The Lily and the Totem; or, The Huguenots in FloridaSimms, William Gilmore
History
The Lily and the Totem; or, The Huguenots in Florida
Simms, William Gilmore
Florida -- History -- Huguenot colony, 1562-1565 -- Fiction
ever, making for a little thicket that spread itself out upon the right.
The party of Le Caille by this time came up. They penetrated the covert
where the red-man had been seen to shelter himself, and for a while they
tracked him by his blood. But at length they came to a spot where he had
evidently crouched and bound up his hurts. They found a little puddle
of blood upon the spot, and some fragments of tow, moss, and cotton
cloth, some of which had been used for the purpose. Here all traces
of the wounded man failed them; and they resumed their route, greatly
regretting that he should have escaped, but greatly encouraged, as
they fancied that they were approaching some of the settlements of the
natives.
It was probably an hour after this event when D'Erlach and his party
reached the same neighborhood, and found the proof of the rest and
repast which that of Le Caille had taken on the banks of the little
river. This sight urged them to new efforts, and though chilled also
very greatly by the passage of the stream, they did not pause in their
pursuit, but pressed forward without delay, having the fresh tracks of
their brethren before their eyes, for the guidance of their footsteps.
It was well they did so. In little more than an hour after this, while
still urging the forced march which they had begun, they were suddenly
arrested by a wild and fearful cry in the forests beyond, the character
of which they but too well knew, from frequent and fierce experience. It
was the yell of the savage, the terrible war-whoop of the Apalachian,
that sounded suddenly from the ambush, as the rattle of the snake is
heard from the copse in which he makes his retreat. Then followed the
discharge of several arquebuses, four or five in number, all at once,
and soon after one or two dropping shots.
"Onward!" cried Alphonse D'Erlach; "we have not a moment to lose. Our
comrades are in danger! On! Fools! they have delivered nearly or quite
all their pieces; and if the savage be not fled in terror, they are
at the mercy of his arrows. Onward, my brave Gascons! Let us save our
brethren."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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