THE very day that he departed, which was the 10th of September,[171] there rose so great a tempest, accompanied with such storms, that the Indians themselves assured me that it was the worst weather that ever was seen on the coast. Whereupon, two or three days after, fearing lest our ships might be in some distress, I sent for Monsieur Du Lys unto me, to take order to assemble the rest of our people to declare unto them what need we had to fortify ourselves; which was done accordingly. And then I gave them to understand the necessity and inconvenience whereinto we were like to fall, as well by the absence of our ships, as by the nearness of the Spaniards, at whose hands we could look for no less than an open and sufficient proclaimed war, seeing they had taken land, and fortified themselves so near unto us. And, if any misfortune were fallen unto our men which were at sea, we ought to make full account with ourselves that we were to endure many great miseries, being in so small number, and so many ways afflicted as we were. Illustration: FORT CAROLINE. Thus every one promised me to take pains; and therefore, considering that their proportion of victuals was small, and that, so continuing, they would not be able to do any great work, I augmented their allowance; although that after the arrival of Captain Ribaut my portion of victuals was allotted unto me as unto a common soldier, neither was I able to give so much as a part of a bottle of wine to any man which deserved it. For I was so far from having means to do so, that the captain himself took two of my boats wherein the rest of the meal was, which was left me of the biscuits which I caused to be made to return into France. So that, if I should say that I received more favor at the hands of the Englishmen[172] being strangers unto me, I should say but a truth. We began, therefore, to fortify ourselves, and to repair that which was broken down, principally toward the waterside, where I caused threescore foot of trees to be planted, to repair the palisade with the planks which I caused to be taken of the ship which I had builded. Nevertheless, notwithstanding all our diligence and travail, we were never able fully to repair it, by reason of the storms, which commonly did us so great annoy, that we could not finish our enclosure.