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Show 392 1'1H: LILY AND THE 'fOTE)f. decisive. His authority wns still deferred to and the course continued upon which he l1ad begun. Rt1t n,; tlw winter began to press more severely upon the comp::my, nnd as their usual supplies of game began to diminish from the moment that they left tllC lakes, and great swampy ri\'Cr margin of the flat country, from that moment, fls if ju ~ tificd by suftCring, tl1c Frcnclnncn lessened in their deference to a lcaUcr who was at OJlCC so youthful and so impl.lrativc. Alphonse D ' J~dad• behdJ these symptoms with apprehension and misgi\' ing. He well knew how fmil was tho tenure by which he held his authority, from the moment that self-esteem begnu to be active in the fom•ation of opinion. He felt that a. power for coercion wns wanting to l1is authority, and resorted to all those politic arts by which wise men maintain a. sway witlwut asserting it. ITo would say to thcru : "My comrades, there ru·c but twenty. two of us in a world of savages. Hitherto, for more than thirty days, we have traversed tho wildernesses iu safety. This is solely due to the fact that we have suffered no differences to prevail among us. If you feel that I have counselled and led you in safety, you may nlso admit that I have led you rightly; for safety has been our first object. W" arc as fresh and vigorous now, as when we loft the dreary plains of Cannavcrcl. Not one has perished. 'Ve lm,·c not suffered from want of food, though frcqncutly delayed in obtaining it. Methinks, that you have no reason to complain of mo. But if there be dissatisfaction with mynuthority, choose another lcadc1•• Him will I obey with good will ; but do not suffer yoursch•cs to disagree, lest yo separate, ami all parties perish." This rebuke wns felt nntl had its effect for a season i but when, af'Wr a week of farther and seemingly unprofitable wanderingwhen they had attained no )';pecinl point-when they rather con- .ALPHON~E D1ERL.ACH. 393 tinued to skirt the mountains, pressing to the northward, than to ascend them-tho spirit of discontent was rc·awakencd. The circumstance which rather gratified Alphonse D'Erlach, for the present, that they had met so few of the natives, none in largo numbers, and had succeeded mostly in avoiding their villages, was thfl circumstance that led to dissntisfaction among his followers. 'fhey were eager to have their hopes fortified by daily 01· nightly reports from those who might be supposed to know; they desired, above all, to gather constant tidings of the great city of the moun· tnins-to receive intimations of its proximity; and this, they began to assert, was impossible, so long as they should forbear to penetrate the mountains themselves. Against tl1is desire their young leader strove for many reasons. It is not improbable that he himself doubt\ld tho existence of the marvellous city of Grand Copal. At all events, he well knew that to pcnctr;"tte the mountains, during winter, which already promised to be one of intense rigor, \I'Ould subj ect his party to great suffering, and, should food fail them eycn partially in the unfriendly solitud es, would terminate in the destruction of the whole. By following the mountains, along the cast for a certain distance, he knew he should finally arrive nt the heads of the Mtreams descending to the sea in the neighborhood of U10 first settlements made by the llugucnotll ; that he should there find friendly and familiar nations, and per· haps secure a home for his people, and found a new community in the happy territories of lracana, the Eden of the Indians, of tho beautiful and lo,,ing Queen, whereof, he bcgnn to have the tenderest recollections. He also knew that, only by pursuing his way along the mountains, aiming nt this object, could he be sccuro from the Spaniard.:; in tho poss<">ssicn of I~a Caroline, as well as St. Augustine, who, he did not doubt, were nlready preparing for |