Legend upon the Cane (8 page)

“
We have no need for these
offerings,” Red Hawk said abruptly. “What you ask of me is land and
part of this lake for these strangers to live upon. Why should I
grant you this request?” St. Denis was afraid this would be the
response.

Natchitos then stepped
forward and said to Pénicaut and St. Denis, “Let me speak.” He
walked closer to Red Hawk and stopped in front of him. He knew the
best way to work with another chief was to speak to him directly.
This is what Chief Red Hawk expected all along. Pénicaut and St.
Denis stood a few feet behind and helped translate for
Natchitos.

“
I am Natchitos, chief. My
people have come down from the North,” he explained. “They have
suffered many hardships. We come now to seek the great chief’s
acceptance so that we may dwell here and live in peace.” Natchitos
then pulled out a small leather pouch. St. Denis looked curiously
at it for it seemed familiar. Natchitos removed the clasps on the
pouch and opened it. Inside the pouch was the flintlock pistol that
was given to him by St. Denis. It had never been fired. The
ammunition and gunpowder remained inside the pouch. He lifted the
pistol and showed it to Red Hawk. He now had his attention. Red
Hawk and his men looked at the pistol with obvious curiosity and
interest. Natchitos handed the pistol to Red Hawk and let him
examine it.

LaRouche stood with a
crooked stare as he looked on. He looked over at St. Denis, then
back at Red Hawk holding the pistol.
“So
that’s how he gets these savages to trust him,”
he thought to himself. LaRouche was beside himself with anger
and jealousy. Such a pistol was rare even to an enlisted
man.
“How dare he give it to one of these
Indians,”
he thought to himself.
“And now this damn Indian is giving it to
another!”

St. Denis felt a little
uneasy in seeing the gift he had given to Natchitos being used in
such a manner, but he thought,
‘It’s his
gift. He can do what he wants with it.”
Furthermore, he could see that this was working better than
any of the offerings that he had brought. He quickly decided that
this was a very clever gesture.

Natchitos placed the pistol
back in the leather pouch and closed it. With the pouch in both
hands, he lifted it and offered it to Red Hawk. Red Hawk accepted
the pistol and said, “You and your people can live among us here.
We will smoke as brothers tonight at the fire.” St. Denis and
Pénicaut were relieved.

Pénicaut began to help the
Nashitosh build living quarters. The Indians used their skills from
the year before at their old village and helped him with the tree
cutting and construction. Pénicaut had done this with the
Acolapissa. The new village was situated about a half mile further
down the shore on Lake Pontchartrain from the Acolapissa. As the
weeks and months went by, the Nashitosh became more familiar with
the new landscape and ways of hunting and fishing in these
different waters. Soon, all the tribal families had a place to call
home. Natchitos was grateful to Pénicaut for his thankless and
ceaseless help that he gave the tribe. Tooantuh and Sitting Crow
took to the new wilderness easily and began to hunt the wildlife in
the area around the lake with renewed vigor. The two tribes worked
together in sowing the nearby fields and planting crops.

The French would send
patrols to the area to check on the Indians on a regular basis.
Many times, LaRouche lead these patrols as they came through to
each village. The Indians now had plenty of game to hunt and ample
fish to catch in the lake. When the troops came through, the tribal
women would cook meals for them in thanks for their
security.

Natchitos soon found a
quiet place along the lake to sit and reflect as the sun rose each
morning. It wasn’t quite the same as his old place up on the hill
overlooking the Cane River, but it was sufficient. He treasured his
quiet time immensely as the sun rose each morning and it helped him
gather the strength to face each coming day.

As the years went by,
Natchitos watched his children grow beside the lake. Anoki grew
into a strong young brave who became a master hunter and fisherman.
Nito and Talulah both started to grow up as well and Natchitos was
pleased to see them playing with the other children. And then there
was Nule, the last of his tribe to be born at their old village. He
started to take his first steps beside the light of the lake and
the setting sun. Natchitos was pleased with his tribe’s transition,
but he longed to be back in his homeland. There was so much more
activity around this area, much more than he had ever witnessed. He
saw that the white man truly was coming from many directions and it
didn’t seem like it was going to end. They were all around this
area. And not just his tribe, but the Acolapissa were being driven
to more and more remote areas, away from their original homes. But
his case was different, he thought. He longed for the calming quiet
waters of the Cane and his private times of reflection up on the
hillside. The Cane River valley was always kind to him and his
people and it provided all that they needed. But the years of
drought were too much for one man to bear. He thought that the
rains would soon return and they would be able to return as well.
Yet, he did not know when that time would come for his people. So
he was content to hope and pray for this each and every day. His
hope was for his youngest son, Nule, and for all his people, to one
day return home to the lands of the Cane.

1713 - Eight Years Later

The French colony began to
evolve and the influx of settlers from the old world was ever
increasing as the years passed. The colony was assigned a new
governor that came from Quebec and Detroit. His name was
Antoine Laumet sieur de Cadillac. St.
Denis had been sent to nearby Biloxi to help fortify the French
fort established there but soon was summoned back to Fort St. Jean
by Governor Cadillac. Cadillac was aware of St. Denis’ earlier
expeditions north of the colony and was now convinced that it was
imperative to establish forts in that area for trading and to post
soldiers there to keep the Spanish incursion from spreading east
from Texas.

Meanwhile, LaRouche had been
elevated to the rank of Lieutenant and commanded a group of
soldiers at the fort that still patrolled the surrounding area,
including the tribal areas on Lake Pontchartrain. Trading continued
with the Indians and some of them had even been given muskets for
more protection.

