THE FLORIDA POCAHONTAS. 95 



on Easter-day or day of flowers of the year 1512, and thence 

 baptized the newly discovered land by the name of Florida. Not 

 finding the fabled waters, the Quixotic knight and his followers 

 succumbed to those years they sought to reverse, leaving a heritage 

 of poetry and fiction to the coast they discovered, as rich as the 

 tales of the Genii to Araby the Blest. They died by shipwreck 

 and wars ; or, if the legends of those seas may be believed, they 

 still live among the coral reefs and keys that girdle the coast, and 

 there, having at last found that fountain of perpetual youth, 

 wander where the coral bowers make forests of beauty — where 

 the sands are strewed with gems, and the summer never wanes. 

 It is said to be a comely sight to the diver there, when the waters 

 are clear, to see the Castilian knights, in their armour and their 

 trailing plumes, loitering with the Indian girls of long ago under 

 the pink shadow of the coral." 



" What a ripper ! " ejaculated Mike. 



"An untimely remark, sir," replied Jackson, turning to the 

 hunter, with a solemn wave of the hand, "and it savours of unbelief." 



" Wall ! the Gulf is a mighty safe place to yarn about — for nobody 

 knows enough to know nothin' about it — that 's sartin. Pile on." 



Thus enjoined, Jackson, after a glance at his daughter Louisa's 

 wondering eyes, continued as follows : — 



" Following fast in the wake of the explorer, came noble and 

 vassal, for fame, or greed, or heroic quest. Velasquez, De Guerray, 

 Narvaez, succeeded each other as conquerors or visitors to the 

 newly discovered land. 



"Pamphilo de Narvaez was no mere adventurer. To family 

 honours and name he added the higher title of a fame won on the 

 battle-field, and wealth and love added their charms to bind him 

 to ease. But he also had heard of that fabled spring, and from 

 the esplanade of his home in Cuba had seen the evening sky 

 refulgent with what was said to be the reflection of the gold of 

 the Floridas; and so, when the wind came fresh from the east- 

 ward, the morning-star saw his black-eyed lady watching from 

 her balcony the lessening galleys that were bearing away her chief 

 and four hundred men. t 



" After seven days of favouring winds, Narvaez landed on the 



