upon Captain François Léger de La Grange to accompany him, although La Grange was so distrustful of the enterprise that he wished to remain with Laudonnière. On September 10, Ribault sailed away. If the muster-roll of Laudonnière is accurate, the garrison which Ribault left behind him to defend Fort Caroline was ill-fitted to resist an attack of the well-fed and well-disciplined Spanish soldiery. The total number of colonists remaining in the fort was about two hundred and forty. Three days passed without any news of Ribault, and with each passing day Laudonnière became more anxious. Knowing the proximity of the Spaniards, and dreading a sudden descent upon the fort, he resolved to make shift for his own defense. Although food stores were depleted, as Ribault had carried off two of his boats with the meal which had been left over after making the biscuit for the return to France, and although Laudonnière himself was reduced to the rations of a common soldier, he yet commanded the allowance to be increased in order to lift the morale of his men. He also set to work to repair the palisade which had been torn down to supply material for the ships, but continued storms hindered the work, which was never completed. Destruction of Fort Caroline Ribault's attempted assault on St. Augustine foiled by storm Ribault made at once for St. Augustine with two hundred sailors and four hundred soldiers, which included the best men of the garrison at Fort Caroline. At dawn the next day he came upon Menéndez in the very act of attempting to pass the bar and to land a sloop and two boats filled with men and artillery from the San Salvador which had sailed at midnight with the San Pelayo. The tide was out and his boats so loaded that only by great skill was he able to cross it with his sloop, and escape; for the French, who had at once attempted to prevent his landing and thus to capture his cannon and the supplies he had on board, got so close to him, that they hailed him, and summoned him to surrender, promising that no harm should befall him. As soon as Ribault perceived that the boats had gotten out of his reach, he gave up the attempt and started in pursuit of the San Salvador, which was already six or eight leagues away. Two