SPANISH GARDENS 17 



effectually undone, for he persuaded the Indians to 

 make his vengeance complete by destroying the forts 

 of which the Spaniards had boasted greatly. It is 

 hardly to be supposed that the Indians spared any- 

 thing, even if there were anything worth sparing; for 

 they hated the Spaniards as cordially as they liked the 

 French. The town was not totally destroyed, how- 

 ever, and seems to have recovered from this attack 

 without much ado. A battle was so much a part of 

 the day's work that it did not alter the course of men's 

 lives for long — ^provided it left them their lives. 



But there is no hint of a garden or gardens in the 

 annals of the settlement until Sir Francis Drake's visit 

 to it in 1583. Coming up from South America with 

 a fleet, he spied the Spanish lookout on Anastasia Is- 

 land, and being of an inquiring turn of mind, sent men 

 ashore to learn what it was. Their intentions were 

 probably peaceable enough, but the Spaniards appear 

 to have been panic-stricken at the sight of the ships 

 and the landing party, marching along the shores of 

 the island across the bay; and they abandoned their 

 fort with discreet promptness. 



One, however, hiding in the bushes near by — so tra- 

 dition has it — ^slew the sergeant-major who was pre- 

 sumably in charge of the squad: and thus Drake's 

 anger was kindled and he "burned their buildings and 

 destroyed their gardens." The place then possessed, 



/I 



