FROM THE OLD TO THE NEW CAUGHNAWAGA.
As they left Caughnawaga Castle, and paddled around the sharp bends of
the Mohawk River, the two Indians who were conducting this stirring
adventure used the utmost caution to prevent an encounter between
Tekakwitha and her uncle, who might be at that very time returning from
Schenectady. This they dreaded above all things. If the old chief should
meet her in company with them, he would suspect their purpose at once,
and the lives of the three would be in danger. They followed the course
of the river current, however, as it carried them in the general
direction of their journey more swiftly than they could otherwise
travel. They wished to make the most of their time before the uncle
could be warned of their departure from the castle. It was probably not
far from the spot where the Chuctanunda Creek at Amsterdam[55] comes
tumbling down the hill into the Mohawk, or in that vicinity, that she
and her two companions left the canoe by the river-side and took to the
woods; as in the thickets along the less frequented trail by land, it
would be easier for Tekakwitha to conceal herself quickly in case of
alarm, than if they were to continue the journey further by way of the
river. Had they followed the latter course, they would have been obliged
to take a more easterly trail across Saratoga County.[56]
As they feared, the uncle was soon on their trail; for shortly after the
three mission Indians had disappeared from Caughnawaga Castle
Tekakwitha's absence was noticed. It was quickly inferred that she had
gone to Canada. She was not in the lodge, not in the chapel, nor with
the girls at the spring. Instantly a runner was despatched to the Dutch
settlement to warn the Turtle Chief of what had occurred. The news
filled him with rage. Leaving his Dutch friends abruptly, he started
homeward to learn if it were indeed true that his niece had vanished,
and if so, speedily to follow her. On his way to the castle he passed an
Indian travelling rapidly in the opposite direction from himself, whom
he scarcely noticed and did not recognize. Nevertheless this Indian was
no other than Tekakwitha's brother-in-law,--the very man he wanted to
capture. The unrecognized relative knew the chief as soon as he saw him,
but he was too near to avoid passing him without exciting suspicion. So,
feigning an unconcern which he was far from feeling, he kept straight
on, and passed the old man safely. He then continued his journey to
Schenectady. The chief, on the other hand, was in quite as great a hurry
to reach the Mohawk village. Perhaps he had doubts as to the
truthfulness of what he had heard. At all events, when he arrived at
Caughnawaga he went directly to his own lodge, and found that
Tekakwitha was indeed not there, and had not been since the departure of
Hot Ashes. Immediately he gathered what information he could at the
castle, "loaded his gun with three balls, declaring that he would kill
somebody," and started in pursuit of the fugitives. Once thoroughly
roused, his unaided sagacity put him on the trail by which he might
overtake them before they could reach Lake George.
In the mean time what had become of Tekakwitha? Why was her
brother-in-law travelling alone? Ah! she and the good Indian of Lorette
were concealed in the bushes, either near the river-bank at Amsterdam or
on the high ground to the northeast of that town. Her brother-in-law had
left them there, while he made a brief trip to Schenectady and back in
order to buy bread. They had started from Caughnawaga Castle in haste,
without provision for the journey. He soon returned to the secluded spot
where his companions were waiting for him. Tekakwitha was greatly
relieved to see him. When he gave them a graphic account of his narrow
escape from discovery, she looked upon it as a certain proof that God
was watching over them. She resolved that on reaching the Sault, as she
now hoped to do, she would endeavor in every way to show her gratitude
to Him. Up to this time she had lived in great seclusion and subjection,
and of late had suffered constant persecution and torture of spirit.
