n labored in silence, and the
French, thronging their gangways, looked on in equal silence. "Never,
since I came into the world," writes the chaplain, "did I know such a
stillness."

It was broken at length by a trumpet from the deck of the "San Pelayo."
A French trumpet answered. Then Menendez, "with much courtesy," says his
Spanish eulogist, inquired, "Gentlemen, whence does this fleet come?"

"From France," was the reply.

"What are you doing here?" pursued the Adelantado.

"Bringing soldiers and supplies for a fort which the King of France has
in this country, and for many others which he soon will have."

"Are you Catholics or Lutherans?"

Many voices cried out together, "Lutherans, of the new religion." Then,
in their turn, they demanded who Menendez was, and whence he came.

He answered: "I am Pedro Menendez, General of the fleet of the King of
Spain, Don Philip the Second, who have come to this country to hang
and behead all Lutherans whom I shall find by land or sea, according to
instructions from my King, so precise that I have power to pardon none;
and these commands I shall fulfil, as you will see. At daybreak I shall
board your ships, and if I find there any Catholic, he shall be well
treated; but every heretic shall die."

The French with one voice raised a cry of wrath and defiance.

"If you are a brave man, don't wait till day. Come on now, and see what
you will get!"

And they assailed the Adelantado with a shower of scoffs and insults.

Menendez broke into a rage, and gave the order to board. The men slipped
the cables, and the sullen black hulk of the "San Pelayo" drifted down
upon the "Trinity." The French did not make good their defiance. Indeed,
they were incapable of resistance, Ribaut with his soldiers being ashore
at Fort Caroline. They cut their cables, left their anchors, made sail,
and fled. The Spaniards fired, the French replied. The other Spanish
ships had imitated the movement of the "San Pelayo;" "but," writes the
chaplain, Mendoza, "these devils are such adroit sailors, and maneuvred
so well, that we did not catch one of them." Pursuers and pursued ran
out to sea, firing useless volleys at each other.

In the morning Menendez gave over the chase, turned, and, with the
"San Pelayo" alone, ran back for the St. John's. But here a welcome was
prepared for him. He saw bands of armed men drawn up on the beach, and
the smaller vessels of Ribaut's squadron, which had crossed the ba