Free Legend upon the Cane by ketihrees

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