The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1906-03-02
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A ROSE OF "a
NORMANDY
By
WILLIAM r. A. WILSON
p XIV.

THE ROLE OF GUARDIAN. AND
TWO FAMILIAR FACES REAFfEAR.
Two years passed, and affairs II mo-
ment, affecting closely the lives and
fortune Of all the chief actors in this
New World drama, were enacted in
Quebec. For a time the new associa-
ton of ~fuf-traders, whose support La
Sale had with difficulty obtained, were
content with their venture and looked
forward to the day when they could
reasonably expect to hear tidings Of
the expeditions success. Their conf
dence resisted for a time attacks made
by Duchesneau, through the crafty
Jacques LIE Ber and other agents
against the enterprise. But little by
little, as nc news came and the efforts
of the interchangeable intendant were
unremitting, their assurance was
weakened. La Salle's personality, had
he been there, would have been suffi-
cient to hold their alleEiance, and
Frontenac himself could doubtless have
allayed their uneasiness. Affairs Of
state, however, had compelled him to
devote all his time to their disentan-
clement. His relations with Duches-
neau bacame more and more strained;
the council showed itself more unruly;
failure IN their crops had made the
ne~ighbcring farmers dissatisfied; their
demands for government assistance
became nor clamorous, while the tx
pected aid from the king had been de-
layed and was destined to prove to
be little better than an empty promise.
Thus the first vague fears for the
success Of the expedition had become,
thanks to the intendant's machina-
tions. a settled feeling Of dissatisfac-
ton and unrest; and when a messen-
ger finally arrived with q tale of La
anger of the discontents became open.
Hence the seizure of all of the avail
able property Of La Sale at this juno
ture. Frontenac did his utmost to
placate these men, and 1t was only the
expected arrival in September (of the
year following that in which Tonti
and his comrades had set out from
Quebec of the kiug's ship that kept
them from taking further active meas
ures for securing legal redress for
their losses. The possibility of an al
iteration in the plans Of the king for
his colonies; Of material aid from the
royal treasury: Of a change In OFF,
cials-all caused a suspension of hos
tilities on the part Of the warning par
ties and individuals.
Once more did the cliffs and shores
re-echo to the o. of cannon, as the
long expected messenger from behind
the horizons rim folded its sails and
anchored peacefully in the basin be-
fore the town. Again were letters
read from king and minister exhort-
Ing loyal subjects to maintain AMIGA
Bile relations amongst themselves, and
to exercise all due economy In the ad-
ministration of affairs; again did the
suitors swarm to the marriage market
and carry away the new consignment
of "king's girls" IN many ways the
ships arrival had proved a disappoint-
ment. The amount OF money sent had
been wofully short of the sum asked
for: Of the 200 soldiers he had i'm
plored the king to dispatch fer the
PtOPSA eoAAtSChSh6 "a tAC bui tOuo
posts. and the overawing of the saw
ages who had given increasing signs
Of unfriendliness to the French. From
tenac had received but 60.
II was while reviewing mentally the
general situation that the governor sat
1t his desk, the morning after the
ships arrival, in the great room at the
Chateau, where he first dined with La
Sale and Tonti. A stormy session of
tho council the evening before and the
knowledge Of the impending difficulties
6head had not deferred him from q
good nights sleep. Nothing seemed
to dAunt the nerve Of steel and heart
Of oak that the man possessed. Dan
ger and difficulties only made him
strive tho harder. The heat Of battle
had been his lot all his life, whether
In Louis Dutch and italian wars, or
IN = campaign sxaipst the Turk. It
was, then. With : feeling Of renewed
snerGy md eaRerness for the fray that
! nRyvSyed ~ eitnation. viii