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

1680.] FEARS FOR TONTY. 209This resolution was due to a discovery he hadmade the evening before, which offered, as hethought, a possible clew to the fate of Tonty andthe men with him. He thus describes it : " Near thegarden of the Indians, which was on the meadows, aleague from the village and not far from the river,found six pointed stakes set in the ground andpainted red. On each of them was the figure of aman with bandaged eyes, drawn in black. As thesavages often set stakes of this sort where they havekilled people, I thought, by their number and position,that when the Iroquois came, the Illinois, findingour men alone in the hut near their garden, hadeither killed them or made them prisoners. And Iwas confirmed in this, because, seeing no signs of abattle, I supposed that on hearing of the approach ofthe Iroquois, the old men and other non-combatantshad fled, and that the young warriors had remainedbehind to cover their flight,and afterwards followed,taking the French with them; while the Iroquois,finding nobody to kill, had vented their fury on thecorpses in the graveyard."Uncertain as was the basis of this conjecture, andfeeble as was the hope it afforded, it determined himto push forward, in order to learn more. Whendaylight returned, he told his purpose to his followers,and directed three of them to await his returnnear the ruined village. They were to hide themselveson an island, conceal their fire at night, makeno smoke by day, fire no guns, and keep a close14I