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

1680.J MURDER OF RIBOURDE.In a rage, rose and drove him from the lodge. TheFrench withdrew totheir hut, where they stood allnight on the watch, expecting an attack, and resolvedto sell their lives dearly. At daybreak, the chiefsordered them tobegone.Tonty, with admirable fidelity and courage, haddone all in the power of man to protect the allies ofCanada against their ferocious assailants; and hethought it unwise to persist further in a course whichcould lead to no good, and which would probablyend in the destruction of the whole party. Heembarked in a leaky canoe with Membre\ Ribourde,Boisrondet, and the remaining two men, and beganto ascend the river. After paddling about fiveleagues, they landed to dry their baggage and repairtheir crazy vessel; when Father Ribourde, breviaryin hand, strolled across the sunny meadows for anhour of meditation among the neighboring groves.Evening approached, and he did not return.Tonty,with one of the men, went to look for him, and,following his tracks, presently discovered those of aband ofIndians, who had apparently seized or murderedhim. Still, they did not despair. They firedtheir guns to guide him, should he still be alive;built a huge fire by the bank, and then, crossing theriver, lay watching it from the other side. At midnight,they saw the figure of a man hovering aroundthe blaze; then many more appeared, but Ribourdewas not among them.In truth, a band of Kickapoos,enemies of the Iroquois, about whose camp they had