IV.
GOURGUES DECLARES HIS PURPOSE TO HIS FOLLOWERS, IN A SPEECH.
His worst dangers of the sea were over. He was now within two hundredleagues of Florida, his prows looking, with unobstructed vision,directly towards the enemies he sought. And now, for the first time,he deemed it proper to unfold to his people the true object of theexpedition. He assembled together all his followers:
"Friends and comrades," he said, "I have hitherto deceived you as to myobjects. They were of a sort to require, in the distracted conditionof our country, the utmost secrecy. It so happens that France, torn byrival religious factions, is not properly sensible of what is due to herhonor and her people. I have chosen you, as persons whom I mostly know,as persons who know me, and have confidence in my courage, my honor, andmy judgment. I have chosen you to achieve a great work for the honorof the French name, and for the safety of the French people. Though wequarrel and fight among ourselves at home, yet should it be a commoncause, without distinction of party, to protect our people againstthe foreign enemy, and to avenge the cruelties they have been made tosuffer. It is for a purpose of this nature, that I have brought youhither. I have heard many of you speak with tears and rage of the greatcrime of which the Spaniards, under Melendez, have been guilty, inbutchering our unhappy countrymen in Florida; nine hundred widows andorphans have cried in vain for vengeance upon the cruel murderers. Youknow all this terrible history--you are Frenchmen and brethren of theseunfortunate victims. You know the crime of our enemies, the Spaniards;always our enemies, and never more so than when they profess peace tous, and speak with smiles. What should be our crime, if we suffer themto escape just punishment for their butchery; if, with the means ofvengeance in our hands, and our enemies before us, we longer delay thehour of retribution? We must avenge the murder of our countrymen; wemust make the Spaniards of Florida atone, in blood, for the shame andaffront which they have put upon the lilies of France! If you feel asI do, the day of vengeance and just judgment is at hand. That I amresolute in this object--that it fills my whole soul with but onefeeling--my whole mind with but one thought--you may know, when you seethat I have sold all my worldly goods, all the possessions that I haveon earth, in order to obtain the means for the destruction of theseSpaniards of Florida. I take for granted that you feel with me, that youare as jealous of the honor of your country as myself, and that youare prepared for any sacrifice--life itself--in this cause, at once soglorious, and so necessary to the fame and safety of our people. If ourFrenchmen are to be butchered without a cause, and find no avenger,there is an end of the French name, and honor, and well-being; they willfind no refuge on the face of the earth. Speak, then, my comrades. Letme hear that you feel and think and will resolve with me. I ask you todo nothing, and to peril nothing, beyond myself. I have already stakedall my worldly fortunes on this one object. I now offer to march at yourhead, to give you the first example of self-sacrifice. Is there one ofyou who will refuse to follow?"
A speech so utterly unexpected, at first took his followers by surprise;but the appeal was too grateful to their real sympathies, theircommander too much beloved, and the infusion of genuine Gascons toolarge among the adventurers, to make them hesitate in their decision.They felt the justice of the appeal; were warmed to indignation bythe sense of injury and discredit cast upon the honor and the arms ofFrance; and, soon recovering from their astonishment, they eagerlypledged themselves to follow wherever he should lead. With cries ofenthusiasm they declared themselves ready for the work of vengeance;and, taking them in the humor which he had inspired, De Gourguessuffered not a moment's unnecessary delay to interfere with hisprogress. Crowding all sail upon his vessels, he rapidly crossed thestraits of Bahama, and stretched, with easy course, along the low shoresof the Floridian.