The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1904-03-31


steadily westward, hour after hour,
with the current of this great stream,
among little islands covered with tim
Der; passed along bars of white sand
and flats of hardwood; beyond forest
covered knolls, in the openings OF
which one might now and again see
great vistas of a scenery now peaceful
and now bold, with turreted knobs
and sweeping swards of green, as
though some noble house of old En-
gland were set back secluded within
these wide and well-kept grounds
The country now rapidly lost its
marshy character, and as they ap-
preached the mouth of the great
stream, it being now well toward the
middle of the summer they reach ed
suddenly and without forewarning,
that which they long had sought.
The sturdy paddlers were bending to
their tasks, each broad back swinging
in unison forward and back over the
thwart, each brown throat barred to
the air, each swart head uncovered to
the glare of the midday sun, each mar
row-bladed paddle keeping unison with
those before and behind, the hand of
the paddler never reaching higher than
his chin, since each had learned the
labor-saving fashion of the Indian ca
noeman. The day was bright and
CHEEKY. the air not too ardent, and
across the cOppery waters there
stretched slants of shadow from the
empowering forest trees. They were
alone, these travellers; yet for the
time at least part of them seemed
care-free and quite abandoned to the
sheer zest of life. There arose again,
after the fashion of the voyageurs, the
measure of the padding song, with
out which indeed the paddler had not
been able to perform his labor at the
thwart.
"Dans mon chemin j'ai rencontre-"
chanted the leader: and voices behind
him responded Justify with the next
line:
"Trois cavaliers bien montes-"
"Trois cavaliers bicn montes-"
chanted the leader again.
"L'un cheval ct fautre pied"
came the response; and then the
chorus
lion, Ion laridon dame
Lon, lon laridon dali"
The great boat began to move ahead
steadily and more swiftly, and bend
after bend of the river was rounded by
the rushing Prov. None knew this
country, nor wist how far the journey
might carry him. None knew as of
certainty that he would ever in this
way reach the great Messasebe; or
even If he thought that such would be
the case, did any one know how far
that Messasebe still might be. Yet
there came time in the afternoon of
that day, even as the chant of the
voyageurs still echoed on the wooded
bluffs, and even as the great birch-bark
ship still responded swiftly to their
gaiety, when, on d sudden turn in the
arm of the river, there appeared wide
before them scene for which they
had not been prepared. There, rip
ping and rolling under the breeze. az
though itself the arm of some great
sea, they saw majestic food, whose
real nature and whose name each man
there knew on the instant and in
"Messasebe! Messasebe!" broke ont
the voices of the paddlers.
Stop the paddles!" cried Du Mesne
"Voila!'
John Law rose in the bow of tho
boat and uncovered his head. It was
a noble prospect which lay before him.
His was the soul of the adyonturer
quick to respond to challenge. There
was fluttering in his throat as he
stood and gazed out upon this solemn.
mysterious and tremendous flood, COM
ng whence, going whittier, none might
'ay. He gazed and gazed, and 1t was
ong before the shadow crossed his
ace and before he drew a sigh.
Madam" said he, at length, turn
ng until he faced Mary Connynge,
this is the west. We have chosen,
md we have arrived"