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

454 THE INNOCENT AND THE GUILTY. [1687.white men and by red, 1 had been ejected, as we haveseen, by the agent of the governor, La Barre, fromthe command of Fort St. Louis of the Illinois. Anorder from the King had reinstated him ; and he nosooner heard the news of La Salle's landing on theshores of the Gulf, and of the disastrous beginningsof his colony, 2 than he prepared, on his own responsibilityand at his own cost, to go to his assistance.He collected twenty-five Frenchmen and elevenIndians, and set out from his fortified rock on thethirteenth of February, 1686 ;3descended theMississippi, and reached its mouth in Holy Week.All was solitude, a voiceless desolation of river,marsh, and sea. He despatched canoes to the eastand to the west, searching the coast for some thirtyleagues on either side. Finding no trace of hisfriend, who at that moment was ranging theprairiesof Texas in no less fruitless search of his "fatalriver, " Tonty wrote for him a letter, which he left1Journal de St. Cosme, 1699. This journal has been printed by-Mr. Shea, from the copy in my possession. St. Cosme, who knewTonty well, speaks of him in the warmest terms of praise.2 In the autumn of 1685, Tonty made a journey from the Illinoisto Michilimackinac, to seek news of La Salle. He there learned,by a letter of the new governor, Denonville, just arrived fromFrance, of the landing of La Salle, and the loss of the " Aimable,"as recounted by Beaujeu, on his return. He immediately went backon foot to Fort St. Louis of the Illinois, and prepared to descendthe Mississippi, " dans Tesp^rance de lui donner secours." Lettrede Tonty au Ministre, 24 Aoust, 1686 ; Ibid., a Cabart de Villermont,mime date ; Memoire de Tonty ; Proces Verbal de Tonty, 13 Avril t1686.* The date is from the Proces Verbal. In the MSmoire, hastilywritten long after, he falls into errors of date.