So for the time being the colonists were saved
from starvation.
But another danger now threatened them, for quarrels arose among
the men. Albert de Pierria who had been set over them as captain
proved to be cruel and despotic. He oppressed the men in many ways,
hanging and imprisoning at will those who displeased him. Soon the
men began to murmur under his tyranny. Black looks greeted Albert
de Pierria: he answered them with blacker deeds. At length one
day for some misdeed he banished a soldier to a lonely island, and
left him there to die of hunger. This was more than the colonists
could well bear. Their smouldering anger burst forth, and seizing
the tyrant they put him to death. Then they chose one of their
number called Nicolas Barre to be their captain.
They were rid of their tyrant, and that brought peace for a time
to the little colony. But the men had grown to hate the place. The
land which had once seemed to them so fair now seemed no better
than a prison, and they longed to escape from it.
They had, however, no ship, and although all around them tall
trees grew no one of them knew anything of ship building. Still, so
strong was their desire to leave the hated spot that they resolved
to build one.
They set to work with. a will. Soon the sound of saw and hammer
awoke the silence of the forest. High and low, noble and peasant,
all worked together, the Indians, even, lending a hand.
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