moy mesme il m'a ecrit comme s'il eust este tout pres d'estre brule,
quoiqu'il n'en ait pas este seulement en danger; mais il croit qu'il lui
est honorable de le faire de la sorte, et _il parle plus conformement a ce
qu'il veut qu'a ce qu'il fait_." I am indebted for the above to M. Margry.

In 1699, Hennepin wished to return to Canada; but, in a letter of that
year, Louis XIV. orders the Governor to seize him, should he appear, and
send him prisoner to Rochefort. This seems to have been in consequence of
his renouncing the service of the French crown and dedicating his edition
of 1697 to William III. of England.]




CHAPTER XX.
1681.
LA SALLE BEGINS ANEW.

HIS CONSTANCY.--HIS PLANS.--HIS SAVAGE ALLIES.--HE BECOMES SNOW-BLIND.
--NEGOTIATIONS.--GRAND COUNCIL.--LA SALLE'S ORATORY.--MEETING WITH
TONTY.--PREPARATION.--DEPARTURE.


In tracing the adventures of Tonty and the rovings of Hennepin, we have
lost sight of La Salle, the pivot of the enterprise. Returning from the
desolation and horror in the valley of the Illinois, he had spent the
winter at Fort Miami, on the St. Joseph, by the borders of Lake Michigan.
Here he might have brooded on the redoubled ruin that had befallen him:
the desponding friends, the exulting foes; the wasted energies, the
crushing load of debt, the stormy past, the black and lowering future. But