Show 1111 F t I 1 wa T h I 1 W fm raw eam sh ip W oman by HUGH PEN DE author of kings of the missouri pay gravel gravely A virginia scout etc L copyright by moth 1023 1926 W WHITE INDIAN heres a story of the old days on the all great gnat river niver of tho the li indian father of 0 water 0 of the white man blan tho the outlet to the BOO of the biffle mississippi a valley th the ra garden spot of f the world here jollet joliet arid and marquette la salle and george rogers Ilo iera dark clark and andrew jackson matte made history here in spaniard eng leahman and american battled cil for possession here at st louls 1 in 1804 1904 tile red and yellow flag of spain came down tile tri tricolor olor of fra france ca wont went up and canto do down w n and tho the stars and stripes went up to at stay ay this thin story la Is of tire the days of Illon vIllo find and hla him it at now new orlea orleans no and biloxi tho hero la in william brampton rampton ll the white indian an agent of the english tho the heroine la is claire Dahla gaarde a handsome hand somo sorn and mysterious young woman who la Is imonti tho the passengers on the wife ship malre alaire which brings women from france to the rol col the hero rescues the heroine from a ru guillan illan pate fate throws thrown them together and in pity he befriends fri entla her and takes her with him when he escapes from now new orleans in an attempt to the english settlements with important reports re porta they have many exciting adventures in the wilderness with indian and white anan arid and come coma to happy ending of their dangers hugh Pent lexter writes the story with ill that a t close attention to historical n accuracy cou ratty which has won him a wide fol 01 ol lowing CHAPTER 1 the natchez make a picture the pirogue drifted into tin nn eddy and knowing I 1 was in tile immediate r vicinity of 0 rort fort Ito stille I 1 leaped out and drew roy my dugout up on tile the blank ank it was ana near sundown and the shadows were beginning to creep out front from the western bank although having had three years of experience with the r mighty river it always fascinated me especially when tile shadows began to rendezvous or when the white ingists before the rising sun I 1 never tired of watching its irre als tible and sullen onrush to tile gulf such tremendous secrets the alls mississippi could belll what people lind had haunted its 6 shores throughout the i oges was the red man the first to attack the monsters drinking from its flood I 1 had find traveled it much and always found it to he be a mystery it was a sinister tyrant a whimsical giant what you would it flowed through hobgoblin land no tale was too strange anti and fantastic for belief if connected with the mississippi I 1 p prided r aided myself on my hard headed engl 1 lish sanse yet I 1 could not resist t its lure there wits was no beauty to at tract tile mo buch as an I 1 had observed along the more grac gracious lons ohio thoro there was wait lacking inciting that spell of utter titter desolation A which I 1 binti found in pushing ng up the muddy current of the missouri it was waa a thing a fickle thing ni its ltv potentials its many promises of incredible Ible achievements haunted flaunted me such stich puny as la salle and de soto had been peremptorily dealt with the assassins bullet for one and the rivers for tho the ot other her and these two were simply types of count less others othera of high and low degree even including my humble self and such savage yet dependable fellows ns as damann the fox who had parted front from me tit at the mouth of the ohio and what fortune lid did the river hold 1 for for france for Em england gland since the wreck of the armada spain r wits was out of tile the raine game except ns as it won temporary success by rather desultory solitude tied made roe me some soine thing of a philosopher just na as my occupation cu tutored trip in politics if I 1 filled my lonely watches batche 4 with mooning over tile the mysteries of the inscrutable waterway also did I 1 observe which pleased governor spotswood of VirgI virginita nIti anti other notable leaders t along the atlantic coast I 1 john laws ornit drig circle of finance with the mighty empire of Fril frence lice thoroughly gullible wits was close i ly watched by us ua in america even if wp we could not foresee how swiftly the erneth would follow the first symptom of weah weakness ness in ills bis system there tire im t those lose who tn in calmer years have held that tile the fati taqUe notions concerning tile lie louisiana latin country grew up tits from jt tile lie prodigious falsehoods nurtured h 1 N ij tile Comp company tiny of ill the indies hotter better known us as tile mississippi company 1 I 1 never could accept acca ait tills this procesa of I 1 c it renson reason in fit truth I 1 mersed it I 1 have alwawi held that beall law could coal not y jiabo have staged the greatest gambling saturn alln of nf the tiles find not the way ban smoothly pave 3 for him by F ei t it ff dopes credulity in lie ile kanelous nelous ma marve loui and 1 1111 possible only because it was the age a ec of fairy stories were half it a milk lion flocking findly to the airty rue to trade in tile the shores of the mississippi company ve in and the j were adre intimately