The Adventures of the Chevalier De La Salle and His Companions, page 89 by John S.C. Abbott
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, who for the world's redemption allowed Himself to be falsely accused, unjustly condemned, and cruelly crucified, without showing the least enmity to those who put Him to death. I shall imitate the example thus set me."
The night passed peacefully away, and the morning of the 12th of April dawned upon this scene so wild and picturesque.
As all were gathered around their camp fires, cooking their breakfasts, one of the chiefs, Narketoba by name--presenting a hideous aspect in his barbarian military trappings, his face and bare chest smeared with war paint--approached Father Hennepin and asked for the peace calumet. Receiving it, he filled the cup with tobacco, and having taken a few whiffs himself, presented it to one after another of the whole band. Each one smoked the pipe, though some with evident reluctance. The Frenchmen understood this to indicate that, for the present at least, their lives were to be spared. They were then informed that they must accompany the Indians up the river to their own country.
"I was not sorry," Father Hennepin writes, "in this conjuncture, to continue our discovery with this people."
CHAPTER VII.
Life with the Savages.
Ascending the River with the Savages. Religious Worship. Abundance of Game. Hardihood of the Savages. The War-Whoop. Savage Revelry. The Falls of St. Anthony. Wild Country Beyond. Sufferings of the Captives. Capricious Treatment. Triumphal Entrance. The Adoption. Habits of the Savages.
Father Hennepin and his two companions reëmbarked in their canoe, and, oppressed with varied feelings of anxiety and curiosity, recommenced their journey up the river. The thirty large canoes, filled with their captors, surrounded them. The current was rapid; the savages were seldom in a hurry, and their progress was slow. At night they always landed and slept in the open air, unless it was stormy, when t