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Show 332 TilE LILY AND THE TOTF.)I. which he lmd made on shore, the brigantines and J.,atcaux of Hibault were forced to rejoin tl1eir greater vessels, and they all bore away to sea before the gnle. Under the wild norther that rushed down upon his squadron, Ribault with a groan of rage and disappointment, abandoned the conquest which seemed already in his grasp. :f\.lc~endez promptly availed himself of the Providential event, to HISJSt amm1g his people upon the efficiency of his prayers. Tlwy had prel'iously been dcr.pouding. They felt their isolation, and exaggerated its danger. The departure of their ships for llispaniola., their frequent pre,·ious disasters, the Jisper~ion of nearly two thirds of the squadron with which they had left the por.t of C~diz, but tllJ'co months before; the labors and pri\' ahons wluch already b('gan to press upon them with a. novel force; a!! conspired to dispirit them, and made them despair of a .progress in which they were likely to suffer the buffetings only, wnhout any of the reward;~ of fortune ;-and when they beheld the approaching squadron of the French, in force so superior as to lea\:c no doubt of the capture of their only remaining \'cssels, they ywlded thcmsel\'cs up to a. feeling of utter self-abandonment, to which the stern, grave self.rclianee of Melendez afforded 00 encouragement. But when, with broad sweep of nrm, he pointed to the awful rising of the great billows of tho sea, the wild raging of cloud nnd storm in tho heavens, the scudding flight of the trembling ships of Ribault, their white wings gradually disappearing in distance nod dt~rkncss liKe feeble birds borne recklessly forward in tho wild fury of the tempest, be could, with wonderful potency, appeal to his people to acknowledge the wonders that tho Lord bad done for them tl1at day. "Call you this the cause of our king only, in which we are Til£ }'ATE 0~' LA CAROLINE. 333 engaged my brethren? Oh! shallow \'anity! And yet, you say rightly. It is the rause of our king-the greatest of all kings-the king of kings; and he will m:~k11 it triumphant in all lands, even though the base and the timid shall despair equally of thcmscl\' cS and of !lim! We shall never, my brethren, aba!J.don this cause to which we have sworn our souls, in life and death, with· out incurring the eternal malediction of the Most Jligh God, forever blessed be his name ! \V c arc surrounded by enemies, my friends; we arc few and we arc feeble ; but. what is our might, when the tempest rises like a wall bchvcen us and our foes, and in our greatest extremity, the hand of God stretches forth from the cloud, and plucks us safely from the danger. De of good heart, then; put on a fcadcss courage ; believe tha.t the cause is holy in which ye strive, and the God of Battles will most surely range himself upon our side!" Loud cries of exultation from his people answered this address. A thousand \'Oices renewed their vows of fidelity, and pledged t1JCmselves to follow blindly wberC\'cr he should lead. He commanded that a sclemn mass of tho Holy Spirit should be said that night, and that all the army should be present. He vouchsafed no farther words. Nothing, he well knew, that he could say, could possibly add to the miraculous c\'ent that ba.d saved their vessels, before their own eyes, in the very moment of destruction. " Our prayers, our faith, my brethren ; to these we owe the saving mercies of the Dlessed Jesus 1" |