one morning early in the year 1684, robert cavalier, sieur de la salle, a gentleman in the king’s service, stood waiting in an antechamber of the royal palace at versailles (ver-sālz′). behind the closed door, which was guarded by two of the king’s musketeers in their showy uniforms, his majesty louis the fourteenth was giving a private audience to the count de frontenac. this gentleman, late the governor of new france (canada), was the friend and adviser of the adventurer, as la salle had been mockingly nicknamed by the idlers of the french court.
2
la salle, who was headstrong and somewhat overbearing in character, more used, moreover, to command than to obey, frowned as he walked up and down the room, and glanced impatiently from time to time towards the king’s cabinet, where his fate hung in the balance. months had passed since he had arrived in france from north america, with a great scheme already planned, and lacking only the consent of the king and his ministers. he had danced attendance at court until he was weary, rugged soldier that he was; now filled with hope when the ministers plied him with false promises, now sunk in despair when his enemies placed obstacles in his way. “would i were back in the wilds of america, with tonti of the iron hand and my red brothers,” he muttered, downcast and discouraged.
but at length the door opened, the tapestry was pushed aside, and frontenac appeared. his eyes beamed with satisfaction. “your application is granted,” he said, pressing la salle’s hand. “his majesty commissions you to plant a colony at the mouth of the great river where you have already raised the flag of france. go, my friend; thank his gracious majesty, and then hasten your preparations for departure.”
la salle.
la salle lost no time in obeying these directions. his heart throbbed with pride and satisfied ambition. for this was his dream: to colonize the beautiful wilderness watered by the lower mississippi; to found a city on the banks of the mighty stream whose mouth it had been his good fortune to discover.
but this dream was never to be realized by him. it was the destiny of la salle not to colonize louisiana, but to become the discoverer of texas.
after much trouble la salle succeeded in perfecting the arrangements for his voyage. his little fleet was composed of four vessels: the aimable (ā-mah′-bl), the joli (zho-leé), the belle, and the st. francis. in these embarked over three hundred souls, including women, workmen, priests, and soldiers.
3
they sailed from rochelle, france, on the 24th of july, 1684. the passage across the atlantic was tedious and stormy; it was embittered by constant quarrels between la salle and beaujeu (bo-zhuh′), the naval commandant of the squadron; and the fleet was crippled by the loss of the st. francis, the store-ship, which was captured by the spaniards. but toward the end of september the remaining vessels, in tolerable condition, entered the gulf of mexico. here la salle began a sharp lookout for the wide mouth of the river he aimed to enter.
he was full of confidence in himself, for he had spent years of his life tracking the savage wilderness of the north with his indian guides, and he had the keen eye and the ready memory of the practiced scout.
but he had no exact chart of the pathless and unknown waters around him; the calculation of the experienced landsman stood him in little stead at sea. he lost his way, and sailing to the westward of the river known to us as the mississippi,—but called by la salle the st. louis,—he came, on the 1st of january, 1685, in sight of the low-lying shores of texas.
the flag of france.
some weeks later, the fleet anchored in the gulf outside the beautiful land-locked bay of san bernard (now matagorda bay); and la salle, flag in hand, and attended by soldiers and priests, set foot on the new land, taking formal possession of it in the name of the king of france.
4
to the colonists, so long confined within the small ships and overwearied by the monotony of the voyage, it was a joy simply to feast their eyes on the green of the trees that lined the shore, and to breathe the fresh air that blew down, flower-scented, from the far western prairies. they longed to run like children on the sandy beach, to feel under their feet the firm turf. but la salle’s experience among the indians had taught him caution. he took the utmost care in landing his colonists, and in forming his temporary camps. two temporary camps were established, one on matagorda island, where the lighthouse now stands; the other on the mainland, near the present site of indianola.
his own heart, meantime, was heavy. he had missed his coveted and beloved river, though he still believed that the san bernard bay might be one of its mouths. the aimable, in attempting to enter the harbor, had grounded upon a sandbank and gone to pieces. the indians, who had swarmed to the coast in great numbers to greet the pale-faced strangers, had already become troublesome. they had, indeed, murdered two of the colonists, named ory and desloges. this was the first european blood shed upon texas soil. the stock of provisions was running low, and finally, to crown all, beaujeu, from the beginning hostile to la salle, had hoisted sail, with scant warning, and returned to france, leaving the eight cannons and the powder belonging to the expedition, but carrying away with him all the cannon balls.
