sh rights at Newfoundland, from which a great arm of
the sea--the St. Lawrence--would give them access to the Moluccas and
other parts of the East Indies. Moreover, he adds in a later despatch,
by this passage they may reach the mines of Zacatecas and St. Martin, as
well as every part of the South Sea. And, as already mentioned, he urges
immediate occupation of Chesapeake Bay, which, by its supposed
water-communication with the St. Lawrence, would enable Spain to
vindicate her rights, control the fisheries of Newfoundland, and thwart
her rival in her vast designs of commercial and territorial
aggrandizement. Thus did France and Spain dispute the possession of
North America long before England became a party to the strife.

Some twenty days after Menendez returned to St. Augustine, the Indians,
enamored of carnage, and exulting to see their invaders mowed down, came
to tell him that on the coast southward, near Cape Canaveral, a great
number of Frenchmen were intrenching themselves. They were those of
Ribaut's party who had refused to surrender. Retreating to the spot
where their ships had been cast ashore, they were endeavoring to build a
vessel from the fragments of the wrecks.

In all haste Menendez despatched messengers to Fort Caroline,--named by
him San Mateo,--ordering a reinforcement of a hundred and fifty men. In
a few days they came. He added some of his own soldiers, and, with a
united force of two hundred and fifty, set forth, as he tells us, on
the second of November, pushing southward along the shore with such
merciless energy that some of his men dropped dead with wading night and
day through the loose sands. When, from behind their frail defences, the
French saw the Spanish pikes and partisans glittering into view, they
fled in a panic, and took refuge among the hills. Menendez sent a
trumpet to summon them, pledging his honor for their safety. The
commander and several others told the messenger that they would sooner
be eaten by the savages than trust themselves to Spaniards; and,
escaping, they fled to the Indian towns. The rest surrendered; and
Menendez kept his word. The comparative number of his own men made his
prisoners no longer dangerous. They were led back to St. Augustine,
where, as the Spanish writer affirms, they were well treated. Those of
good birth sat at the Adelantado's table, eating the bread of a homicide
crimsoned with the slaughter of their comrades. The priests essayed
their pious