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

1680.] HE REJOINS THE INDIANS. 273They found this band, among whom was theircompanion Accau, and followed them on a grandhunt along the borders of the Mississippi. Du Gaywas separated for a time from Hennepin, who wasplaced in a canoe with a withered squaw more thaneighty years old. In spite of her age, she handledher paddle with great address, and used it vigorously,as occasion required, to repress the gambols of threechildren, who, to Hennepin's annoyance, occupiedthe middle of the canoe. The hunt was successful.The Sioux warriors, active as deer, chased thebuffalo on foot with their stone-headed arrows, onthe plains behind the heights that bordered the river;while the old men stood sentinels at the top, watchingfor the approach of enemies. One day an alarmwas given. The warriors rushed towards the supposedpoint of danger, but found nothing moreformidable than two squaws of their own nation, whobrought strange news. A war-party of Sioux, theysaid, had gone towards Lake Superior, and had metby the way five "Spirits; " that is to say, five Europeans.Hennepin was full of curiosity to learn whothe strangers might be; and they, on their part,were said to have shown great anxiety to know thenationality of the three white men who, as theywere told, were on the river. The hunt was over;and the hunters, with Hennepin and his companion,were on their way northward to their towns,when they met the five "Spirits" at some distancebelow the Falls of St. Anthony. They proved to18