HOT ASHES PLANS TEKAKWITHA'S ESCAPE.
The Indian chief Louis Garonhiague, known to the English as Hot Ashes,
and called by the French La Poudre Chaude or La Cendre Chaude, was, as
his name implies, a quick-tempered, impulsive, and fiery man. He was an
Oneida by birth, and was known to have been one of the executioners of
the heroic missionary Brebeuf, who, with his companion Lalemant, was
tortured and slain in the Huron country by Iroquois warriors. Since that
time Hot Ashes had become a Christian. His career and character are
interesting and characteristic of the times. As this impetuous chief,
_dogique_, and apostle was bold enough to come forward and assist the
Lily of the Mohawks to escape from her uncle's lodge to the Sault St.
Louis, some further account of him may well be given.
Hot Ashes had been betrothed to his wife in childhood. They had lived
together from the time he was eight years old. The violence of his
nature was held in check to a certain extent by the unalterable
patience, the gentleness, and the yielding disposition of his worthy
squaw. Their union was what Chauchetiere calls one of the good marriages
that are sometimes made among the savages. Hot Ashes was chief or
captain of his village in the Oneida country, and was held in high
esteem by his tribesmen. His own quick temper was the cause of his
leaving them. At one time the question of moving the village to a new
site--an event of frequent occurrence among the Indians--gave rise to a
quarrel between the leading chiefs. While still angry on this account,
Hot Ashes went off to the hunt. Thereupon a second event occurred, of so
irritating a nature that he was enraged beyond all bounds. News came to
him that his favorite brother had been killed. The bearer of the news
did not tell him who had committed the fatal deed. The furious and
excitable chief immediately persuaded himself that it had been done by
the French. Without waiting to learn the particulars, he hurried off
toward Montreal to wreak his vengeance on the Canadian settlers. On his
way, however, he learned that his brother had been killed in an entirely
different quarter, and not by these people at all. Hot Ashes was now in
a quandary. What should he do next? He was near the Praying Castle on
the St. Lawrence, whose hospitable doors were always open to travellers,
and he paused there for a time to consider the situation. The Indians of
that place liked him from the first; he soon made friends among them,
and his wife was charmed with the quiet, orderly, and peaceful life of
the Christian Indians who dwelt there. Hot Ashes thus had ample time to
cool down and think matters over. Should he now decide to return to his
own country, he would feel bound to avenge his brother's death,
according to custom, on the people by whom he had been slain. He knew
that this would involve his whole nation in a bloody war. This he
disliked to do; for when not in a tempest of anger, Hot Ashes was a
generous, good-hearted man. Then, too, the longer he remained at the
Sault the more contented and calm he became. Won over by his wife
Garhoit, he consented to be instructed and to be baptized with his whole
family. The baptism of so important a chief was a great event for the
mission. All his own people who were in the vicinity, and many even from
the distant Oneida country, assembled at the Praying Castle for the
occasion. A number of these remained and became Christians. There were
soon so many Oneidas dwelling at the Sault that they needed a ruler of
their own nation, and Hot Ashes was chosen to preside over them. He thus
became the fourth _dogique_, or captain of the Praying Castle. He soon
ranked first of all in importance, notwithstanding the ability of his
stanch friend Kryn, the "great Mohawk." Still his unruly temper would
break forth at times, as it did on the occasion of his reception as
captain. The men of the Sault assembled in due form, lighted the fire
for him, gave him the calumet to smoke, and went through all the
ceremonies save one, which most unfortunately was forgotten. Hot Ashes,
indignant at the oversight, went to Father Fremin, the missionary, and
gave vent to his ire. He said that they had mocked him, that they had
treated him like a child, that he was a chief without a mat, that he
would be obliged to hold his council out of doors. In short, he could
not be pacified till the old men reassembled, and the whole ceremony
from beginning to end was gone over.
