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Four hundred savages, who had assembled in mutinous mood, witnessed this act of summary justice. But they respected Du Lhut for the manner in which he had conducted the trial, and admired the firmness with which he executed a fair sentence. Du Lhut's exploits and character make him the outstanding figure of the war which Duchesneau waged against the coureurs de bois.
The letter in which the governor Vaudreuil announces Du Lhut's death to the Colonial Office at Paris is a useful comment upon the accusations of Duchesneau.
From the early years of Frontenac's regime he made himself useful, not only to Frontenac but to each succeeding governor, until, crippled by gout and age, he died, still in harness. The letter in which the governor Vaudreuil announces Du Lhut's death to the Colonial Office at Paris is a useful comment upon the accusations of Duchesneau.
"I have only been in the woods with Greysolon du Lhut, who knows everything." "Then he told thee the name of this Italian with the copper hand?" "Assuredly. This Italian with the copper hand is Sieur Greysolon du Lhut's cousin, and his name is Henri de Tonty." "I will say this for Monsieur Henri de Tonty: a better made man never stepped on the strand at St. Ignace."
About the time that Tonty was obliged to abandon Fort Crèvecoeur, Hennepin and his companions set off eastward with Greysolon du Lhut's party. Hennepin sailed for France as soon as he could and wrote a book about his adventures.
Du Lhut advanced from the bushes as he spoke, and the four men crossed the open ground in the direction of the line of men who waited silently for them in the dim twilight. They were within fifty paces, and yet none of them had raised hand or voice to challenge their approach. There was something uncanny in the silence, and a change came over Du Lhut's face as he peered in front of him.
But their case was a very evil one. Had the guns been lost so that they might be turned upon the door, all further resistance would have been vain, but Du Lhut's presence of mind had saved them from that danger. The two guns upon the river face and the canoes were safe, for they were commanded by the windows of the house.
The only regrettable circumstance is that the story should have been told by Hennepin instead of by Du Lhut or rather, that we should not have also Du Lhut's detailed version instead of the brief account which he has left.
Du Lhut's trade awakened the jealousy of La Salle, who writes in 1682: "If they go by way of the Ouisconsing, where for the present the chase of the buffalo is carried on and where I have commenced an establishment, they will ruin the trade on which alone I rely, on account of the great number of buffalo which are taken there every year, almost beyond belief."
Something splashed down amongst them and rolled across the floor in the lamp-light. "Down! Down! It is a bomb!" cried De Catinat But it lay at Du Lhut's feet, and he had seen it clearly. He took a cloth from the table and dropped it over it. "It is not a bomb," said he quietly, "and it was Jean Corbeil who died."
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