ver, the Huguenots built a fort,
which they called Fort Caroline, and strengthened it by stockades,
behind which they might be able to defend themselves against the
Indians, who, ill-treated by the Spaniards, had learned to look upon all
white men as their enemies.

"For many months the colonists were ill supplied with provisions, but
hoping to receive them from home, they struggled on, though closely
surrounded by hostile natives. At first they endeavoured to win over
the red men; but, pressed by hunger, they made prisoners of some, whom
they detained as hostages, threatening them with punishment if food were
not brought to the camp. The Indians, resenting this treatment,
informed the Spaniards of the state of the French settlement, when Pedro
de Menendez, who was engaged in the colonisation of the West Indies,
landed on the coast, some miles south of the River Saint John, at the
head of a large band of ruffian troops. Guided by a party of the
treacherous Indians, he and his band made their way through the forests,
and fell suddenly, sword in hand, on the almost defenceless colonists.
Not a human being who could be overtaken was allowed to escape; men,
women, and children were ruthlessly slaughtered by Menendez and his
savage followers. When the work was done, he set up a stone, on which
he caused to be engraved, `Not to Frenchmen, but to Lutherans and
heretics.' Laudoniere, with a small party of followers, had been
outside the fort when it was attacked. Getting down to the shore, they
made their way on board a ship, one of a small squadron, under the
command of Jean Ribaut, which had just arrived with new settlers and
fresh provisions for the colony. The ship on board which the gallant
Breton sailed had not reached the mouth of the river, but, encountering
a storm, it had been thrown on shore some leagues farther to the south.
Menendez, on hearing of this, immediately marched in search of the
shipwrecked crew, numbering nearly one hundred men. Ribaut, on finding
that Fort Caroline had fallen, agreed to surrender under a solemn
promise from Menendez that his life and that of his companions would be
spared. But no sooner had Ribaut and his party laid down their arms
than they were set upon by the Spaniards, and slaughtered to a man.
When Laudoniere and the surviving colonists returned to France and told
their sad tale, most of their countrymen only shrugged their shoulders,
declaring that it was a fate Huguenot