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

1686.] ADVENTURES OF THE TRAVELLERS. 411tented himself with a rebuke to the offender, andwords of reproof and encouragement to the dejectedband.He had caused the grass to be cut near the fort,as to form a sort of playground; and here, one evening,he and some of the party were trying to amusethemselves, when they heard shouts from beyond theriver, and Joutel recognized the voice of La Salle.Hastening to meet him in a wooden canoe, hebrought him and his party to the fort. Twentymen had gone out with him, and eight had returned.Of the rest, four had deserted, one had been lost,one had been devoured by an alligator; and theothers, giving out on the march, had probably perishedin attempting to regain the fort. The travellerstold of a rich country, a wild and beautifullandscape, — woods, rivers, groves, and prairies ; butallavailed nothing, and the acquisition of five horseswas but an indifferent return for the loss of twelvemen.After leaving the fort,sothey had journeyed towardsthe northeast, over plains green as an emerald withthe young verdure of April, till at length they saw,far as the eye could reach, the boundless prairie alivewith herds of buffalo. The animals were in one oftheir tame or stupid moods; and they killednine orten of them without the least difficulty, drying thebest parts of the meat. They crossed the Coloradoon a raft, and reached the banks of another river,where one of the party, named Hiens, a German of