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

382 LA SALLE IN TEXAS. [1685.with stern and patient energy, and a quantity ofgunpowder and flour was safely landed. But nowthe wind blew fresh from the sea ; the waves beganto rise ; a storm came on ; the vessel, rocking to andfro on the sand-bar, opened along her side,and theravenous waves were strewn with her treasures.When the confusion was at its height, a troop ofIndians came down to the shore, greedy for plunder.The drum was beat; the men were called to arms;La Salle set his trustiest followers to guard the gunpowder,in fear, not of the Indians alone, but of hisown countrymen. On that lamentable night, thesentinels walked their rounds through the drearybivouac among the casks, bales, and boxes whichthe sea had yielded up; and here, too, their fatehuntedchief held his drearier vigil, encompassedwith treachery, darkness, and the storm.Not only La Salle, but Joutel and others of hisparty, believed that the wreck of the " Aimable " wasintentional.Aigron, who commanded her, had disobeyedorders and disregarded signals. Though hehad been directed to tow the vessel through thechannel, he went in under sail; and though littleelse was saved from the wreck, his personal property,including even some preserved fruits, was all landedsafely. He had long been on ill terms with LaSalle. 11 Procks Verbal du Sieur de la Salle sur le Naufrage de la Flutel''Aimable,' Lettre de La Salle a Seignelajj, 4 Mars, 1685; Lettre d«Beaujeu a Seignelay, sans date. Beaujeu did his best to save th«