Lily and the Totem, or, The Hugenots in Florida, A Series of Sketches, picturesque and Historical, of the Colonies of Coligni, in North America. 1562-1570. By the author of "The Yemassee"

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220 THE LILY AND Ttli: TOTEM. accompnnicd us. Our sister was married to one who was with us also, and the united wealth of the three, such was our fond ex~ pee lations, would enable us to retire to our nati\'0 town of Burgos, and commend tts to the favor of our people. Dut it was written that we should not rcali7.C these blessed expectations, and thnt I alone, of the four, should be again permitted to dwell among a. Christian people. Y ct I give not. up the hope that I shall yet sec my brother, who was carried a\vay among tho Indians of the far wc~t, when we were scattered among the tribes, in the grand di\'ision of our captives. But this part of my story comes properly hereafter. "\Vc put to sea from tho port of Nombrc de Dios with very favoring winds ; but these lasted us not long, ere tl1cy came out from all quarters of the heavens, nnd we ran before the storm under a rag of sail, without knowing in wlHI.t course we sped. Thl.L'I, for three days, we were driven before the ba.ffiing winds; aud when the storm lulled, the clouds still hung about us, and our pilot wot nothing of that part of the sea in which we went. Two days more followed, and still we were saddened by the clonds that kep\ evermore coming down from hca­Ycn, nnd brooding upon the deep like great fogs that gather in the morn among the mountains. Thus we sped, weary and de­sponding ns we were, without any certainty as to the course we kept, or the region of space or country round about us. Mean­while, the scams of our vessel began to yawn, and great was the labor which followed, to n.\1 hands, to keep her clear of water. This we did not wholly; nnd it was in vain that our carpenter sought for, in order to stop, the leak. Thus, weary and sad, we continued still sweeping forward slowly, looking anxiously, with many prayers, for the sun by day and the moon and stars by 221 ni:;ht. llut the lllesscd Vit·gin was implored in vain. We had olf<.!w.lcd. There was treasure on board the vessel, but it was stained with blood. You have not heard in your histories of the bloody Juan de Mores y Silva, who tortured the unl1appy l\fcxicans by fire, even in the caverns where they resided, seeking the gold, which they gained not sufficiently soon, or in sufficient quantity, to satisfy his cruel lust fot we:tlth. He was one of our companions on this voyage, bound homewards with an immense subsidy iu ingots-huge chests of gold and silver-with which he aimed to swell into grandcu1· with new titles, when Lc arrived in Spain. But the just Providence willed it otherwise. He was, doubtless, the Jonah in our vessel, who fought against the prayers for mercy and protection wb ieh the true beliO\'ers addressed to tho I Ioly Virgin in our belmlf." Here our captain, Lnudonni:lre, interrupted Darbu, and said­" Verily, Sci'i.or Spaniard, had thy prayer been addressed to God himself, the Father, through the iutcrvention and the media­tion of the lllessed S:u'iour, his Son, whose blood was shed for sin­ners, it might have better profited thy case. Thy prayers to the Virgin were an unseemly elevation of a mortal woman over the divinity of the Godhead. But 1 will not vox thee with disputa­tion. Thou art a Ch1·istian, though it is after a fashion which, to me seems scn.rcely more becoming than that of these poor savages of Cales, who yiold faith, as thou tellcst me, to the spells and enebantments of their bloody sovereign. But, proceed with thy story, which I shall be slow to brenk in upon a.,;aiu until thou art well ended." With the permission thus vouchsared him, Darbu, the bearded man, thus resumed l1is diseour~e: "We plead for the interposition of the Virgin, Monsieur le