informed of the doings i of low law from t the he time lie he org organized sized tits his t first it WIB wan common knowledge how map and historians wera were vying with each other in miracles tn in the new world tie ne lift onex self by the boot t rt straps in louisiana the am B iut but another naine for hyperbole 1 ito ita tributa tributaries ries drained regions where strange white races dwelt along the shores of yost inland lakes hemmed in by sands of purest gold I 1 was no skeptic concerning mines anti and possible pearl fisheries in the gulf hut but when immigrants poured tn in and expected to find unicorns find and other dream monsters in the land of the pa ila ducass Coman Co manches clies I 1 laughed I 1 knew the ho river RS as well aa w tiny any for three full years I 1 find bulled it from the northern lakes to tile the gulf I 1 accepted mines RH aa possibilities sib littles ties for tho the wealth of tile the southern continent was waa it a in matter titter of history but when they talked of dwarfs and giants and ethereally beautiful indian maidens I 1 must see them before believing when tile the fox heard such yarns and lie was most tit at homo home in the wigwam he would smile with ills his tongue tit in tits hla check the english feared that the impetuosity of the F french in ili exploiting the lou louisiana illarin country and their feverish efforts to populate it would give the vast valley to auto XV nut dut I 1 could not forget that frances belief in the marvelous marve loua must be reflected eded in lier her colonists and I 1 could not believe that Loul louisiana slana would be hold held by those who believed in myths and fol follies ries no more than the lIn english glish could hlo held the coast boust settlements if instead of prosaically sai nal cally malting making home hey had find dwelt on the fanta sled doll doli of king arthurs knights trade was nas to shape the destiny of the mississippi basin those who persisted in dwelling in elf dom must lose the race race beau laws job was to keep his stock from exploding and within three years he lind had seen it rise from to livres a sharel share I 1 the english mans job was to bring home into the country and establish permanent communities homes ironies and crops first then mines it there bo be tiny any so far ns as I 1 could foresee the very nature of laws lawa nolvert advertising ising must defeat tits ills plan to people the valley prom froll ills his residence in place place loula louis Is ie grand lie might order the sailing of many ships but who would nil fill them the absurd tales talea peddled by his agents could attract only the dissolute tile the reckless the purely nd nil venturous but never the heads of falu families Illes the coming and going coln g of these unstable classes would leave no french foothold on the lond land in nil all my work ot of spying up and down the river I 1 know knew of but one menace to english ambitions the linking of canada to the gulf by n chain of forts thereby taking making permanent settlements possible tills this was the farsighted far sighted plan 0 of f louis to do duade Bunde count of frontenac one of the yrea greatest test frenchmen of tits ills time in the consummation of tits his ori original ginni plans lay francos frances strength strenge and Eng landH peril to detect tiny any adoption of this most sensible policy had engaged much of my illy time and wari wag responsible for my uneasy hitting flitting up tip and down tile the river the settlements find the building of fort chartres might mean I 1 ilk it was the first french settlement in the valley south of kaskaskia Kas kaskla the lie scheme was as being worked orceil or keil out in ili the he 1111 illinois emi country it would to to but little unless extended down to the gulf hence city desire to learn if fort rosalie llos itile trail had taken on in any ally political importance or remained simply n storehouse for french trade with my smoothbore smooth bore hore flintlock over my shoulder I 1 made my way ny up the bluff crowned with oaks when ibe ville that great apostle of louisianan Loui commercial future first saw raw the gracious hills around tile the main village ll liiKe of the natchez indians lie he fell tn ili love with the spot and lie he built the trading tending post and named it after madame mandame the duchess duche of it was the first permanent french settlement in the valley south of kaskaskia ali ah but those french were beforehand if they could have har held what they wre were first to take how differently his hl tory would readi read it was now my business to reconnoiter the fort arid observe how much strength the place had gained since I 1 was there last of first importance also was to learn the attitude of the natchez toward the french white apple the main natchez village was located about three miles southwest of the fort on a small email fi and wits less than three miles front from tile the mississippi lissIs after recon nolt ering the fort I 1 planned to return to my pirogue anti and take tile water roulo to this village on my last passage up the lie river tile the N atchez were very ery friendly with the french hut but much can happen between voyages tile the chickasaws had boon been developing nn an ugly streak for months unlike tile the