Once duly installed, Hot Ashes ruled the village with ability and vigor
up to the time of his death. He outlived Tekakwitha, and was finally
killed in battle. Many incidents are told of his courage, piety, and
zeal, his devotion to his religion and the good of the settlement, and
also of his tenderness to his wife while suffering from grievous
ailments which afflicted the later years of her life. He had a natural
talent for exhorting and teaching. He won many of his own people to
Christianity, and when war was threatened he did what he could to
maintain peace between the Oneidas and the French. While thus engaged he
was suspected of double dealing; but taking no notice of the evil things
that were said of him, Hot Ashes held to his own disinterested course
with head erect, confiding in his good wife, who alone remained true to
him, till at last he succeeded in living down all suspicion of treachery
on either side. He it was, more than all others, who opposed and
prevented the introduction of the liquor traffic into the settlement at
the Sault. A lively incident is given by Chauchetiere to show his love
of temperance. Soon after his baptism he chanced to be hunting at the
end of the island of Montreal, when he fell in with a band of Oneidas.
They were being supplied with liquor by an unscrupulous Canadian trader.
They sat around a great bowl of fire water, from which they drank
freely, and which was constantly replenished by the crafty Frenchman.
Hot Ashes was asked to join them. He did so, through courtesy, and drank
with the rest. Finding that he was expected and urged to take more than
he ought, an expedient came into his ready brain for preventing further
mischief. As there were older men than himself in the band, it would not
have been considered proper for him to reprove them openly. This, then,
is what he did. He stood up and began to sing like a drunken man, and to
dance. Suddenly he pretended to take a false step, and at the same time
gave the bowl a great kick with his foot. This scattered its contents
over the ground. The Indians, not suspecting his intention, looked upon
the accident as a good joke. They began to laugh uproariously and to
make fun of Hot Ashes, who went on with his mimicry. In the mean time
night came on, and they thought no more of drinking, but all fell
asleep. Hot Ashes then retired, well pleased with having put a stop to
the debauch.
Other anecdotes might be given to show the character and spirit of this
Indian; but it is enough to know that he was just the one to assist the
Lily of the Mohawks in the accomplishment of her now well-defined
purpose,--to escape at all hazards, and turn from her uncle's lodge to
the Praying Castle.
Tekakwitha's adopted sister, already in Canada, knew well the condition
of affairs in the Mohawk country, and above all, in the lodge of the
chief, with whom she had formerly lived at Caughnawaga. She was fully
aware that Tekakwitha's life there as a Christian would necessarily be a
thorny one. She and her husband often spoke of the unhappy condition in
which the young Mohawk was placed, and of the desirability of having her
with them. When it became known that Hot Ashes was about to visit the
Long House of the Five Nations on an errand of zeal, they realized at
once that the wished-for opportunity had come. They would now be able to
assist Tekakwitha. The Oneida chief intended to speak to his people
concerning the faith that was in him, and to persuade as many of them as
possible to return with him to the Sault. Tekakwitha's brother-in-law,
urged by his wife, resolved to accompany Hot Ashes on his proposed
journey, and in order to make sure of carrying out his own immediate
purpose,--which was to bring his sister-in-law back with him,--he took
into his confidence a good friend of his from Lorette, a mission village
of the Hurons, near Quebec. This Indian of Lorette and the
brother-in-law of Tekakwitha consulted with Hot Ashes, and the three
together planned their journey as best they could beforehand. Then they
stepped lightly into a canoe, just large enough to hold them, and soon
were speeding southward over Lake Champlain, and thence through Lake
George on their way to the Mohawk Valley.
Ah, Tekakwitha, why is your step so weary there in the village street?
Why do you pause at the cabin door as though you did not care to enter?
Why are you sad and faint? Have they hidden the food away from you
again, lest you should find a morsel to eat, and will you be greeted
with angry words if you enter your uncle's lodge? Is it no easier for
you to bear it now than it was at first? Poor child! you are both hungry
and hungry-hearted; human nature is strong within you to-day. The
craving for peace and comfort and human love will not be hushed and
trampled under by faith, and the hope of a far-away heaven. Has
Rawenniio forgotten the Mohawk girl? She seems to be drifting away from
the sound of his voice. The strength of her spirit is gone. She is sad
unto death. Why not give up the struggle at once, go into the lodge, and
consent to do like the rest? For one who has grown too weary to swim, it
can scarcely be wrong to drift with the current. Are these your
thoughts, Tekakwitha? See! They have startled her out of her weariness!
