CHAPTER XXIV THE LOST CHIEF

From their winter camp on the river banks eighty leagues below Fort St. Louis a band of Illinois looked up, late in February of 1686, to see their friend Tonty, with twenty-five Frenchmen and a handful of Shawnees, come paddling down the stream. In June of the year before, he had come back to take command of the fort with the good news that La Salle had sailed from France for the mouth of the Mississippi. During the summer he had persuaded their chiefs to join in peace once more with the Miamis.

But with the fall disquieting¹ news had come. Rumor² said that La Salle had landed on the shore of the Gulf³; that one of his ships was wrecked⁴ and pillaged⁵ by the Southern tribes who had attacked him; and that he was struggling with Indian foes⁶ and sorely in need of food. Tonty, greatly alarmed, had gone up to Mackinac, but had learned little to encourage him in regard to his leader.

Returning to the fort, most of the way on foot, he sent out Indians to the Mississippi River in search of news. But they found none. Then Tonty determined⁷ to go himself down the river to the sea in search of his lost chief. He started in the middle of winter with nearly half of his garrison⁸. For forty leagues they dragged their canoes over the ice of the river until they came to open water halfway⁹ down to the Indian camp.

Tonty had little time to linger in the camp, but he had exciting news to tell the Indians. La Barre, governor of Canada, had been withdrawn¹⁰ and the new governor, Marquis Denonville, was planning a great war upon the Iroquois villages. He wanted Tonty to gather a band of Western Indians and join with other bands under Du Luth and Durantaye to reinforce the army from Canada, and he had sent word to Tonty to come to Canada to confer with him about the matter. But Tonty had insisted that his first duty was to search for La Salle; the other must await his return. Would the Illinois join him the next spring and help wage war upon the land of their enemies?

Tonty knew well that there could only be one answer to his question. The Illinois, who keenly-remembered the fiendish raids upon their land, now saw their opportunity for revenge; and at once they began to dream of the time when Tonty should return from his voyage. But they were anxious, too, for news of La Salle, and they gave Tonty five of their men to accompany him to the mouth of the river.

With this addition to the party Tonty’s men dipped their paddles into the cold stream and were soon out of sight, leaving the Illinois camp buzzing with excitement. The fleet of canoes soon entered the Mississippi and made swift progress down its broad current. Somewhere above the mouth of the Arkansas River, after Tonty and his men had been traveling many days, they happened upon a war party of a hundred Kappas. The Indians made ready for war at first sight of the canoes, but, finding who it was, brought out the pipe of peace and together the two parties went on to the village.

Here and at the lower Arkansas villages the Indians danced the calumet dance before Tonty and sent him on his way in peace. The Frenchmen made a visit to the village on the lake where the white-robed Taensas welcomed them. They, too, danced the calumet dance and were most cordial to the visitors. But Tonty could not stop long. His canoes were full of food for the hungry La Salle, and he had men and guns to help his chief fight battles. He must hasten on to the sea. At the village of the Coroas he stopped long enough to upbraid¹¹ the chief for the treachery of his tribe four years before. He passed the village of the Quinipissas without landing.

On the 9th day of April, Tonty and his party came to the sea. Four years before on this same day La Salle had raised the cross and the arms of France and had taken possession of the Great Valley for the king. But now, though he had had nearly two years to reach the mouth of the river by sea, La Salle was nowhere to be found. Nor was there any sign that he and his ships and men had been there. Tonty’s anxiety deepened as he searched in vain the neighboring channels. He made up two exploring parties and sent one east and one west along the coast of the Gulf. Throwing together a rude fort on an island near the mouth, he waited. When three days were gone both parties had returned. They had explored more than half a hundred leagues of the coast, and had come back because their drinking-water was gone. They had seen nothing but wet shores and the salty sea. Nowhere was there sign of the lost chief.

Up in Canada, meanwhile, Governor Denonville was waiting for Tonty to come and confer with him about the Iroquois raid. Tonty took counsel with his men. One thing more might be done. They were a considerable party—a third of a hundred—and they had stout¹² canoes. Why not skirt the coast of the Gulf, round the point of Florida, pass up the eastern shore of the continent as far as New York, and thence across to Canada and the waiting governor? It was a bold plan, but a reckless one, and Tonty did not insist upon it.