natchez the choctaws Choc tawa and saws preferred new england runt rum to french brandy while there was no questioning tile the superiority of english over french trade goods I 1 worked along the bluff until within sight of the post and breathed tin leap deep relief the storehouse seemed closed and I 1 could discover no signs of any new cabins in the background the place had grown none unless it be some few settlers had built cabins invisible from my position A minute of study satisfied me and I 1 begun began retreating toward my pirogue pl rogue when a dolse between me and the river sent me to ground and to cover it won was a slight tapping noise and suggested a woodpecker I 1 crawled toward it but again sought cover as careless steps sounded in the growth the roan man passed quite near me lie ile was a tall fellow at least an inch over six feet with the mahogany complexion and the graceful powerful physique of the natchez after ho he had passed from hearing I 1 took his trail anti and easily followed it back to the edge of the bluff it ended in tin nn opening which afforded a magnificent view of the river and there I 1 found what had caused the tripping and it ninde made my heart glad gand for it much trouble for the lie people of louis XV and ills his tits dissolute uncle the duke of orleans regent when the french fell tile the english went up and it was a dressed skin made fast to the bole of an ancient oak with two reed arrows painted red stuck in the ground before it in the form of nit an X on it was painted a hieroglyphic picture in the upper right of the picture was the red and white feathered headdress worn by the grand colell or great sun no as the head chief of the was called next nest was depicted n naked natchez Nn tche worrior lor holding a war club then nn an arrow pointing at a figure ver over tile the head of which was a crude ro representation presentation of tile the fletar de its below was a and the outline of ft a pencil peach noil a bunch of grapes followed by many straight marks being translated it announced that the Great sun of the natchez declared tits his Inte intention fitton of making war on the french during the moton moon of peaches it was now the tenth of june the moon of watermelons Water melons the moton moon of peaches liea was july counting the marks mark I 1 found there were 28 of them and I 1 knew that within 00 60 days war woultz begin if nothing intervened in the meantime to cause the autocrat of the natchez to change ills his mind here was ans a matter of great importance here was van something to take to Ble riville us its it a proof of my sincerity were ft ere the F reach french inclined to suspect me of being english at heart as well as of name aside from alil this instinct of self preservation was the likelihood that tile the natchez would change their minds before it came time little to smoke the inal final war mar calumet for tattooed serpent erroneously called stung serpent hy by the french war chief of the natchez and a brother of the grent great sun lind had bei bein been n a consistent friend of the french ever since the trouble in 1710 1716 and ills great influence would be against war As a ills brother had great affection for film I 1 did not believe the threat on the painted tilde would be carried out also word of the lie declaration wag sure to reach biloxi speedily ilow however for my purpose the lie declaration wits was of much importance provi provided deil I 1 were vere the first to carry the news down the river 1 until antil choin changed ged tile war plans of the natchez were of evil fill import to the lower valley the ninn man who fi arst carried the word would bo be lining a graat service sen ice fur for france I 1 proposed prop oed to do that service und and there 1 ty y learn things of more importance before starting north again yes surely did lid I 1 havo tin an excellent for thrusting my iny head bend inside the french settlements one ano on an o e wore more and giving the ihu lie ile to any ally nio file of being nn an glish jpy aru ant one did tit need the best of defenses when confronting bleur le de Ble nOlle of tho the implacable will sly my message to the governor should tend to establish me in ili ills his good opan ton ion as he would promptly credit trotters trailers with stirring up the trouble believing that he be must believe roe me to be a renegade klag englishman lishman with alth no love for my own people it was waa a long cry from beau law and fit his ideas of finance to the rate fate of the natchez atchez and yet it wea but one or of tho the striking demonstrations of cause and effect to be witnessed before bafo re the ballot ballet in pygmies and giants bel leaches liches of gold and mountains ot of precious stones was to disappear I 1 stole back to my pirogue and pushed oft arid and dropped downstream down stream with no further thought of visiting the indian village and only anxious to be the first to carry the news to Bl enville CHAPTER 11 II france sands more rubbish after leaving the hills and I 1 experienced that feeling which always came to me when descending the river alone that Is that the river was sen tient and was pursuing me foolish no doubt yet impelling enough to make me swing my head frequently in staring back over the desolate flood |