355
Establislzment of Jl1issio11s in East Texas, 1689-1693
and continuing to where they had their settlement on another large river. 23 It is not difficult to recognize in the detailed description of the leader of the small French party the faithful lieutenant of La Salle, the Iron- Handed Tonty. As agreed, Tonty had left Fort St. Louis on the Illinois in the fall of 1689, on his second attempt to find the survivors of La Salle, with the intention of leading a force of savages against the Spanish settlements in Mexico. He is known to have reached the Natchitoches village on Red River in February, from where he went on to the Caddos and hence to one of the villages of the Nabedaches some time in April. The refusal of the chief of the village to furnish him guides made him give up his trip, returning the way he had come. These facts which Tonty set down himself in his own account show how accurately the Tejas chief described the incidents to Governor Leon. 24 The story of the Indian governor left little room to doubt that some- where to tht: east the French had a settlement and that they were still trying to establish themselves in Texas and along the Gulf coast. But Alonso de Leon decided that there was no immediate danger and since the mission had been established, any renewed activity would be promptly reported. Consequently he does not appear to have made any effort to reconnoiter or to try to ascertain the strength of the French colony to the east. Tlze return to Coalmila and tl1e capture of t/1ree surv-i11ors. Leaving San Francisco de los Tejas on June 2, De Leon and his companions soon overtook the main body of the expedition and made their way back to the Guadalupe. Here they learned that there were three French children, survivors of La Salle's colony, living among the Indians of the coast, two boys and a girl. With a picked group of men he went after them and found them a short distance from the burnt ruins of the fort. The Indians were loath to give them up. A ransom had to be paid and a slight skirmish fought before the children could be rescued. These were Robert and Lucien Talon and their sister Marie Madelaine. Proceeding on their journey, the expedition arrived on the Rio Grande on July 4, where they were detained until the I 1th on account of high water. By this time two of the Tejas Indians had abandoned the expedition and returned 23 Declaration of the Indian chief, May 28, 1690, in A . G. I . , Audie,rcia de Alexico, 61-6-21 (Dunn Transcripts, 1688-1690), pp. 38-40. :•Tonty, Memoir in French, Historical Collectiom of louisia,ra, Vol. I, 71-78.
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