"
It appears that La Salle left sixty men behind him, and on the 20th of
March, 1686, after a buffalo-hunt, he was murdered by Duhaut and
L'Archeveque, two adventurers, who had embarked their capital in the
enterprise. They had long shown a spirit of mutiny, and the malignity of
disappointed avarice so maddened them that they murdered their
unfortunate commander.
I will borrow a page of Bancroft, who is more explicit than the Comanche
chroniclers.
"Leaving sixty men at Fort St. Louis, in January, 1687, La Salle, with
the other portion of his men, departed for Canada. Lading their baggage
on the wild horses from the Cenis, which found their pasture everywhere
in the prairies, in shoes made of green buffalo-hides; for want of other
paths, following the track of the buffalo, and using skins as the only
shelter against rain, winning favour with the savages by the confiding
courage of their leader--they ascended the streams towards the first
ridges of highlands, walking through beautiful plains and groves, among
deer and buffaloes, now fording the clear rivulets, now building a
bridge by felling a giant tree across a stream, till they had passed the
basin of the Colorado, and in the upland country had reached a branch of
the Trinity River.
"In the little company of wanderers there were two men, Duhaut and
L'Archeveque, who had embarked their capital in the enterprise.
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