went to France, and the king's
magnificence at Versailles was endured by him until he could gain some
desired point from the colonial minister and hurry back. The government
relied on him to keep lawless coureurs de bois within bounds, and he
traded with nearly all the western tribes. When Greysolon du Lhut
appeared, the Sioux treated their prisoners with deference; and from
that time Hennepin, Du Gay, and Ako went where they pleased.

They seemed to have had no thought of returning to Fort Crevecoeur.
In those days when each man took his individual life in his hands and
guarded it in ways which seemed best to him, it was often expedient to
change one's plan of action. About the time that Tonty was obliged to
abandon Fort Crevecoeur, Hennepin and his companions set off eastward
with Greysolon du Lhut's party. Hennepin sailed for France as soon as he
could and wrote a book about his adventures. It was one of La Salle's
misfortunes that this friar should finally even lay claim to discovering
the mouth of the Mississippi, adding the glory of that to these real
adventures on its upper waters.

The first of March, La Salle, with a number of the men he had gathered,
started from Fort Miamis to the Illinois country. The prairies were one
dazzling expanse of snow, and as the party slid along on the broad,
flat snowshoes to which their feet were strapped, some of them were
so blinded that the pain in their eyes became unendurable. These were
obliged to camp in the edge of some woods, while the rest went on.

La Salle himself was sitting in darkness while the spring sun struck a
million sparkles from a world yet locked in winter. The wind chilled
his back, and he spread his hands to the camp blaze. In the torment
of snow-blindness he wondered whether Tonty was treading these white
wastes, seeking him, or lying dead of Indian wounds under the snow
crust. The talk of the other snow-blinded men, sitting about or
stretched with their feet to the fire, was lost on his ear. Yet his one
faithful servant, who went with him on all his journeys, could not see
anything but calm fortitude on his face as he lifted it at the approach
of snowshoes.

"I cannot see you, Hunaut," said La Salle. "Did you find some pine
leaves?"

"I found some, monsieur."

"Steep them as soon as you can for the men's eyes."

"I wish to tell you, monsieur," the man said as he went about his task
with a snow-filled kettle, "that I found also a party of Fox In