The Nashitosh and Acolapissa
continued to live alongside one another on the lake but the latter
had become somewhat resentful of the newcomers that had arrived and
started hunting their game and catching their fish. They complained
to the French that the wildlife was no longer plentiful. Tensions
had started to rise between the two tribes and they spent less and
less time in each other’s company.

Early one
morning,
LaRouche set out on
patrol with his company that also included Etienne Sommer, now
promoted to Sergeant. “These damn mosquitoes are tough this year,
Sergeant,” he complained to Sommer. The rain fell hard on the
patrol as they sloshed their way through the marsh. “Another few
months of this and I’m liable to go nuts. We need to do
something.”

“
About the
mosquitoes, S
ir?” asked
Sommer.

“
No, you fool. We
need to do something about this lousy detail,” he retorted. “We’re
out here in the heat and mosquitoes while the other brass is up at
the fort sipping tea and deciding what the next move is against the
Spaniards.
We
should be up there, I’m telling you. What do they
know? But, we’re stuck down here babysitting these damn Indians.”
The rain lightened, so they stopped the patrol and decided to start
a small fire to keep the mosquitoes at bay.

“
I don’t know,
Henri,” Sommer started, “We keep giving them those muskets, but if
you ask me we shouldn’t have given them any at all. What if they
decide to revolt against us? There is only a few of us here at a
time while the rest of our men are fighting Spaniards.”

“
Yes, you’re
right,
my friend. They have too
many guns already.” LaRouche said as he sat thinking. “Every time I
walk around there I think one of them is going to take a shot at me
just for the hell of it.”

“
Ah, you’re being
paranoid, Lieutenant,” Sommer said. “There must be a way to get off
this detail and get our tails up to the real fight. I’ve had it
with this patrol, too.”

“
Yes, there must
be a way,” LaRouche kept thinking aloud. He sat and stared at the
fire for what seemed an eternity. His nostrils flared a little as
his thoughts raced. He took a deep breath and cocked his head
towards Sommer. “I think I know how.”

It was a
balmy
September morning when St.
Denis entered the compound of a bustling Fort St. Jean. The journey
from Biloxi was arduous, but good progress had been made there. He
was somewhat surprised to see so much activity at the fort. So much
more than in years past. This part of the country was no longer a
secret. He walked up the steps that led to the governor’s office.
As he entered, the governor’s aide stood at tension, then said,
“Please enter, Sir, he is expecting you.”

He opened the door to see
Cadillac staring out his office window. “Ah, Louis! Welcome back,
my friend. I trust your journey went well. May I offer you some
tea?

“
Yes, thank you,
Governor,” said St. Denis, standing at the head of a long desk. “It
is good to be back, Sir.”

“
Please, have a
seat,” Cadillac said as he sat behind the long desk. He poured some
hot water into a tea cup for St. Denis and handed it to him. “The
winds of change are among us, my friend. For better or for worse, I
am not yet certain. The Spaniards are now aware of this place and
are very keen in having a share of it. We’re finding it much more
difficult to hold them back from their locations west of here. I
feel a new strategy is needed now.”

“
I understand,
S
ir. What are you proposing?” St.
Denis asked.

“
Tell me about
the Red River territory, Commander,” Cadillac said directly. “I
understand you were very fond of this area, from your
reports.”

“
Yes Sir,”
replied St. Denis. “The area has a variety of climate changes,
fertile soils, and many tributaries that branch from the Red. I was
impressed with the different terrain, which is much different than
what we are accustomed to here.”

“
And, those
tributaries are quite ample and run in many directions, do they
not?” Cadillac asked.

“
Yes, Sir. They
do.”

“
In strategic
directions, wouldn’t you say?
”
Cadillac continued. “Enough to fortify with posts all along the
river to protect the borders?”

St. Denis understood well
what the governor was proposing. He looked at him with intrigue.
The governor stood and walked over to the window to gaze out again.
St. Denis sat, staring at his back. “I understand you befriended
one of the native chiefs from that area on your journey over a
decade ago,” Cadillac said quietly.

“
Why yes, that is
true,” St. Denis said.

“
His tribe knows
the area quite well, don’t they?”

“
Well, yes, it
was their home, S
ir,” St. Denis
said, looking ashamed after remembering he had not returned as he
had promised, so many years ago now. “But, they relocated from that
area. They are now living alongside the lake with the Acolapissa.
They have for many years now. I’m afraid they encountered some
rough conditions in those final years. Something, I did not
foresee.”

Cadillac
continued, “I have sent a scouting patrol up the river to see this
area
that you described in your
journals. They returned this past week and I have word from them
that it lush and green and full of promise as you spoke. They saw
no more signs of the drought that pressed the Nashitosh to retreat
from there.”

“Really?” asked St. Denis.
He was intrigued. “That is very good news, Governor.”

“I have an
assignment for you, Louis,” Cadillac said as he turned around to
face him. “What would you say if I asked you to go back to this
area and establish a fort, as you had once planned?” St. Denis
began to answer, but Cadillac interupted him by raising his hand.
“
And,
take the Nashitosh with you, since they know the land so
well.”

“What would Red Hawk say to that?”
St. Denis asked, knowing this would surely cause more tension among
the tribes.

“I know of their
quarreling,” Cadillac answered.
“I’m afraid it is becoming a nuisance that my predecessors did
not foresee. I will make an agreement with Chief Red Hawk to give
them more land around the lake and also a safe migration route to
the Houma tribe if they wish to do so. I understand they have a
sound friendship with the Houma. All we will ask in return is that
he let the Nashitosh leave in peace.”

He had St. Denis’ full
attention. He had been looking for a way to make amends with
Natchitos and his people. He knew they had left unwillingly the
land that they loved. He knew this for certain.