In consequence of the inferiority of size, form, and fashion of this vessel, and the unknown ocean they traverse, the Falcon and her warlike fraughtage have boon boating about for many a weary week.
It was after being exposed to one of the fearful hurricanes so frequent in these seas, that we now look upon the Falcon and her devoted crew. Tempest-tossed as they had been for some weeks, to their great relief they at length began to find themselves approaching land, and by the delicious fragrance with which the air was loaded—an air which seemed as if it blew from some garden abounding with sweet flowers—they found themselves amongst "the still vext Bermothees," where they resolved to remain for a short time in order to refit.
Strange and unnatural appearances, however, whilst in this, as it first seemed, region of paradise, so astonished the sailors, that after a brief sojourn, the Count was necessitated to hasten his departure—
"The Isle seemed full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that gave delight, and hurt not."
The sailors, too, with characteristic superstition, declared they heard strange voices commanding them to leave the shore,[16] and, as if to enforce their orders, a dreadful storm of thunder and lightning seemed to rend the very heavens, and darkness settled as a pall around them. Fearful shapes too were said to glare through the murky atmosphere around the ship, and the apparition of the ominous flame, called by seamen "Castor and Pollux," flitted above the mast. These portents were the prelude to a yet more tremendous storm, which threatening to swallow up the little vessel, eventually drove her on an island which runs parallel nearly to the coast of Carolina.
The Count here disembarked, and refreshed his followers, by rest amidst woods and groves of tall cedar trees, around whose trunks wild vines hung in festoons, and the grape seemed so natural to the soil, that the clusters covered the ground and dipt into the ocean.
Again they put to sea, and again they made a strange land filled with new wonders. Here, whilst the adventurers sought the interior of a country they had been led to believe contained cities in which the houses were studded with pearl, the Count and his immediate attendants sought the ruined colony from which Drake had carried off the remnant of followers, previously left by Sir Walter Raleigh. "They after riches hunt; he after love." The dangers and difficulties encountered by both parties it would be difficult to picture; for hunger, heat, wounds, and disease were the portion of the adventurers of Elizabeth's day. Through gloomy swamps they penetrated, and through interminable forests they hewed their way. Many were pierced by the poisoned shaft of the Indian, many died of despair, and many were the victims of serpents, reptiles, and savage beasts; whilst others again died of loathsome diseases unknown in their native land.
Still the Count, the faithful Martin, and their immediate followers held on. They had gained some tidings by which they learnt that it party of wrecked seamen had been carried captive by the natives to a city in the interior of the country; and they resolved to reach them, or perish in the attempt.
'Twas indeed an edifying sight to behold the stripling youth who led that small band. One evidently nurtured in luxury and ease, enduring the extremity of danger, fatigue, hardship, and privation, and lending a fire to his jaded followers by his heroic fortitude and example. What mattered it him, that for days hundreds of half-naked Indians, with their clubs and bows, hovered around his mail-clad band. One moment swarming to the close attack, the next showering flights of arrows from the distance. Still himself and party were resolved to penetrate to the rescue of their countrymen or die; and the little band at length reached the place they sought.
'Twas lucky for the young Count that he had steeled his mind to bear disappointment when he donned the light cuirass which adorned his breast; for himself and followers, on arriving at the capital of the country, found literally nothing to repay their toil. In place of boundless wealth and temples of the sun, the adventurers found a wretched Indian town, which had been sacked and partially burned by a detachment of Spanish soldiers, and who had apparently carried off those they sought as prisoners to their ship.