This sudden freedom, then, from all the bonds that bound her to her
lodge and tribe; the intense excitement attending her sudden departure;
these days of concealment in the weird and gloomy forest; this
unforeseen companionship with strangers, who proved to be as gentle and
as solicitous for her safety as if she were indeed a beloved sister; and
more than all the wonderful way in which everything seemed to concur in
aiding her escape,--could not fail to make a deep and lasting impression
on her sensitive soul. Every spiritual and religious tendency of her
nature was intensified by this new and strange experience. In leaving
her home and undertaking so perilous a journey she had thrown herself
without reserve into the arms of Providence, and now resting there, she
was carried almost without an effort through hair-breadth escapes from
dangers that no earthly consideration would ever have nerved her to
face. She felt that she could not henceforth do otherwise than devote
her all to Rawenniio,--_the true God_.
Their probable route to Lake George was through what is now the township
of Galway in Saratoga County, and thence up the valley of the
Kayaderosseras Creek, skirting the eastern side of the long
mountain-ridge that carries Lake Desolation high on its back. Through
this region one can travel almost in a straight line of open country
from Amsterdam on the Mohawk to Jessup's Landing on the Hudson. There
the river is fordable, just above Palmer's Falls and below the old
scow-ferry. A well-worn trail followed the eastern bank of the river
from there to Luzerne, and then turned northeast, through a beautiful
valley, to the mountainous shores of Lake George. Somewhere on this
direct route across the country, Tekakwitha's uncle overtook one of the
two Indians who were escorting her to Canada. Apparently this Indian was
engaged in hunting. Just as the chief approached, the hunter took aim as
if at a bird and fired his gun. This was a preconcerted signal to his
companion, who was some distance in advance, to conceal the Indian girl.
It was so understood. In an instant Tekakwitha was hidden in a clump of
thick undergrowth. Her ready-witted companion threw himself on the
ground near her, took out his pipe, lit it, and lazily watched the
curling smoke as he puffed it from his mouth. Tekakwitha's uncle, coming
upon the second Indian in this attitude, was completely disconcerted.
Where then was his niece? Assuredly not in company with these men. They
were fully absorbed in their own affairs, and scarcely noticed his
approach. She might be even then at work in the corn-fields down by the
Mohawk, or saying her prayers in the woods behind the castle. In either
case he would not have found her in the lodge. He had acted foolishly,
and followed an idle rumor without sufficient thought. He would not
expose his folly further by questioning these men about her. Having
reached this determination, he turned without a word as to what was
uppermost in his mind, and silently retraced his steps to the Mohawk
Valley.
As for Tekakwitha, she felt as sure just then of Rawenniio's direct
protection and care, as if she had seen the Great Spirit himself
standing in front of her hiding-place and concealing her from the
suspicious eyes of her uncle. How else could the wise old chief have
been so easily misled by such simple means? With a light heart she
resumed her journey. Their worst danger was passed. When they reached
the shore of Lake George, a little search among the bushes brought to
light the canoe which her companions had left there on their journey
southward with Hot Ashes. Once fairly launched, they felt secure; and
as they paddled up the lake, hugging the westward or leeward side, where
canoes find the smoothest water, they woke its echoes with the chanting
of Iroquois hymns. Thus did the daughter, a voluntary exile from her
home in the Mohawk Valley, retrace the path over land and water
travelled years before by her captive Algonquin mother. In her ears had
sounded not sacred hymns, but only the wild music of the war-song and
the plaintive strains of the Indian love-song. In those days of war and
bloodshed the Christian hymn of the Iroquois had not yet been sung. The
Mohawk mission had been but recently founded. The blood of the martyred
Jogues still lay fresh on the ground, and the soul of the Lily had not
yet come into existence.
During this long journey the many thoughts of Tekakwitha must have gone
back to the dreary lodge on the banks of the Cayudutta, where her usual
daily tasks were neglected, and where her baffled, deserted uncle now
sat disconsolate by the hearth-fire. If these thoughts brought a pang to
her warm heart, she could console herself with the remembrance that the
blessing of her dead mother would not fail to follow her on the journey.
