stance beyond the mouth of the Mississippi before La
Salle discovered the blunder. He appealed to the captain to return, but
he refused and anchored off Matagorda Bay. Then the captain decided that
it was necessary to go home for supplies, and sailing away he left La
Salle with only one small vessel which had been presented to him by the
king.

The undaunted explorer erected a fort and began cultivating the soil.
The Indians, who had not forgotten the cruelty of the Spaniards, were
hostile and continually annoyed the settlers, several of whom were
killed. Disease carried away others until only forty were left.
Selecting a few, La Salle started for the Illinois country, but had not
gone far when he was treacherously shot by one of his men. The Spaniards
who had entered the country to drive out the French made prisoners of
those that remained.

[Illustration: (From the original drawing made by John White in 1585. By
permission of the British Museum.)]

THE ENGLISH EXPLORERS.

Next in order is an account of the English explorations. Going back to
May, 1553, we find that Sir Hugh Willoughby sailed from London in that
month with three ships. At that time, and for many years afterward, the
belief was general that by sailing to the northwest a shorter route to
India could be found, and such was the errand that led the English
navigator upon his eventful voyage.

For two years not the slightest news was heard of Sir Hugh Willoughby.
Then some Russian fishermen, who were in one of the harbors of Lapland,
observed two ships drifting helplessly in the ice. They rowed out to the
wrecks, and climbing aboard of one entered the cabin where they came
upon an impressive sight. Seated at a table was Sir Hugh Willoughby,
with his journal open and his pen in hand, as if he had just ceased
writing. He had been frozen to death months before. Here and there about
him were stretched the bodies of his crews, all of whom had succumbed to
the awful temperature of the far North.

The third ship was nowhere in sight, and it was believed that she had
been crushed in the ice and sunk, but news eventually arrived that she
had succeeded in reaching Archangel, whence the crew made their way
overland to Moscow. A result of this involuntary journey was that it
opened a new channel for profitable trade.

Still the _ignis fatuus_ of a shorter route to India tantalized the
early navigators. The belief was general that the coveted route lay
north o