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

212 INDIAN CONQUERORS. [1680.of women and children. The men, it seemed, hadfled,and left them to their fate.Here, again, La Salle sought long and anxiously,without finding the smallest sign that could indicatethe presence of Frenchmen. Once more descendingthe river, they soon reached its mouth. Beforethem, a broadeddying current rolled swiftly on itsway ; and La Salle beheld the Mississippi, — theobject of his day-dreams, the destined avenue of hisambition and his hopes. It was no time for reflections.The moment was too engrossing, too heavilycharged with anxieties and cares. From a rock onthe shore, he saw a treestretched forward above thestream; and stripping off its bark to make it moreconspicuous, he hung upon ita board on which hehad drawn the figures of himself and his men, seatedin their canoe, and bearing a pipe of peace. To thishe tied a letter for Tonty, informing him that he hadreturned up the river to the ruined village.His four men had behaved admirably throughout,and they now offered to continue the journey if hesaw fit, and follow him to the sea ; but he thought ituseless to go farther, and was unwilling to abandonthe three men whom he had ordered to await hisreturn. Accordingly, they retraced their course,and, paddling at times both day and night, urgedtheir canoe so swiftly that they reached the villagein the incredibly short space of four days. 11The distance is about two hundred and fifty miles. Theletters of La Salle, as well as the official narrative compiled from