As the three Christians left behind them "the tail of the lake"
(Andiatorocte), and paddled past Ticonderoga, they did not pay the
customary tribute to _the little people under the water_. Their heathen
tribesmen might, if they chose, cast their tobacco into the lake to gain
the good-will of the sprites who were said to prepare the well-shaped
arrow-flints with which the shore just there is strewn;[57] for when the
surface of the lake was rough they thought the little people were
angry. But Tekakwitha and her companions had renounced these
superstitions of their race. They knew that God alone was ruler of wind
and wave. On no account could they be induced to pay homage to any such
mischievous sprites of the lake. They asked Rawenniio instead to forgive
the people, and to turn their thoughts away from all such foolish
worship. "Her journey," says Chauchetiere, "was a continual prayer, and
the joy that she felt in approaching Montreal could not be expressed.
Behold then our young savage, twenty-one years of age, who escapes holy
and pure, and who triumphs over the impurity, the infidelity, and the
vice which have corrupted all the Iroquois! Behold the Genevieve of
Canada, behold the treasure of the Sault, who is at hand, and who has
sanctified the path from Montreal to the Mohawk, by which other
predestined souls have passed after her!" When she found herself far
from her own country, and realized that she had nothing more to fear on
the part of her uncle, she gave herself entirely to God, to do in the
future whatever would please him best. She arrived in the autumn of the
year 1677,[58] the desire that she had to get there as soon as possible
was the reason for not stopping on the way. On her arrival, she put the
letters that Father de Lamberville had written into the hands of the
Fathers, who, having read them, were delighted to have acquired a
treasure; for these were the words of the letter: "I send you a
treasure; guard it well." Her face told more than the letters. Her joy
was unspeakable on finding herself in the land of light, freed from the
sorrows of spirit which she had endured from not being able to serve God
as she wished to serve him, freed too from the persecutions which were
inflicted upon her in her country and in her cabin.
She was received at once into the lodge of Anastasia Tegonhatsihongo,
her mother's old friend, with whom her sister and her sister's husband
already dwelt.
From the time of her arrival at the new Caughnawaga, Chauchetiere and
Cholenec, the two biographers of Kateri Tekakwitha, were both close and
observant witnesses of her life. They were also present at her death.
Henceforth, then, we will let them speak often and at length, telling in
their own way of the rapid unfolding of spiritual life which took place
in this untaught child of Nature. Transplanted from the heart of a
heathen wilderness into a settlement of fervent souls,--for such from
all accounts was the mission village at the Sault,--the Lily of the
Mohawks caught up with keenest relish the inspiration in the air about
her. She was lifted with marvellous rapidity to a height of holiness
that drew all eyes in Canada towards her. It was there in the land of
her adoption that she won the title of "La Bonne Catherine." Those who
have patience to read on to the end of her biography will see how the
brief life of this Indian girl was indeed radiant with love of the true
God.
The letter which she bore with her from the Mohawk Valley, written by
Father de Lamberville, who had baptized her, and which was addressed to
Father Cholenec, to whose flock she was henceforth to belong, is given
in full by Martin, as follows:--
"Catherine Tegakouita va demeurer au Sault. Veuillez-vous
charger, je vous en prie, de sa direction. Vous connaitrez
bientot le tresor que nous vous donnons. Gardez le donc bien!
Qu'entre vos mains il profite a la gloire de Dieu, et au salut
d'une ame qui lui est assurement bien chere."[59]
FOOTNOTES:
[55] Amsterdam is the point at which the Mohawk so bends its course to
the southeast that any further advance by the river would have taken the
fugitives away from rather than towards their destination. To have left
the river sooner would have carried them over a rough and difficult
country.
[56] See "Indian Trails in Saratoga County," Appendix, Note D.
[57] This custom is mentioned in the Jesuit "Relations."
[58] Chauchetiere says 1678, but this is evidently a mistake. The date
given by Cholenec is 1677.
[59] "Catherine Tegakwita goes to dwell at the Sault. I pray you to take
the charge of her direction. You will soon know the treasure that we
give you. Guard it, then, well! May it profit in your hands to the glory
of God, and to the salvation of a soul that is assuredly very dear to
Him."