The things we do!

Through spring and half the summer the vessel lay moored beyond reach of
the Indians but near enough so that Hennepin "could preach on Sundays from
the deck to the men encamped along the bank." When La Salle, who had been
obliged by disasters to go back to Fort Frontenac during the building of
the ship, again appeared above the falls in midsummer, the _Griffin_ was
warped up into the placid lake, and on the 7th of August anchor was lifted
and the fateful voyage was begun.
There was (as when the _Argo_, the "first bold vessel, dared the seas") no
Orpheus standing "high on the stern" and "raising his entrancing strain."
Nor did a throng of proud Thessalians or of "transported demi-gods" stand
round to cheer them off. The naked Indians, their hands over their mouths
in wonderment or shouting, "Gannorom! Gannorom!" alone saw the great boat
move out over the waters without oar or paddle or towing rope. For music
there was only the _Te Deum_ again, sung by raw, unpractised voices, such
as one might hear among the boatmen of the Seine.


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