edition to cut its way for a distance of three hundred miles
through hostile nations to Ucita, and to summon the garrison there, to
set out on a march to join him at Anhayea. Five months were thus spent
in weary waiting.

It is estimated that De Soto's force in Anhayea, including the
captives who were servants or slaves, amounted to about fifteen
hundred persons. He had also over three hundred horses. The fertility
of the region was however such, with its extended fields of corn,
beans, pumpkins and other vegetables, that it was not necessary to
send foraging parties to a distance of more than four or five miles
from the village. On the 29th of December, 1539, the two brigantines,
which had sailed from Tampa Bay, came into St. Marks, then called the
Bay of Aute. For twelve days before the arrival of the ships, De Soto
had kept companies of horse and foot marching and countermarching
between Anhayea and the Bay, to keep the communication open. They also
placed banners on the highest trees, as signals to point out the place
of anchorage.

Juan De Anasco, who had command of the vessels, left them well manned
in the bay, and with the remainder of the ship's company marched to
Anhayea, under escort of the troops sent him by De Soto.

Soon after this, Pedro Calderon arrived with his gallant little band
of a hundred and twenty men. By a series of the wildest adventures and
most heroic achievements they had cut their way through a wilderness
thronging with foes, where an army of eight hundred men had with
difficulty effected a passage. Fighting every step of the way and
bearing along with them their wounded, their progress was necessarily
slow. Several of their number were killed and many wounded. Of the
wounded, twelve died soon after they reached Anhayea.

Their arrival in the village was a cause of great gratification to all
there. De Soto received them as an affectionate father welcomes his
son whom he had supposed to have been lost. The rumor had reached the
Governor that all had been slain on the road.

Captain Calderon brought a letter to De Soto, from his wife Isabella.
We find the following interesting extract from this letter in the
life of De Soto by Mr. Lambert A. Wilmer. It seems to bear internal
evidence of authenticity, though we know not the source from which Mr.
Wilmer obtained it. The spirit of the letter is in entire accord with
the noble character which Mr. Washington Irving gives Isabella, in his
life