The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1904-05-27

Q fur trade; men bearded. silent. stern
clad in breech-clout and leggings hk'
any savage. as silent. as stOical. a,
hardy on the trail as on the narrow
thwart OF the canoe
Savage feastings. riotings and drunk
enness. and long debaucheries came
, with the Great Peace. when once the
word had gone out that the fur trade
was TO be resumed. henceIorth there
, vas to be peace. The French were nc
longer to raid the little cabins alone
the Kennebec and the Penobscot. The
river Richelieu was to be no longer a
red war trail. The English were no
longer to offer arms and blankets foI
the beaver. belonging by right of prior
discovery TO those who offered French
brandy and French beads. The Iro-
quois were no longer to pursue a
timid foe across the great prairies OF
the valley of the Messasebe. The
Ojibways were not to ambush the scat
tered parties of the Iroquois The IN
ambitious colonists of New England
end New York were to be left to till
their stony farms in quiet. Meantime.
the FUR trade, wasteful, licentious, an
profitable, was to extend onward AMI
outward in all the marches of the West
From one end of the Great River OF
the West to the other the insignia oil
France and of Frances king were to
be erected, and Frances posts were to
| hold all the ancient trails. Even at the
! mouth of the Great River forestalling
| these sullen English and these sluggish
| English colonists, far to the south in
the somber forests and miasmatic
| marshes, there was to be established
| one more ruling point for the arms of
Louis the Grand. 1t was a great game
this, for which the continent of Amer
lea was in preparation. 1t was a
mighty thing, this gathering of the
Great Peace, this time when colonists
and their king were seeing the first |
breaking of the wave on the. shore OF |
an empire alluring, wonderful, unpar-
alleled
Into this wild rabble of savages and |
citizens, of priest and soldier and
coureur, Laws friends, Pierre Noir
and Jean Breboem. swiftly disap-
peared, naturally, fifty and unavoid-
ably. THE West is calling to us, Mon
sieur," said Pierre Noir one morning,
as he stood looking out across the
river. 81 hear once more the spirits
Of the Messasebe. Monsieur, will you
Gomez"
Law shook his head Yet two days
later, as he stood at that very point
there came to him the silent feet Of
two coureurs instead of one. Once more
he heard in his ear the question:
Monsieur Las, will you Gomez
At this voice he started. In an in
slant his arms were about the neck OF
Du Mesne, and tears were falling from
the eyes of both in the welcome of that
brotherhood which is admitted only by
those who have known together arms
and danger and hardship, the touch OF
the hard ground and the sight of the
wide blue sky.
'Du Mesne, my friend!"
Monsieur L'as!"
ut is as though you came from the
depths of the sea, Du Mesne!" said
Law.
And as though you yourself arose
from the grave, Monsieur!"
How did you know"
why easily You do not understand
he ways of the wilderness, where news
ravels as fast as in the cities. You Z,
we're hardly below the foot of Michiga II
ION before runners from the Illini had II
pread the news along the Chicaqua ~
where | was then in camp. For the %
est, the runners brought also news OF t.
he Big Peace. | reasoned that the 9
roquois would not dare to destroy
heir captives, that in time the agents a.
f the government would receive the v
aptives of the IroquoiS-that these n,
aptives would naturally come to the a
on the ST. Lawrence, since ST
!, was the French against whom the &C
roquois had been at war; that having ar
ONE to Montreal, you would naturally IL
amain here for a time. The rest was r.
asy. | Jared on to the straits this VI VI
pring, and then on down the lakes. ] h,
ave sold our furs, and am now ready til
} account to you with sum quite nf
$ much as we should have expected. a,
Nov, Monsieur" and Du Mesne oil
IttCuSu Out tSdlIi, pOlHllAS ~
, the homecoming flood of the st "a, Ia
awrence, Monsieur, will you come? M
see not the st. Lawrence, but the sa
essasebe. | can hear the voices call fe,
g!" ho
Law dashed mis- mana acrUss Ills eyes
Id turned his head away. Not yet an
u Mesne," said he. Il do not know he
OF yet. must first go across the gu
aters. Perhaps sometme-I can not Fo
H. But this, my comrades, my ag
Others, l do know; that never, until -
e last sod lies on my grave, will
rget the Messasebe, or forget you IN
} back, if you will. my brothers; but III,
night, when you sit by your fireside, is
ink of me, as | shall think of you, fro
ere in the great valley. My friends let
is the heart of the world"