In 1714 Juchereau St. Denis rode across Texas, in an oblique line from a
trading post in Louisiana to a presidio on the Rio Grande River. This
was the same St. Denis who afterward, as already related, rescued his
comrade-in-arms Belleisle from captivity. He had secret orders from
Cadillac, the governor of Louisiana, and his busy brain was teeming with
carefully laid plans of his own. His escort consisted of twelve white
men and two or three Indians. He took his bearings as he went, carefully
marking the way from river to river, from prairie to forest, from Indian
village to buffalo range; thus sketching out that long thoroughfare
which afterwards became famous as the “Old San Antonio Road.”
Much of the way lay through the lands of unfriendly Indians; but St.
Denis rode as jauntily as if the men at his back were a thousand instead
of a dozen.
And when one day he drew rein on the brow of a certain hill, and gazed
down into the lovely cup-like valley where a few huts marked the
beginnings of San Antonio, he might, for all signs of fatigue upon his
handsome young face, have just quitted the governor’s residence.
“A beautiful site for a city,” he said to Jallot, his confidential
servant. His pleased eyes roved over the smiling valley, through which
the river ran like a silver thread. Graceful trees lined the river
banks; the tender grass was studded with a thousand flowers of varied
colors; there was a life-giving softness in the wind that came from the
low mountains to the northward.
[Illustration: THE MISSION OF SAN JOSÉ.]
St. Denis journeyed on to St. John the Baptist, carrying this lovely
picture in his heart as he went. St. John the Baptist was a presidio on
the Rio Grande River. It was built by Captain Alonzo de Leon, after his
return from Fort St. Louis in 1689. Its commandant, at the time of the
visit of St. Denis, was Don Pedro de Villescas. To Don Pedro St. Denis
unfolded his mission—the opening of trade between Louisiana and Mexico.
The friendly commandant could do nothing without first consulting his
superiors; so he asked St. Denis to wait until a letter could be sent to
the governor of the province at Monclova. St. Denis waited, and while he
was waiting he fell in love with Donna Maria, the commandant’s daughter.
The young French officer was so dashing, so courtly, and withal so good
looking, that it is no wonder Don Pedro’s daughter loved him in return;
and there were at least two very happy persons at the Presidio of St.
John the Baptist.
But when the courier came back from Monclova, St. Denis was seized by
order of the governor, and was carried under guard to that city.
The governor of Coahuila was, as it happened, a rejected suitor of Donna
Maria Villescas. Filled with jealous rage, he threw the young Frenchman
into prison and threatened him with death unless he would give up all
claim to his promised bride.
This St. Denis gallantly refused to do. After some months the governor
sent him to the city of Mexico, denouncing him to the viceroy as a spy
against the government. He was again placed in prison, where he was
treated with great severity.
Donna Maria, however, was not idle all this time. She had sent several
spirited letters to the governor at Monclova, and she now wrote to the
viceroy himself. Her letter had the effect of loosening the chains of
her lover.
Marquis de Linares, the viceroy, when he saw his prisoner, was so
charmed that he offered the young Frenchman an important post in the
Spanish army. But St. Denis would not consent to abandon his own flag.
The viceroy then gave him a handsome horse, and parting from him with
regret, sent him back to the presidio, where he married the loyal Donna
Maria.
Before leaving the presidio on his return to Louisiana, he made secret
arrangements for smuggling goods into Mexico.
The viceroy, having a hint of this, did not trouble St. Denis again; but
he decided to establish posts and missions throughout the New
Philippines—as Texas was still called—with garrisons armed to prevent
contraband trade. Captain Domingo Ramon was appointed to carry on this
work. He set out at once from St. John the Baptist for San Antonio, with
a company of soldiers and several friars under his command. St. Denis,
in high spirits and sure of his own success in spite of Captain Ramon,
rode with him, acting as his guide.