With heavy heart he finally began the ascent¹³ of the river. The wind and waves had wrought¹⁴ havoc¹⁵ with the arms of the king which La Salle had raised, and Tonty replaced them. In a hole in a tree he left a letter for La Salle, and then went on to the village of the Quinipissas. These Indians were a chastened people, for the years had not wiped from their memory the punishment that La Salle had put upon them for their treachery. Now they sued humbly¹⁶ for peace, and Tonty granted it. Then he wrote another letter to his leader and gave it to the chief of the Quinipissas, telling him to deliver it to La Salle if he ever came into this region. The Indian clung to this letter like a sacred treasure and thirteen years later gave it proudly into the hands of a white chief who had come up the river from the sea.

Tonty and his companions continued their journey. When they reached the mouth of the Arkansas some of the men asked leave to plant a new French settlement on a tract¹⁷ of land which La Salle had granted to Tonty four years before. Tonty was willing; and so Jean Couture and several others pitched camp on the shore of the Arkansas River near its mouth and watched their comrades pass on without them. Then they built a log house with a palisade of stakes around it. It was a small settlement, but it was of strange importance in the story of the next three years.

On the 24th of June the disappointed search party was welcomed on the high rock of Fort St. Louis. But Tonty could not tarry at the fort. Taking with him two Illinois chiefs, he went on up the river and across the Great Lakes to where Denonville waited to talk with him.

Plans for a great gathering¹⁸ of the enemies of the Iroquois took form rapidly. The two Illinois chiefs, who came back from the visit to the Canadian governor late in 1686, were full of tales that roused their people. Runners, sent out from the fort, informed all the tribes that war was to be waged in the spring and asked them to join Tonty at Fort St. Louis.

When April of 1687 came, the fort on the rock saw the smoke rise from many fires, for Tonty was giving a dog-feast for his Indian warriors¹⁹. Illinois, Shawnees, Mohegans, and Miamis gathered for the fray²⁰. La Forest had already set out with a band of Frenchmen; Durantaye and Du Luth were gathering together their warriors over on the Lake; and in the latter part of April, Bellefontaine, left with twenty men in charge of the fort, watched Tonty with sixteen Frenchmen and the band of Indian braves depart for the war in the far East.

1 disquieting   

adj.令人不安的，令人不平静的v.使不安，使忧虑，使烦恼( disquiet的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The news from the African front was disquieting in the extreme. 非洲前线的消息极其令人不安。 来自英汉文学
• That locality was always vaguely disquieting, even in the broad glare of afternoon. 那一带地方一向隐隐约约使人感到心神不安甚至在下午耀眼的阳光里也一样。 来自辞典例句

2 rumor   

n.谣言，谣传，传说

参考例句：

• The rumor has been traced back to a bad man.那谣言经追查是个坏人造的。
• The rumor has taken air.谣言流传开了。

3 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

4 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

5 pillaged   

v.抢劫，掠夺( pillage的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They are to be pillaged and terrorised in Hitler's fury and revenge. 在希特勒的狂怒和报复下，他们还遭到掠夺和恐怖统治。 来自辞典例句
• They villages were pillaged and their crops destroyed. 他们的村子被抢，他们的庄稼被毁。 来自辞典例句

6 foes   

敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They steadily pushed their foes before them. 他们不停地追击敌人。
• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。

7 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

8 garrison   

n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防

参考例句：

• The troops came to the relief of the besieged garrison.军队来援救被围的守备军。
• The German was moving to stiffen up the garrison in Sicily.德军正在加强西西里守军之力量。

9 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

10 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

11 upbraid   

v.斥责，责骂，责备

参考例句：

• The old man upbraided him with ingratitude.那位老人斥责他忘恩负义。
• His wife set about upbraiding him for neglecting the children.他妻子开始指责他不照顾孩子。

13 ascent   

n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高

参考例句：

• His rapid ascent in the social scale was surprising.他的社会地位提高之迅速令人吃惊。
• Burke pushed the button and the elevator began its slow ascent.伯克按动电钮，电梯开始缓慢上升。

14 wrought   

v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的

参考例句：

• Events in Paris wrought a change in British opinion towards France and Germany.巴黎发生的事件改变了英国对法国和德国的看法。
• It's a walking stick with a gold head wrought in the form of a flower.那是一个金质花形包头的拐杖。

15 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

16 humbly   

adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地

参考例句：

• We humbly beg Your Majesty to show mercy. 我们恳请陛下发发慈悲。
• "You must be right, Sir,'said John humbly. “你一定是对的，先生，”约翰恭顺地说道。

17 tract   

n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林)

参考例句：

• He owns a large tract of forest.他拥有一大片森林。
• He wrote a tract on this subject.他曾对此写了一篇短文。

18 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

19 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

20 fray   

v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗

参考例句：

• Why should you get involved in their fray?你为什么要介入他们的争吵呢？
• Tempers began to fray in the hot weather.大热天脾气烦燥。