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. 
