The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1906-02-23
XIV.

lN Wf1lCh n IhAf Is SPRUNG, BUT
THE MOUSE ESCAPES.
The days passed rapidly. La Sale
and Tonti were busily engaged with
preparations for their departure.
Among the 80 men the explorer had
brought with him he chose one, La
Motto by name, as his chief lieuten-
ant under Tonti. The stores of iron
and cordage for the vessel he intend
ed building on the great lakes, the
beads, scarlet cloth, hatchets, knives,
and other presents for the Indians, the
powder and bullets for the use of the
entire party-all were carefully packed
into the smallest compass possible,
ready to be loaded into the canoes.
Pompon, still %incognito, wal here and
there and everywhere, saying little
and hearing much. Through his activ-
ity It was learned that the priest who
offered to accompany the expedition
was i~nstigated to do SO by Laval. His
offer was refused, and the services of
the Recollet friar, Father Louis Hen
nepin, who had come all the way from
Fort Frontenac to meet La Sale, was
chosen. The latter had brought a let
ter from his provincial, Father lie
Fevre, containing permission to join
the expedition. To prepare himself,
the worthy friar went into retreat at
the Recollet convent, remaining for
several days in prayer and meditation.
Finally. after dining at the Chateau
with Frontenac, La Sale and Tonti,
and after a farewell vigil, he received
the blessing Of Laval and departed at
daybreak. His friends watched his
figure with its sandaled feet, coarse
gray capote, and peaked hood, the
cord of st. Francis hanging at his side.
glide away in his birch canoe, padded
by two men, en- route for Fort Fronte-
nae, where they were to await the ar
rival OF the others. Within a week
La Motto and Of the men fol-
lowed, with IL w%ell-laden canoes.
The bulk of the work of preparation
being thus over, Tonti had ample time
to renew his acquaintance with Ma
dame BLIZZARD. She had made one effort
toward influencing him against La
Sale, but had been so coldly repulsed
that she began to doubt her ability
to bias him directly against his friend
and lesder. The difficulty Of the
task, however, only added zest to her
e%ndeavors, so that she redoubled her
attempts. They met daily, seemingly
by chance. often taking long walks to.
gether 3p the hill beyond the wind
mill, or to the other extremity of the
town under pretext If viewing the ca
| fhadroJ tho capoiporv II1%11 nfa,, ~
the palace of the ~intendant. On these
strolls she piled her coquetish arts in
vain. Tonti parted each thrust with
as much skill as though it had been a
combat with swords instead Of a duel
Of intrigue.
Madame BLIZZARD had long tired of the
humdrum life Of the town and the
practical straightforwardness of her
matter-of-fact husband, who, taken up
with the monotonous duties Of his call
ing, had but little time or taste for the
frivolitics of the social world, such as
II was. He had every confidence, how
ever. In his mate, giving her full lib
erty, believing that in time she would
settle down to the serious obligations
appertaining to the wife of a soldier
at a frontier post.
The easy grace Of the h~igh-spirited
gallant who had SO suddenly appeared
in her life, flattering her vanity, with
Its mingled audacious banter and de-
ferring humility, casting all the
glamour of the grand monde, finally
won her silly little heart. 1t was with
genuine alarm and dread, therefore,
that she viewed the growing prepara-
lions that were to end in Their separa-
ton, and she increased her efforts at
fascination now that she had What she
believed to be her own passion for the
man to urge her on as well as the
commands Of the %intendant. She met
with i'll success despite her endeavors,
and daily and hourly chafed at the
thought Of his obduracy or cried her
pretty yes red o. nights with
ton at her failure and the thought of
losing him.
Frontenac was In high feather as
the result Of La Sales success in gain
ing over some of the f~us-tradeys into
forming an association and advancing
money. He entertained them all right
royalty for several nights, and then re.
solved to give a ball in honor Of his
friends the eTening before their de-
p~arture, partly to maintain his dignity
as governor and give his mimic court
a taste of the gayety Of Versailles, and
partly to show his defiance to his ene-
mics.
Enemies and friends alike were In
vited. for few Of the former would,
dare absent themselves, although the
magnidcence Of the occasion would AZ
ford Z means OF F~rontenac's triumph
tnE OYER them. winning stu further