148 WILD SPORTS IN THE SOUTH. 



incense at the altars ; and hounds in couples nosing the 

 scented air with their tawny muzzles. All the parapher- 

 nalia of glorious war, and the emblems of an ostentatious 

 religion, or wild sports, swept by Gaspiralla Island, and 

 with the sound of the trumpet and the horn landed on 

 the main land. 



" But a short history remains to be told. Treachery 

 to the natives aroused revenge. The arrow soughed on 

 every wind, hostile bands disputed every stream. One 

 battle followed another. The troops were divided in dif- 

 ferent bodies, under different leaders, and fought their 

 way northward, until all but fifteen of that hopeful army 

 found a grave, either on the field of battle or the quick- 

 sand swamps. Fifteen, under the command of De Vacca, 

 coasted the Gulf, and gained a shelter in the Mexican 

 colonies. But one man, a common soldier named Ortez, 

 escaped the others' doom. Being left wounded on a 

 battle-field, he watched his opportunity, and, as night 

 covered the shattered dead and trodden field, he crept 

 down to the water's edge, guided by the splash of the 

 sea. Here, finding a canoe of the natives, he hastily 

 gathered some fruit to support him on his voyage, and 

 setting a sail, was soon beyond pursuit. He coasted 

 down the shore, only landing at night to gather the 

 turtle's and bird's eggs that were abundant on all the 

 islands, until he reached Cuba, and saw once more the 

 towers of a Spanish town. 



"A sad day it was in St. Jago de Cuba, when Ortez 

 came back with that Indian boat, and the grim tale of 



