"
Menendez had ascertained from the Indians that a large number of the
French troops had embarked on board of the vessels which he had seen off
the harbor, and he had good ground for believing that these vessels
would either be cast helpless upon the shore, or be driven off by the
tempest to such a distance as would render their return for some days
impossible. He at once conceived the project of attacking the French
fort upon the river May by land.
The troops, having heard mass, marched out in order, preceded by twenty
Biscayans and Asturians, having as their captain Martin de Ochoa, a
leader of great fidelity and bravery, furnished with axes to open a road
where they could not get along. At this moment there arrived two
Indians, who said that they had been at the French six days before, and
who "seemed like angels" to the soldiers, sent to guide their march.
Halting for refreshment and rest wherever suitable places could be
found, and the Adelantado always with the vanguard, in four days they
reached the vicinity of the fort, and came up within a quarter of a
league of it, concealed by a grove of pine trees. It rained heavily, and
a severe storm prevailed. The place where they had halted was a very bad
one and very marshy; but he decided to stop there, and went back to seek
the rear-guard, lest they might lose their way.
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