The summer that followed the return of La Salle to Fort St. Louis was an anxious one for the colony. Iroquois were still in the valley, and the Indians about the fort were full of an apprehension that sometimes almost amounted to panic. Yet they clung to their faith in their French protectors; and the bands of invaders, not wishing to taste the vengeance of so strong a union of their enemies, did not that summer molest the group of villages.
But the months of waiting brought no aid or reinforcements to the fort on the high rock, and each day made it more clear that La Salle’s enemies were in power in Canada. More strongly than ever there grew upon him the determination to go in person to France and fit out an expedition which could come by sea to the mouth of the Mississippi and thence with men and supplies to the fort on the Illinois. Finally he could wait no longer; and so, late in August, accompanied by two Shawnee Indians, he left the fort in charge of Tonty and started upon his long journey.
La Salle had not gone far upon his way when he met a fleet of canoes laden with Frenchmen and supplies. If there arose in his mind any flicker of hope that these were his own men returning at last with reinforcements, it soon died out, for the leader of the party, the Chevalier de Baugis, brought with him a commission as commander of Fort St. Louis in place of La Salle, to whom he presented an order from the new governor of Canada commanding him to proceed at once to Quebec. There was nothing to be done but submit. Before continuing his journey, La Salle sent a letter to Tonty telling him to give up gracefully, but to remain at the fort to take care of their private possessions.
When the Chevalier de Baugis arrived at the rock, Tonty turned over the command of the fort; and the garrison, now reinforced but full of unquiet, began to prepare for the winter season. It was not a period of harmony at the fort, for the new officer had little ability in governing a Western post and spent much of his time in trying to alienate the followers of La Salle. Tonty, in spite of his leader’s orders to live at peace with his successor, was not able to endure such performances, and many and bitter were the clashes between the two men that winter.
But with the spring came an event which, for the time at least, made the men at the fort put aside their quarrels and work side by side. Iroquois bands, it appeared, still lingered in the Western country, particularly around the headwaters of the Kankakee and over toward the Mississippi. They had not had sufficient courage to attack the colony which La Salle had founded; but they found other prey.
A group of fourteen Frenchmen, in canoes, was making its way, in March, 1684, toward the Illinois. The new governor, La Barre himself, had sent them out to trade in that region in spite of the fact that the King of France had given to La Salle exclusive control of the fur trade in the valley of the Illinois. They were approaching some rapids in the Kankakee River one day, little suspecting danger, when two hundred Iroquois suddenly appeared on the bank.
Sixty Indians leaped into the water and captured the canoes, which with little ado they drew to the bank. The terror-stricken Frenchmen wildly protested as the dripping savages, their wet bodies glistening and their faces lighted with the lust of plunder, pillaged the seven canoes and carried off the owners. With fine contempt the Iroquois tore into pieces the Frenchmen’s permits from the governor. A few of the Indians took charge of the canoes with their valuable load of merchandise, while the others drove their captives across country for nine days toward Fort St. Louis.
As they went the white men were plied with questions as to the fort. Was the Man with the Iron Hand there? Was La Salle at the fort? When the French replied that a new commander was in charge and that La Salle had been recalled, the wily savages said that they knew it, but were asking to see if the French were telling the truth. They were going, they said, to attack the fort. Finally they let the Frenchmen go, threatening to break their heads, however, if they were found in the neighborhood of the fort.
The Iroquois pushed on to their conquest. When they sighted the high rock, they advanced cautiously, only to find the frowning citadel prepared for battle. Runners had come to the fort the day before with news of the Iroquois approach. Up to the base of the rock the invaders crept and drove arrow and ball at the heights above. They even tried an............