La Salle and the discovery of the great West - North Central ...

134 LA SALLE AT NIAGARA. [1678,Holland; and he recounts various mishaps whichbefell him, "in consequence of my zeal in laboringfor the saving of souls."of"I was at the bloody fightSeneff," he pursues, "where so many perished byfire and sword, and where I had abundance of workin comforting and consoling the poor woundedsoldiers.After undergoing great fatigues, and runningextreme danger in the sieges of towns, in thetrenches, and in battles, where I exposed myselffreely for the salvation of others while the soldierswere breathing nothing but blood and carnage, Ifound myself at last in a way of satisfying my oldinclination for travel." 1He got leave from his superiors to go to Canada,the most adventurous of all the missions, and accordinglysailed in 1675, in the ship which carried LaSalle, who had just obtained the grant of FortFrontenac. In the course of the voyage, he took itupon him to reprove a party ofgirls who were amusingthemselves and a circle of officers and otherpassengers by dancing on deck. La Salle, who wasamong the spectators, was annoyed at Hennepin'sinterference, and told him that he was behaving likea pedagogue. The friar retorted, by alluding —unconsciously, as he says — to the circumstance thatLa Salle was once a pedagogue himself, having,according toHennepin, been for ten or twelve yearsteacher of a class in a Jesuit school. La Salle, headds, turned pale with rage, and never forgave him1Hennepin, Voyage Curieux (1704), 18.