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

162 LA SALLE ON THE UPPER LAKES. [1679instigating the Iroquois to invade their countryHere was another subject of anxiety. La Salle wasconfirmed in his belief that his busy and unscrupulousenemies were intriguing for his destruction.He pushed on, however, circling around thesouthern shore of Lake Michigan, tillhe reached themouth of the St. Joseph, called by him the Miamis.Here Tonty was tohave rejoined him with twentymen, making his way from Michilimackinac alongthe eastern shore of the lake ;but the rendezvous wasa solitude, — Tonty was nowhere to be seen.It wasthe first of November; winter was at hand, and thestreams would soon be frozen. The men clamored togo forward, urging that they should starve if theycould not reach the villages ofthe Illinois before thetribe scattered for the winter hunt. La Salle wasinexorable. If they should all desert, he said, he,with his Mohegan hunter and the three friars, wouldstill remain and wait for Tonty.The men grumbled,but obeyed; and, to divert their thoughts, he setthem at building a fort of timber on a rising groundat the mouth of the river.They had spent twenty days at this task, and theirwork was well advanced, when at length Tontyappeared. He brought with him only half of hismen. Provisions had failed; and the rest of hisparty had been left thirty leagues behind, to sustainthemselves by hunting. La Salle told him to returnand hasten them forward. He set out with twomen. A violent north wind arose. He tried to run