Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-22
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the Mississippi horrors and fled The
others, too were demoraliZed.
AS measure of safety La Sale moved
his camp to hill little farther down
the river. fortified it, built lodgings for
his men and a little chapel for the Recol-
let monks who accompanied the eXpe-
dition. He named the place Fort Creve-
cour. and started to build the ship to sail
the Mississippi. The third stage of the
journey was made and he was preparing
for the fourth.
But alas. two of the men who had fed
were shipbuilders. There was not another
carpenter in the party. For amateurs to
do the work meant long and tedious
labor. He was worrying about the Grit
fon. He was worrying. too. about affairs
lin Montreal He determined to go back.
hurry forward recruits and supplies and
then rush work on the new ship To i'm
prove the time in his absence he sent
Hennepin to explore the upper Missis-
sippi.
Leaving Tonty. who had but one arm,
in charge, La Sale set out. His trip
has been pronounced as the most ardu-
Gus ever made by a Frenchman in
America. His crafty foes had set the
Indians on his trail. His path was beset
by peril night and day. In sixty-five days
he reached Niagara and then only to
learn the Griffon was lost Indians fur
traders and Jesuits have been charged
with contriving her destruction. Some re-
ports are that she was burned, others are
that she was scuttled. With the cargo
that was to pay his debts. she was gone
He learned, too, that a ship from France
freighteG with almost indispensable goods
for him had been wrecked in the ST.
Lawrence.
When he reached Fort F'rontenac he
found it had been seized and plundered
by his creditors. When he reached Mont
real messenger from Tonty arrived with
the news that soon after his departure
the men had mutinied and destroyed Fort
Crevecour. OF all that he had planned
and all that he had organized nothing
remained. But the undaunted man only
worked the harder. He was a powerful
orator when his passions were aroused,
and he used all his skill in presenting
his story to men with money. He Dor
rowed money again, enough to buy new
equipment, and back over the same road
he went with a dozen men. On Lake
Ontario he encountered a party Of his
deserters. They had a battle and two
We're killed. Then he pushed on, but
when he got to the village of the Illinois
it was desOlate. Not q human being was
in sight. The ground was strewn with
broken bones and mangled corpses
He thought at first the tribe had been
massacred, but it was not SO. The Iro-
quois, instigated by those eager to ruin
La Sale, had invaded the Illinois coun-
try. Tonty had acted as mediator. and
by misleading the Iroquois as to the
number of Illinois braves, had managed
to prevent an attack. Then the two
rival bands, one on either side CT the
river, had gone toward the Mississippi.
When the Iroquois at last discovered the
real number of the Illinois they slaugh-
tered the women and children they had
captured, and, returning to the village.
had invaded the Indian burial places and
wreaked vengeance on the dead. or
Tonty and the few men who had re-
manned true to him La Sale found no
trace and. of course. he heard nothing
of Hennepin. The shell of the new ship