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

—418 ST. LOUIS OF TEXAS. [1687.La Salle of the Indians, stood in the area of the fort,packed for the march; and here was gathered thewretched remnant of the colony, — those who wereto go, and those who were to stay behind. Theselatter were about twenty in all, — Barbier, who wasto command in the place of Joutel; SablonniSre,who, despite his title of marquis, was held in greatcontempt; 1 the friars, Membre* and Le Clerc, 2 andthe priest Chefdeville, besides a surgeon, soldiers,laborers, seven women and girls, and several children,doomed, in this deadly exile, to wait the issues ofthe journey, and the possible arrival of a tardysuccor. La Salle had made them a last address,delivered, we are told, with that winning air which,though alien from his usual bearing, seems to havebeen at times a natural expression of this unhappyman. 3 It was a bitter parting, one of sighs, tears,and embracings, — the farewell of those on whosesouls had sunk a heavy boding that they would never1 He had to be kept on short allowance, because he was in thehabit of bargaining away everything given to him. He had squanderedthe little that belonged to him at St. Domingo, in amusements" indignes de sa naissance," and in consequence was sufferingfrom diseases which disabled him from walking. (Proces Verbal, 18Avril, 1686.)2 Maxime le Clerc was a relative of the author of UE-tablissementde la Foi.* " II fit une Harangue pleine d'eloquence et de cet air engageantqui luy estoit si naturel : toute la petite Colonie y estoit presente eten fttt touchee jusques aux larmes, persuadee de la necessite de sonvoyage et de la droiture de ses intentions." Douay in Le Clsrc, u-330.