The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-11-08
CHAPTER XIV.
Tho Great Peace.

OF tho long ana bitter Journey from the
lroquois tow ms to Lake st. George. down
the Richelieu and thence through the
deep SHOWS of the Canadian winter. it
boots little to make mention; neither to
tell of that devotion Of Raoul de Ligny to
the newly rescued lady, already reputed
In camp rumor to be of a noble English
family. 49, ? 49,
"That sous lieutenant; he is toto mon
tee regarding madame" said Pierre Noir
one evening to Jean Breboeuf. 'As to
that-well, you know Monsieur Las.
Pouf! So much for yon monkey, par
comparison"
'He is great .capitaine. Monsieur
Las" said Jean Breboeuf. "Never a
better went beyond the straits"
But very sad Of late"
"Oh; oui, since the death Of his friend,
Monsieur lie Capitaine Pembroke - may
Mary aid his spirit" e
Monsieur Las goes not on the trail
again." said Pierre Noir. AT least not
while this look Is in his eye"
"The more the loss, Pierre Noir; but
some day the woods will call to him
again. know not how long it may be-
yet some day Mother Messasebe will raise
her finger and beckon to Monsieur Las
and say: Come, my son. IT'S thus, a.
you know, Pierre Noir.'
Yet at length the struggling settle.
ments at Montreal were reached, and here
after the fashion Of the frontier, some sor,
Of menage was inaugurated for Law an6
his party. Here they lived through the
rest of the winter and through the long
slow spring.
And then set on again the heats o.
summer, and there came apace the time
agreed upon, in the month Of August, fo1
the widely heralded assembling Of thu
tribes for the great peace; one Of the
most picturesque, as it was one Of thu
most remarkable and significant meeting!
of widely diverse human beings, that eve
took place within the ken Of history.
They came. these savages, now frs
owning the strength Of the invading
| corners Of the western wilderness. The!
came afoot, and with little train:
of dogs, in single canoes, ii
little groups and growing tlotil
las and vast fleets Of canoes, pushing OF
and on, down stream, following the tid'
of the furs down this pathway Of more
than thousand miles, The 1roQuois
for once mind full Of a promise. came II
a compact fleet, hundred canoes strong
and they stalked about the island 70
days, naked, stark, gigantic, contemptu
Gus of white and red men, Of friend ant
foe alike. The scattered Algonquins
whose villages had been RACED by thes'
same savage warriors came down b.
scores out Of the northern woods, along
| little. unknown streams. and over path
with which none but themselves were &C
quainted From the north, group JOINED
group, and village added itself to village
until a vast body Of people had assem-
bled, whose numbers would have beel
hard to estimate, and who proved diff
cult enough to accommodate. Yet from
the farther west. adding their number
to those already gathered, came the fleet
Of the driven Hurons, and the OjibWays
and the Miamis, and the Outagamies, an
the Ottawas, the Menominies and Mas
coutins-even the Illini, late objects o
the wrath of the Five Nations. The Who'll
Western wilderness poured forth it's saw
age population, till all the shores Of tn
St. Lawrence seemed one vast aboriginal
encampment. These massed at the rem
devious about tho puny settlement o
Montreal in such numbers that, in com
parison, the white population seemed in
significant Then, had there been Pom
tiac or Tecumseh, had there been on
leader of the tribes able to teach tn
strength Of unity, the white settlement
Of upper America had indeed been utter
ly- destroyed. Naught but ancient triba
jealousies held the savages apart.
With these tribesnen were many pris
oners, captives taken in raids along tn
thin and struggling frontier; farmers an
artisans, peasants and soldiers, wome
raped from the farms of the R1chelie
censitaires, and wood rangers now grow
savage as their captors and 10th to leav
the wild life into which they had so nat
urally grown. 1t was the first reflex Q
the wave, and even now bits Of fotsar
and jetsam Of wild life were fain to elm
to the western shore, whittier they ha
been carried by the advancing flood. Thi
was the meeting of the ebb with the Sc
that sent it forward, the meeting Of civil
ICED and savage; and strange enough wa
the nature of those continent tide!
Whether the red men were yield
ing to civilization, or the whites a
turning savage-this question migf
we'll have arisen to an observer of th
tremendous spectacle. The wigwams {
the different tribes and clans and familie
were grouped apart, scattered along a
| the narrow shore back Of the great hill
and over the convent gardens; and anon
these stalked the native French, clad 1
| coarse cloth Of blue, with gaudy belt an
} buckskins, and cap Of fur and moccasin
l Of hide, ningling fraternally with the
|. tufted and bepainted visitors, as we'll a
with those rangers, both envied an
} hated, the savage coureurs de'bois Of tn
: far northern fur trade; men bearded
| silent. stern, clad in breech-clout and leg