Their leader was as sick and feeble as any of them. But he dragged
himself from his bed to review his forces. They were poor indeed,
but Laudonni?re made the best of them. He appointed each man to a
certain duty, he set a, watch night and day, and he began to repair
the broken-down walls of the fort, so that they would be able to
make some show of resistance in ease of attack.
While Laudonni?re was thus ordering his poor little garrison
the ships carrying the rest of the colonists sailed on their way.
The wind was fair, and in the night they crept close to where the
Spanish vessels lay.
But when day dawned and the Spaniards saw the French vessels close
to them they fled to the shelter of their harbour. And a sudden
storm arising the French were driven out to sea again.
As Menendez watched them from the shore he rejoiced. He knew by
the number of the ships that most of the French colonists must be
in them, and he hoped that they would all be lost in the storm.
Then as he watched a sudden thought came to him. While the Frenchmen
were battling with wind and waves he resolved to move quickly over
land and take Fort Caroline. For he knew that it must be almost,
if not quite, unprotected.
One of the French mutineers who had deserted Laudonni?re was now
in the Spanish fort. He would show the way. Full of this splendid
idea, eager to carry it out at once, he ordered Mass to be said,
then he called a council and laid his plan before his officers.
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