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burning camp, had only been able to snatch a few articles of clothing for Christoval, and she had not enough to keep her from suffering.

"Take my doublette," he said, giving it to the shivering girl, who trembled with cold at his side. "No, no! Keep it for yourself!”

"My coat-of-mail will keep me warm," he answered. "If it should not, the exercise of fighting day and night will not allow me to freeze."

"Heaven grant that warmer days and more peaceful scenes may dawn for us soon," she murmured.

It was with difficulty that he persuaded her to accept his doublette. March passed away, and with it the cold, bleak winds and distressing rains. April came, warmer and brighter, to alleviate the sufferings of the Spaniards, who moved in a northwestern direction, in search of the land of gold of which they had dreamed so long. The trees, lately bare, were clothed with verdant foliage, while shoots of tender green from out the sodden ground bore evidence that the queen of the spring was spreading her carpet over the earth and breathing her breath on the gale.

At an

The march might have been pleasant, but for the constant harassing assaults of the Indians. Indian town called Alibona they found a large body of natives drawn up to dispute their progress.

A desperate battle was the result, which, for a short time, seemed doubtful. The Spaniards were astounded at their own weakness, and, although De Soto gained the victory, he was unfavorably impressed with the increasing stubbornness of the Indians. Of a captive taken in this battle he asked the oft-repeated question for gold. The Indian pointed to the northwest.

"Not three days' journey from here," he said, "you will come to a mighty river. By crossing that river, the white

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men, after a great many days' journey, will come to much gold." The Spanish governor was

now as anxious as he had formerly been indifferent to reach the wonderful river. It was about the 17th of May, 1541, that the army, wending their

DE SOTO.

way out from the hills just below the Chickasaw bluffs, came in full view of the great Mississippi, the Father of Waters. After gazing on the river, Estevan turned to De Soto and said:

"Next to Balboa, you are the greatest discoverer Spain has sent to the New World.

which drains a mighty continent."

Here is a river

A

The Spaniards were guided by the natives to the usual crossing, the lower Chickasaw Bluffs. vast multitude of savages turned out to gaze upon the strangers of whom they had heard so much. At first they showed some inclination to resist; but, aware of their own weakness, they brought loaves of bread made of the persimmon, and dried fish for the strangers.

De Soto took great precaution to guard against surprise. His forces had been so considerably reduced, that he no longer felt an abiding confidence in his army. At night Estevan went to the tent of the governor and found him gloomy and despondent. He was making a map of the country, and writing a journal of their daily progress.

"I am glad you came, Estevan," he said, "for I want to talk with you."

When his visitor had seated himself on a buffalorobe, the governor continued: "I feel very much discouraged to-night."

"Why should you be discouraged, governor?" Estevan asked.

"Why should I be discouraged? Saint Anthony! friend, can you realize that my expedition is going to prove a failure?"

"I cannot, as it is already a success.

De Soto shook his head.

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"No, it is a failure. While Cortez and Pizarro

have discovered rich cities, I have found nothing but Indian hamlets filled with a cunning, treacherous foe. They gained priceless riches, but no gold has come to my coffers. Cortez found Mexico and her wealth; Pizarro conquered Peru and her gold; but what have I discovered to perpetuate my fame?"

"A vaster country than theirs," Estevan answered. "A land that will some day be the richest and greatest nation on earth, and a river capable of floating the navies of the world."

The eyes of De Soto gleamed for a moment with hope; but the light slowly faded away as his mind interposed objections to the glory with which Estevan's predictions would crown him; and, with a sad shake of the head, he resumed:

"No, the success of the Spaniard can only be measured in gold."

"It is not so with other parts of the world," Estevan asserted. "It may not be so in the future, when everything may be valued according to actual benefit to man. The forests and plains we have traversed will some day be fields of waving vegetation, and the bread for the world may grow in this land. Then the name of De Soto will be perpetuated long after Pizarro and Cortez are forgotten."

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE WANDERER FINDS REST.

THE natives at this point of the Mississippi were quite friendly, and when they learned that the white men wished to cross the great river, they offered their boats and personal services. The canoes of the natives were too small and frail to transport the horses, and the river too broad to think of swimming them; so almost a month expired before barges large enough to hold three horsemen each were constructed for crossing the river. At last the Spaniards embarked, and were borne to the western bank of the Mississippi.

The country southwest of the Missouri was then occupied by the Dacota tribes. De Soto had heard the country so much praised, that he supposed it the vicinity of mineral wealth, so he resolved to visit its towns. With longing eyes they pressed on and on in the delusive hope of catching a glimpse of some Caxamalca, and day by day hoped that the rising or setting sun might throw its rays on the glittering spires and towers of a Cuzco with temples

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