It was of no use to stop. They pushed on with sad hearts. At last they had their reward. The great Mississippi lay before them. La Salle's heart was full of hope as the canoes were launched upon its waters. On and on he paddled as Marquette had done before him. He passed tribes of friendly Indians. He came to others who were ready to kill the white men. Still he pushed onward till the waters became salt and rushed outward to the Gulf of Mexico. The Frenchmen had at last reached the mouth of the great river. Now came the homeward journey and the joy of telling the good news to the people in Canada. La Salle did not rest even now. The king of France must hear what he had done. He made haste to sail across the ocean to his own country. The king said that ships must be made ready at once. A large party of people should go to the mouth of the river. They must build a fort and settle there and take the country in the name of France. La Salle was, of course, chosen to go with them. They did not go by the way of Canada. They went as straight as possible to the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle thought it would not be hard to find the mouth of the river. The voyage across the Atlantic was safely made. The ships entered the Gulf of Mexico and sailed along its shores. But La Salle could not find the entrance of the Mississippi. He searched long and carefully. Many times he thought it was in sight. Many times he was disappointed. The food became scarce. One of the ships was wrecked. The men said: "We had better give up the search and go back to France." La Salle was left with a few men on the shore of Texas. He still had hopes of finding the mouth of the river. He wandered about for some time. Even now he was not willing to give up. One day a very sad thing happened. The brave leader, La Salle, was killed. And he was not killed by the savages, but by one of his own men. They were angry because he had brought them there. This was the only reason they had for doing such a mean and cruel deed. Such was the end of Robert La Salle. He did not do all he had hoped to do. Yet he led the way for other Frenchmen, who afterwards settled along the banks of the Mississippi. "The story has a very sad ending," said Lucy, when Uncle Sam had finished. "I don't like to have a story stop at such a sad place." "I think it is one of the very best you have told us," said Joe. "I wish I could have been with La Salle a part of the time. It must have been exciting, paddling through a strange country and sleeping at night by the side of a big camp-fire." "I don't think you would have slept much at first, with wolves howling and wildcats screeching not far away," replied Uncle Sam. "Then how would you have enjoyed going without food for days together and having your clothes soaked through in the heavy rains?" Even this unpleasant picture did not seem to frighten Joe. He was a "regular boy," as his mother said.