The Spaniards had been driven from old Guale. Meantime a similar contest in the hinterland had begun. From Charleston the English traders led the onslaught. From Apalache (Talahassee) the Spanish missionaries and soldiers went forth to stem the tide. [Para.] To the westward the Georgia tribes beckoned the Englishmen across the Savannah to a life of adventure and freedom, and to profitable trade in skins and slaves. The trails through their villages led to fabled mines of silver and gold, and to the shores of the great Spanish Lake (the Gulf of Mexico), on which more than one English buccaneer had already sailed. Relentlessly the Carolinians advanced. In vain the Spaniards tried to hold them back. The game was played by diplomacy, trade, and war. The chief pawn in the sport was the Red Man between. Each year the Carolinians visited tribes more and more remote.