finally to have escaped. Menéndez also sent two sloops to Havana for the reinforcements expected to arrive with Esteban de las Alas, and for horses. He especially counted upon the latter in his campaign against the French, as he had lost all but one of those he had shipped in from Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, the French at Fort Caroline had remained without news of the outcome of the attack. But on the reappearance of two of his vessels at the mouth of the St. Johns, Ribault went down the river to learn what had happened. He met on his way out a boatload of men returning from one of the ships, who told him of their encounter with the Spaniards, and informed him that they had seen three of the enemy's ships in the River of Dolphins and two more in the roads, where the Spaniards had disembarked and were fortifying their position. Ribault returned at once to the fort and, entering the chamber of Laudonnière, who lay there sick, proposed in his presence and that of the assembled captains and other gentlemen, to embark at once with all of his forces in the four ships which lay in the harbor, for the Trinity had not yet returned, and to seek the Spanish fleet. Laudonnière, who was familiar with the sudden storms to which the region was subject during September, disapproved of his plan, pointing out the danger to which the French ships would be exposed of being driven out to sea, and the defenseless condition in which Fort Caroline would be left. The captains, who had received from a neighboring chief confirmation of the landing of the Spaniards and of the defenses which they were erecting, also advised against Ribault's plan, and counselled him at least to await the return of the Trinity before executing it. But Ribault persisted in his plan, showed the unwilling Laudonnière Coligny's instructions, and proceeded to carry it into effect. Not only did he take all of his own men with him, but carried off thirty-eight of the garrison and Laudonnière's ensign, leaving behind his treasurer, the Sieur de Lys, with the sick lieutenant in charge of the depleted garrison. On September 8, the very day that Menéndez was taking possession of Florida in the name of Philip, Ribault embarked aboard his fleet, but waited two days in the harbor until he had prevailed