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

1680.] LA SALLE'S ANXIETIES. 183But whether her lading was swallowed in thedepths of the lake, or lost in the clutches of traitors,the evil was alike past remedy. She was gone, itmattered little how. The main-stay of the enterprisewas broken ;yet its inflexible chief lost neither heartnor hope. One path, beset with hardships andterrors, still lay open to him. He might return onfoot to Fort Frontenac, and bring thence the needfulsuccors.La Salle felt deeply the dangers of such a step.His men were uneasy, discontented, and terrifiedthe stories with which the jealous Illinois still constantlyfilled their ears, of the whirlpools and themonsters of the Mississippi. He dreaded lest, in hisabsence, they should follow the example of theircomrades, and desert.byIn the midst of his anxieties,a lucky accident gave him the means ofdisabusingthem. He was hunting, one day, near the fort,when he met a young Illinois on his way home, halfstarved,from a distant war excursion. He had beenabsent so long that he knew nothing of what hadLapassed between his countrymen and the French.Salle gave him a turkey he had shot, invited him tothe fort, fed him, and made him presents. Havingthus warmed his heart, he questioned him, withapparent carelessness, as to the countries he hadvisited, and especially as to the Mississippi, — onwhich the young warrior, seeing no reason to disguisethe truth, gave him all the information he required.La Salle now made him the present of a hatchet, to