The mutineers who had accomplished the deed were over-*whelmingly dominant, and the lives of the whole party trembled in the balance. Joutel was no coward; but the situation in which they found themselves called for the exercise of that prudence which is ofttimes the better part of valor. Neither was he ambitious, so that, when the little band of seven who sought to separate themselves from the assassins, finally started upon their long and perilous journey toward the North, we find, as if by common consent, that the Abbe Cavelier figures as the nominal leader. Undoubtedly, this was due partly to the respect felt by Joutel for the aged ecclesiastic by virtue of his sacred office, as well as by his own life-long association, at Rouen, with the family of Cavelier; and also by motives of policy in thus securing for the party the prestige of being headed by a La Salle—a "name to conjure with" amid the savage tribes through whom they must pass.
Yet, undoubtedly, it was mainly to Joutel's prudence, courage, and practical knowledge that the little band of survivors—after their marvelous journey of over 800 miles through trackless wilds, and amid innumerable dangers from flood, disease, and savages—finally reached Quebec, and ultimately their beloved France, in October, 1688.
The motives previously alluded to as influencing Joutel in waiving his right to the leadership of the party, on its return to civilization, may, probably, sufficiently account for (even if they do not fully condone) his connivance (as also that of Father Douay) in the concealment, for over two years, of the fact of La Salle's death—a deception undoubtedly originating with the Abbe Cavalier, who desired thereby to get possession of property which might otherwise have been seized by creditors of his deceased brother the Sieur Robert La Salle, the explorer. Parkman says (note to p. 207, vol. ii, La Salle's Voyages, Champlain edition) that "the prudent Abbe died rich and very old, at the home of a relative, having inherited a large estate after his return from America."
