“Quit your fooling and go on with your story, Bob,” said Jock. “We’ll be at Ogdensburgh pretty soon, and then you’re under bonds not to refer to another discoverer there. And I want to know about these things.”
“All right,” said Bob. “Well, the French kept sending somebody over here almost every year after Cartier stopped coming, but nothing of any consequence was done before 1608. Then a Calvinist named DeMonts obtained freedom for himself and his religious sympathizers in the New World, only the Catholic religion was to be established among the natives, and finally Champlain and Pontgrave were sent over here in that year to begin a settlement and look after the trade in furs. They were both sterling men and had had plenty of experience, and no better ones could have been found.
“Champlain reached Tadousac on the 3d of June, and after a month was at Quebec, where Cartier had spent the winter almost three-quarters of a century before. He saw what a fine site there was there for a city, and at once selected the spot as the place for a settlement.
“The next spring, in April, Samuel Champlain, along with two of the Frenchmen, started up the great river. They got along fairly well, and at last turned to the south and went down and discovered the lake which now bears his name, and then went on into the other lake, which, as you know, is Lake George.”
“Yes, I’ve heard of that lake,” murmured Ben.
“Five years afterward,” continued Bob, ignoring the interruption, “Champlain succeeded in having four Recollets appointed to begin a mission work among the Indians. To get the favor of the red men, Champlain himself, and a priest named Joseph Le Cavon, went with them to help whip the Iroquois; but the Iroquois weren’t in a mood to be whipped that time, and drove off their enemies and wounded Champlain, just as if he hadn’t come on his merciful errand.”
“Hold on, Bob,” said Jock. “You didn’t tell us whether Champlain found Lake George all named when he got there.”
“It was named,” replied Bob, “though it wasn’t named George. The Indians called it Horicon, and the Frenchmen named it Lake St. Sacrament. Sir William Johnson, afterward, for good and sufficient reasons, changed it to Lake George. But to resume. When Champlain was wounded he had to spend the winter with the Indians; but he made good use of his time and learned a lot about them—their language, customs, and all that sort of thing.
“It was in 1625 when Henri de Levi, Duke de Ventadour—he had purchased the vice-royalty of New France, you see, before this time, for they didn’t mind such little things as selling a kingdom or two, with a world and a few stars thrown in—sent over here Father Lallemant and four other Jesuit priests and laymen. Father Lallemant was a good man and very earnest, and the Recollets, of course, received him and his companions very kindly.
“In the following year three other Jesuit priests were also sent over here, along with some settlers and mechanics, and they soon made the little settlement begin to look something like a town. In 1629 the English happened to come along, and quietly took the place as their own; but there was a treaty made, and they had to stand by it, so the French owned the town again in 1632; and the very next year Champlain was appointed once more as governor of New France. He’d been governor before, you see, and this was only putting him back into his own place. But he didn’t live very long, for, if I recollect aright, he died in December, 1635.”