rs looked their last on the scene of their
exploits. Their success had had its price. A few of their number had
fallen, and hardships still awaited the survivors. Gourgues, however,
reached Rochelle on the day of Pentecost, and the Huguenot citizens
greeted him with all honor. At court it fared worse with him. The King,
still obsequious to Spain, looked on him coldly and askance. The Spanish
minister demanded his head. It was hinted to him that he was not safe,
and he withdrew to Rouen, where he found asylum among his friends. His
fortune was gone; debts contracted for his expedition weighed heavily on
him; and for years he lived in obscurity, almost in misery. At length a
dawn brightened for him. Elizabeth of England learned his merits and
his misfortunes, and invited him to enter her service. The King, who,
says the Jesuit historian, had always at heart been delighted with his
achievement, openly restored him to favor; while, some years later, Don
Antonio tendered him command of his fleet to defend his right to the
crown of Portugal against Philip II. Gourgues, happy once more to cross
swords with the Spaniards, gladly embraced this offer; but, on his way
to join the Portuguese prince, he died at Tours of a sudden illness. The
French mourned the loss of the man who had wiped a blot from the
national scutcheon, and respected his memory as that of one of the best
captains of his time. And, in truth, if a zealous patriotism, a fiery
valor, and skilful leadership are worthy of honor, then is such tribute
due to Dominic de Gourgues, despite the shadowing vices which even the
spirit of that wild age can only palliate, the personal hate that aided
the impulse of his patriotism, and the implacable cruelty that sullied
his courage.

Romantic as his exploit was, it lacked the fulness of poetic justice,
since the chief offender escaped him. While Gourgues was sailing towards
Florida, Menendez was in Spain, high in favor at court, where he told to
approving ears how he had butchered the heretics. Borgia, the sainted
General of the Jesuits, was his fast friend; and two years later, when
he returned to America, the Pope, Paul V., regarding him as an
instrument for the conversion of the Indians, wrote him a letter with
his benediction. He reestablished his power in Florida, rebuilt Fort San
Mateo, and taught the Indians that death or flight was the only refuge
from Spanish tyranny. They murdered his missionaries and spurned their
do