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

404 ST. LOUIS OF TEXAS. [1686.now retraced his steps towards Fort St. Louis, and,as he approached it, detached some of his men tolook for his vessel, the "Belle," for whose safety,since the loss of her pilot, he had become veryanxious.On the next day these men appeared at the fort,with downcast looks. They had not found the44Belle " at the place where she had been ordered toremain, nor were any tidings to be heard of her.From that hour, the conviction that she was lostpossessed the mind of La Salle. Surrounded as hewas, and had always been, with traitors, the beliefnow possessed him that her crew had abandoned thecolony, and made sail for the West Indies or forFrance. The loss was incalculable. He had reliedon this vessel to transport the colonists to theMississippi, as soon as its exact position could beascertained ;and thinking her a safer place of depositthan the fort, he had put on board of her all hispapers and personal baggage, besides a great quantityof stores, ammunition, and tools. 1In truth, she wasof the last necessity to the unhappy exiles, and theironly resource for escape from a position which wasfastbecoming desperate.La Salle, as his brother tells us, now fell dangerouslyill, — the fatigues of his journey, joined to theeffects upon his mind of this last disaster, havingovercome his strength, though not his fortitude."In truth," writes the priest, "after the loss of the1Proces Verbal fait au poste de St. Louis, h 18 Avril, 1686.