from what a certain Author writes, of their having bury'd him and set up a cross on his Grave.[1]
Murderers return to the Camp. When those Murderers had satiated their Rage, they set out to come to us at our Camp, with the dry'd Flesh, which they had caus'd to be brought over the River by the Indians, who had been Spectators of the Murder and of all the inhuman Actions that had been committed, with Amazement and Contempt of us. When they were come to the Camp, they found Messieurs Cavelier, the one Brother, the other Nephew to the murder'd Commander, whom Father Anastasius acquainted with the dismal End of our Chief, and enjoyn'd them Silence, which it is easy to imagine was very hard upon them; but it was absolutely necessary.
However, Monsieur Cavelier the Priest, could not forbear telling them, that if they would do the same by him, he would forgive them his Murder, and only desir'd them to give him a Quarter of an Hour to prepare himself: They answer'd, They had Nothing to say to him; that what they had done was the Effect of Despair, to be reveng'd for the ill Usage they had receiv'd.
The Author sav'd by a Friend. I was absent at that Time; he they call'd Larcheveque, who, as I have said, was one of the Conspirators, had some Kindness for me, and knowing they design'd to make me away too, if I stood upon my Defence, he parted from them, to give me Notice of their Mischievous Resolution. He found me on a little rising Ground, where I was looking upon our Horses as they graz'd in a little adjacent Bottom. His Intelligence struck me to the Heart, not knowing whether I should fly or stay; but at length, having neither Powder nor Shot, nor Arms, and the said Larcheveque giving me Assurances of my Life, provided I was quiet and
- ↑ The author referred to here, is Father Douay, whose statement to this effect may be doubted, as Parkman observes that he did not "always write honestly," and that he probably invented the story of the burial, to cover his own dereliction in having failed (through terror) to discharge this duty. See Parkman's La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, ii, 176, 178, note, Champlain edition. This assassination occurred in a southern branch of the Trinity River.