With a sudden return of energy and a quick determination, as if afraid
to trust herself in the lodge, she turns and takes the path to the
chapel. She will find the blackgown, if it is possible to do so; she
will tell him her wicked thoughts, and be guided by what he says. He is
wise and good. He can tell her how to chase such thoughts away, and
perhaps she can keep them from coming back. At all events, he will speak
to her the comforting words of forgiveness and tell her to go in peace.
Then she will be sure that Rawenniio loves her and is not angry. She
knows the path so well that she quickly comes within sight of the
chapel. As it is not her usual hour for prayer, no one is around to
waylay or disturb her.
Close at hand is De Lamberville's cabin. Tekakwitha does not find him at
once, for the blackgown has guests. They are Christian Indians, who have
come from the Sault, and there are three of them. Father de Lamberville
is well pleased to have such visitors; he welcomes the Christians from
the Sault who come to the Mohawk as if they were angels come from
heaven. He gladly receives them into his cabin, and leaves them free to
come and go as they please. "One could see the spirit of Christianity
and the mortification of the passions depicted on the faces of these new
apostles." The novelty of seeing and hearing them on this occasion has
already attracted a crowd of Indians to the spot. One of the blackgown's
guests has risen to make a speech.
Tekakwitha finds herself in the midst of the old men and the chiefs of
Caughnawaga who are assembled there, and she listens with eager interest
to all that is said. Her uncle is away on a visit to the Dutch, which
happens well for her. It is no less a personage than Hot Ashes who is
addressing the people. In his impetuous, headlong way he tells them that
"as they all know, he was formerly captain at Oneida, that he was a
warrior, and that he acted like them in those days, but that after all
he was only a dog; that he had begun to be a man a few months back and
he said many touching things," continues Chauchetiere, "but nobody
profited by them at all except Catherine. The old men withdrew, one
after another, and left the speaker almost entirely alone. Catherine
could not separate herself from these new-comers. She declared to the
Father that she must indeed go away, even at the cost of her life." She
was too unhappy and distrustful of herself and her own powers of
endurance to remain longer in the country where she was exposed to so
many and such constant trials of her strength and her faith. Father de
Lamberville, moved by her earnest words, spoke to Hot Ashes and his
companions about her. He asked if it would be possible for them to take
her back with them to Canada. "Certainly," they said. It was in the hope
of assisting her to escape that they had come to Caughnawaga. Hot Ashes
at once offered Tekakwitha his own place in the canoe. He said that he
intended to go on to Oneida and to pass through all the Iroquois
nations, preaching the faith. Her brother-in-law, therefore, and the
Indian from Lorette, could take the canoe and return with Tekakwitha to
the Praying Castle. God had provided a means of escape for her most
unexpectedly. It was the very best opportunity she could have to go; her
uncle was away, and her aunts, either through indifference or ignorance
of the plan, put no obstacle in her path.
Tekakwitha was never known to falter when the moment came for prompt
decision and instant action. Chauchetiere says: "The resolution was no
sooner taken than it was carried into execution."
The two companions of Hot Ashes put Tekakwitha secretly into the canoe
with them, and immediately took the route leading towards the Dutch;[54]
that is to say, they embarked on the Mohawk River and followed its
course for some distance, before taking any one of the different
woodland trails leading to Lake George.
FOOTNOTES:
[54] According to Cholenec's account of Tekakwitha's escape, her
brother-in-law went on a hurried visit to the Dutch and back again to
Caughnawaga, before he started with her at all. This he did in order to
mislead her uncle, who would think he had come to that vicinity for no
other purpose than to trade in beaver-skins. The minor details of her
journey are somewhat confused in the two accounts of Cholenec and
Chauchetiere, but the main facts are the same in both.