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Show 342 THE LILY AND THE TOTEM. hands, and that he was with us, to lJClp us in the great achievement of his purposes. I~o! you now, the very storm, that ra6-cs about us, and bencnth the terrors of which yc tremble, is but a further proof of his guardianship. Under cover of tllC rages of tlw tempest, shall we press on to the complete achievement of our work. We shall march to the conquest of La Cnrolinc,-we shall destroy these arch-heretics-these enemies of God, in the very fortress of their strength-in the very place which they have set apart, in the vain hope of security, as their lwmc of refuge !" Audible murmurs here arrested the speaker. "'Vhat is it that yo fear, my ch ildren?" continued l\fclcndez. Then some among them cried out-" What madness is it that we hear? Shall we, thus enfeebled as we arc, with our great ships speeding to IIispanioln, here, len us we arc on the wild shores of the savage, not yet entrenched, shall we divide our strength, in the hope to conquer La Caroline, lca.l•ing to the heretic Hibault to fall upon our camp when we depart, to pursue us as we tread the great forests of tho Floridian, and to destroy us between the power which he brings and that which awaits us at La Caroline ?" "Oh! my brethren! would ye could see with my vision ! Uibault will not trouble our camp, neither will he pursue us in our absence. He speeds before the terrors of the tempest. He fiics fr~m th~ destruction which will scarcely suffer him to escape. A votec ertes to me tbat he already perishes beneath the engulphing waters of tho Mexican sea; or is cast upon the bleak and treacherous shores and islands which guard the domain of tho Floridian. Even if he should escape these dangers, weeks must pn.ss befor~ he can return to these waters of Sclooe, the heathen empire of whtch we have consecrated with the name and confided to tho holy keeping of tho blessed St Augustine! This tempest is no sum- THE FAT£ OF LA CAROLINE. 343 mer gale, subsiding as rapidly as it begins. It will nge thus for many days. In that time, encouraged by the I~ord, we sl1all pass the (f"\rest wastes that lie between us ami La Caroline. With five hundred men, and a host of these red warriors, we shall penetrate in less than four days to the fortress of the heretics-and while they dt·eam that they sleep securely under the shadows of the tempest, we shall rush upon their slumbers, and give them to sleep ctcroally. My valiant comrades, this is the resolution which I have taken; but I would hear your counsel. I would not that yo should not cheerfully adopt the resolve wl1ich is assuredly a dictate from Heaven itself. I? or, if we destroy not thcso heretics, they will destroy us. If we cut off the people of La Caroline ere Rib:i.ult shall return, his fortress is ours, the cannon of which we shall turn upon him. It is a war a l'ouerance between us. They will give us no quarter : they shall haYe none. This tempe11t gives us the assuraucc that we shall have no danger from Riba.ult, if we seize the precious moments for our enterprise, when he is vainly strh·ing with tho tempests of the deep, and vainly striviog against the winds that bear him away hourly still farther from the scene of our achievements." We need not pursue tho deliberations of the Spanish council. It is enough if we report the result. In the speeches of rvJelendez, already made, we see the full force of his argument, wlJiclJ was sound and sensible, and could only be opposed by tho fears of those who sought to avoid exposure, who dreaded the clements, the unknown in their condition, and who shrunk from enterprises which promised nothing but hard blows, and which tasked their lmrdihood beyond all their past experience in war. There wcro arguments and pleas put in by the over-cautious and the timid, to all of which tho Adclanllldo listened patiently, but to all of which he opposed |