in honor of his royal master, whose property it was solemnly declared to
be. That done, the intrepid explorer hastened back to France; a fleet
was fitted out and attempted to sail directly to the mouth of the great
river, but missed it; the ships were wrecked on the coast of Texas, and
La Salle was shot from ambush by two of his own followers while
searching on foot for the river.

So ended La Salle's part in the accomplishment of a plan which,
grandiose as it was, reached a sort of realization--for a great French
city near the mouth of the river _was_ built and a thin chain of forts
connecting it with Canada, where the French power remained unbroken for
three quarters of a century longer; while not until the beginning of the
nineteenth century, when the royal line of Louis had been succeeded by a
soldier of fortune from Corsica, did the great territory which La Salle
had named Louisiana pass from French possession.

* * * * *

On the nineteenth day of November, 1620, fourteen years after the
settlement of Jamestown and twelve after the settlement of Quebec, a
storm-beaten vessel of 120 tons burthen crept into the lee of Cape Cod
and dropped anchor in that welcome refuge. The vessel was the Mayflower,
and she had just completed the most famous voyage in American history,
after that of Columbus. The colonists she carried, about a hundred in
number, Separatists from the Church of England, have come down through
history as the "Pilgrim Fathers." Among them was one destined to rule
the fortunes of the colony for more than a quarter of a century. His
name was William Bradford, and he was at that time thirty years of age.

Bradford was born in 1590 at Austerfield, in Yorkshire, England, and at