Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 edition. Excerpt:... CHAPTER II THE MAKING OF A SAILOR 1598-1601 The army in Brittany was mustered out. The Spanish soldiers there were brought together at the port of Blavet, since called Port Louis, an old fortified Breton town, to await transports to carry them to their own land. Samuel Champlain was now about thirty. Active service had strengthened him and made him able to withstand hardship. His work as quartermaster in outfitting and provisioning large bodies of troops had made him self-reliant. He was able to direct men and to accept large responsibility. The young lieutenant had enjoyed his military experiences extremely. But now that chapter was closed. There was to be no more fighting in France for many a year. He had outgrown the provincial life of his native town, and could not go back there to sail a lumbering trading schooner up and down the French coasts, or to captain a fishing-smack to Newfoundland. Yet his love for the sea was as keen as ever. That seafaring uncle of his, " the Provencal Captain," as it happened, had just been engaged by the officers of Philip as a pilot-general for the transportation home of the Spanish troops in France; and he came to Blavet, with a small fleet of French merchant vessels which he had collected, prepared to embark the soldiers. When Champlain learned of this, he perceived at once a fine opportunity for an interesting cruise and new adventures. He would go with his uncle to Spain. Perhaps there he might find an opportunity to make a trip to the Spanish West Indies in the New World. Rumor had told alluring tales of the tropic beauty and the incredible riches of these islands and the mainland of Mexico; but to visit them was not easy for any but Spaniards, for Philip jealously excluded all foreign travel and...