Page:Columbus and other heroes of American discovery; (IA columbusotherher00bell).pdf/152

 *turn with provisions with as little delay as possible. The Griffin, alas! went down with all on board before Niagara was reached; and, ignorant of her fate, La Salle, Tonti, Hennepin, and a few followers went down Lake Michigan to St. Joseph, on the south-eastern shores, whence they made many interesting excursions into Illinois, discovering Lake Peoria, and winning many friends, alike among the Illinois and the Miamis of Michigan.

As time went on, however, and no tidings came of the ill-fated Griffin, which had been constructed at the cost of so much time and labor, the spirits of the party began to sink—a fact to which the name of Crevecœur, given to a fort built near Lake Peoria, bore striking witness. After many a consultation as to the best course to pursue, it was resolved that La Salle should return to Frontenac to obtain news and supplies, and that, during his absence, Tonti and Hennepin should remain at Crevecœur with the greater number of the followers.

Tonti, though deserted by most of his men as soon as their leader's back was turned, remained bravely at his post, until he was compelled to flee to Lake Michigan by an incursion of the Iroquois; while Hennepin, with two companions, descended the Illinois to its junction with the Mississippi, which he ascended till he reached the beautiful fall in N. lat. 45°, between the modern states of Wisconsin and Minnesota, and to which he gave the name of St. Anthony, after his patron saint. From the Falls, Hennepin made several excursions among the Sioux, by whom he was for some little time held captive; but, escaping from their hands unhurt, he returned to Green Bay by way of Wisconsin, and thence to Quebec.

Meanwhile, La Salle, on his arrival at Frontenac, found that he had been long supposed to be dead—that his creditors had seized his property—and that his good ship Griffin had never reached Niagara. Cast down, but not in despair, at this accumulation of troubles, he succeeded in again collecting men and stores and rigging for a new vessel, with which he hastened back to Crevecœur, to find it, as we know, deserted. He ascertained, however, that Tonti was living among the Potawatamies on Lake Michigan, and having erected a new fort some miles south of Crevecœur, which he called St. Louis, he rejoined his old comrade, and easily persuaded him to start on a fresh journey of discovery. Together the two heroes returned to the Illinois, and rapidly building a second vessel, they sailed in it, in 1682, on a voyage fruitful of the best results. Launched on the Illinois, the little bark floated without accident to its junction with the Father of Rivers, and thence on