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

;1680] SUSPECTED OF SORCERY. 253smoked it,made the warriors do the same, and, havinggiven this hopeful pledge of amity, told theFrenchmen that, since the Miamis were out ofreach,the war-party would return home, and that they mustaccompany them. To this Hennepin gladly agreed,having, as he declares, his great work of explorationso much at heart that he rejoiced inachieving it even in their company.He soon, however, had a foretaste of thethe prospect ofafflictionin store for him; for when he opened his breviaryand began to mutter his morning devotion, his newcompanions gathered about him with faces thatbetrayed their superstitious terror, and gave him tounderstand that his book was a bad spirit with whichhe must hold no more converse. They thought,indeed, that he was muttering a charm for theirdestruction. Accau and Du Gay, conscious of thedanger, begged the friar to dispense with his devotions,lest he and they alike should be tomahawkedbut Hennepin says that his sense of duty rose superiorto his fears, and that he was resolved to repeat hisoffice at all hazards, though not until he had askedpardon of his two friends for thus imperilling theirlives.Fortunately, he presently discovered a deviceby which his devotion and his prudence were completelyreconciled. He ceased the muttering whichhad alarmed the Indians, and, with the breviary openon his knees, sang the service in loud and cheerfultones. As this had no savor of sorcery, and as theynow imagined that the book was teaching its owner