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

292 LA SALLE BEGINS ANEW. [1681.Fort Miami, and reached Michilimackinac after aprosperous voyage. Here, to his great joy, he foundTonty and Zenobe Membre*, who had lately arrivedfrom Green Bay. The meeting was one at whicheven his stoic nature must have melted. Each hadfor the other a tale of disaster; but when La Sallerecounted the long succession of his reverses, it waswith the tranquil tone and cheerful look of one whorelates the incidents of an ordinary journey. Membre'looked on him with admiration."Any one else," hesays, u would have thrown up his hand and abandonedthe enterprise; but, far from this, with a firmnessand constancy that never had its equal, I saw himmore resolved than ever to continue his work andpush forward his discovery." 1Without loss of time they embarked together forFort Frontenac, paddled their canoes a thousandmiles, and safely reached their destination. Here,in this third beginning of his enterprise, La Sallefound himself beset with embarrassments. Not onlywas he burdened with the fruitless costs of his twoformer efforts, but the heavy debts which he hadincurred in building and maintaining Fort Frontenachad not been wholly paid. The fort and the seigniorywere already deeply mortgaged; yet through theinfluence of Count Frontenac, the assistance of his1 Membra in Le Clerc, ii. 208. Tonty, in his memoir of 1693,speafcg of the joy of La Salle at the meeting. The Relation, usuallyvery accurate, says, erroneously, that Tonty had gone to Fort Frontenac.La Forest had gone thither, not long before La Salle'sarrival.