5
a less sturdy spirit might have been wholly disheartened; but la salle, whatever he felt, gave no signs of weakness. he explored the country round about, and at the end of a short time he marked out the foundation of a fort beside a small stream which empties into the bay. he called the river les vaches (cow river[1]), from the number of buffaloes which grazed along the banks. the spot[2] chosen for the site of the fort was a delightful one; the rolling prairies which stretched away northward were covered with rich grass and studded with belts of noble timber; southward lay the grey and misty line of the bay; birds of gay plumage sang in shadow of the grapevines that trailed from overhanging trees to the water’s edge; the clear stream reflected the blue and cloudless sky of southern texas. here the colonists set to work. la salle with his own hands aided in hewing and laying the heavy beams of wall and of blockhouse. the curious savages, tall lipans and scowling carankawaes, hung about the place, peering forward with jealous eyes, and picking off the unwary workmen with their deadly arrows. but a day came at last when the little fortress, with its chapel, lodgings, and guardhouse, was completed. amid the cheers of the colonists the flag of france loosened its folds to the wind; a hymn of thanksgiving and praise arose from the chapel; and la salle, giving to the fort the name of st. louis, dedicated it to france in the name of the king.
several expeditions followed, in 1685 and 1686, the building of fort st. louis. la salle not only cherished the hope of finding his lost river; he was lured northwestward by rumors obtained from the cenis, the nassonites, and other friendly indians, of rich silver mines in the interior. he wished also to communicate, if possible, with his old friend, the chevalier tonti of the iron hand, whom he had left with a colony on the illinois river. tonti, having lost a hand in battle, used one made of iron; hence his title.
these journeys were both painful and perilous; the footsore explorers were obliged to swim swollen rivers; they traversed dangerous swamps and unknown forests; they encountered and fought with hostile indians; they suffered the pangs of hunger and thirst; they were shaken with chills and parched with fever. it is marvelous, indeed, that a spark of courage should have remained in their hearts.
6
on returning to the fort after one of these expeditions, during which the commandant had lain for months helpless with fever in the lodge of a cenis chief, he found matters there in a bad way. the last remaining vessel, the belle, had been wrecked on a shoal in the bay. food was scarce; ammunition was almost exhausted; and between death from sickness and losses in indian skirmishes, the inmates were reduced to less than forty persons.
la salle’s map of texas.
despite all this, however, as the wayworn explorers drew near the walls, their ears were greeted with sounds of mirth and revelry. the sieur barbier and “one of the maidens”—as the chronicler relates—had just been married in the little chapel. the wedding party welcomed their chief with joyous shouts. we can well imagine how, removing his worn cap, he saluted the youthful pair with a stately bow. and the same evening, when the colonists gathered in the log-built hall of the commandant’s own quarters to make merry over the first european wedding on texas soil, with what courtly grace did the sieur de la salle tread a measure with the blushing bride!
7
this was in october, 1686. on the 12th of january the following year, la salle appeared in the open square of the fort, dressed in his faded red uniform and equipped for traveling. his people pressed around him, listening with anxious hearts to his farewell words. for he was about starting once more across vast and unknown regions in search of tonti—and help.
one by one he called to his side those whom he had chosen to accompany him. they numbered twenty—exactly half of the remnant of his colony. among them were two of his own nephews and his brother, cavalier; the faithful priest, father anastase; joutel, the young historian of the colony; liotot (lee-o-to); l’archevêque (larsh-vāke′); duhaut (du-ho′); and nika (nee-ka), an indian hunter who had followed la salle to france from canada.
sieur barbier was placed in command of the garrison; and, after an affectionate farewell, la salle passed through the gate, which he was never to enter again, and plunged a last time into the forest.
two months later, near the crossing of the neches river, moragnet (mo-r?-nyā), la salle’s nephew, who had been for some time on bad terms with l’archevêque and duhaut, was murdered by them while he was sleeping. nika, who was with the party (which had been sent out after fresh buffalo meat), was killed at the same time. the murderers, fearful of la salle’s just vengeance, determined to take his life also. they placed themselves in ambush; l’archevêque, who was only sixteen years old, was detailed to lead their chief into the trap.
when la salle appeared, in search of his nephew, he was fired upon and instantly killed (march 16, 1687).
thus perished, by treacherous hands, the gallant and stout-hearted la salle—the soldier, explorer, and dreamer. he was buried in the lonely spot where he fell. father anastase scooped out a shallow grave for his friend and benefactor, and pressed the grassy turf upon his breast. and so, within the borders of texas—though the exact spot is unknown—repose the mortal remains of its discoverer.
8
joutel with several of the band succeeded after many adventures in reaching one of tonti’s settlements on the arkansas river. thence they made their way to canada.
the assassins and their followers remained with the indians, where, one after another, they nearly all met the same bloody and violent death they had meted out to their victims.
five years later l’archevêque with one companion was recaptured by the spaniards from the savages and sent to madrid.[3]
tonti of the iron hand had waited long and anxiously for news of his friend. in 1684 he had gone in a canoe down the mississippi to its mouth to meet the expedition from france. the expedition did not appear, and he returned to his post on the upper mississippi. he questioned the indian runners from the south and west as they passed his camp on their hunting raids. he could learn nothing of la salle or his companions. that intrepid captain seemed to have vanished into the unknown west. at last, in 1689, he journeyed southward again in quest of his friend. vague rumors reached him of men who had passed through his own forts and tarried to tell the story of la salle’s death. but he would not believe them. he entered texas and traveled as far as the wigwams of the friendly cenis. from them he learned the fate of the man he loved; and the rugged soldier turned aside his head and wept.
