history is terriblydefinite. Fixing his cold, dark eye upon the male captives upon whosefate he had yet said nothing, he demanded--
"Is there among ye any who profess the faith of the Holy CatholicChurch?"
Two of the prisoners answered in the affirmative.
"Take these Christians away, and let their bonds be removed. The HolyFather, Salvandi, will examine them in the faith of Mother Church. Forthe rest, are there any among ye, who, seeing the error of your ways,will renounce the heresy of Luther, and seek once more communion withthe only true church?"
A drear silence followed. The captives looked mournfully at each other,and at the Adelantado; but in his face there was no encouragement, andnothing but despair was expressed in the aspects of their fellows.
"Be warned!" continued the Adelantado. "To those who seek the blessingsof the true church, she generously openeth her arms. To those who turnaway, indifferently or in scorn, she decrees death temporal and deatheternal. Hear ye!--and now say."
The silence was unbroken.
"Are ye obdurate? or do ye not comprehend that your lives rest upon yourspeech? Either ye embrace the safety which the church offers, by aninstant renunciation of that of the foul heretic Luther, or ye die bythe halter!"
One sturdy soldier advanced from the group--a bold, high-souledfellow--his brows lifted proudly with the conscious impulse which workedwithin his soul.
"Pedro de Melendez, we are in your power. You are master of our mortalbodies, but with the death before us that you threaten, know that weare members of the reformed Church of Christ, which ye name to be ofLuther--that, holding it good to live in this faith, we deem it one inwhich it will not be amiss to die!"
And the speaker looked round him, into the faces of his fellows, andthey lightened up with a glow of cheerfulness and pride, though no wordwas spoken.
"Speaks this man for the rest of ye?" demanded Melendez.
For a moment there was silence. At length a matelit advanced--a commonsailor--a man before the mast.
"Ay! ay! captain! what he says we say! and there's no use for morepalaver. Let there be an end of it. We are of the church of MesserLuther, and no other; if death's the word, we're ready. We're not themen, at the end of the reckoning, to belie the whole voyage!"
"Be it it even as ye say!" answered Melendez coldly, but sternly, andwithout change of accent or show of passion: "Take them forth, and letthem be hung to yonder tree!"
Then rose the shrieks of women and the cries of children; women seekingto embrace their husbands and children clinging to the knees of theirdoomed sires. But these produced no relentings. The parties wereseparated by the strong hand, and the unhappy men were hurried to thefatal tree. The priest stood ready to receive their recantations. Hisexhortations were not spared; but soldier and sailor had equally spokenfor the resolute martyrdom of the whole. The reverend father preached tothem, and promised them in vain. Amidst cries and curses, the victimswere run up to the wide-spreading branches of a mighty oak, dishonoredin its employment for such a purpose, and perished in their fidelity tothe faith which they professed. Their bodies were left hanging in thesun and wind, destined equally as trophies of the victor, and warningsto the heretic. A monument was instantly raised beneath the tree, uponwhich was printed in large characters--
"These do not suffer thus as Frenchmen, but as Heretics and Enemies to God!"