[2] At eighteen he was fighting in New England, at nineteen
in Newfoundland, at twenty-three in Europe at the battle of Malplaquet,
where he was carried off the field with nine wounds. Eager for more
distinguished service, he returned to Canada in his twenty-seventh
year, only to find himself relegated to an obscure trading post in far
Northern wilds. Then the boyhood ambitions reawakened. All France and
Canada, too, were ringing with projects for the discovery of the
Western Sea. Russia was acting. France knew it. The great priest
Charlevoix had been sent to Canada to investigate plans for the
venture, and had recommended an advance westward through the country of
the Sioux; but the Sioux[3] swarmed round the little fort at Lake Pepin
on the Mississippi like angry wasps. That way, exploration was plainly
barred. Nothing came of the attempt except a brisk fur trade and a
brisker warfare on the part of the Sioux. At the lonely post of
Nepigon, vague Indian tales came to De la Verendrye of "a great river
flowing west" and "a vast, flat country devoid of timber" with "large
herds of cattle." Ochagach, an old Indian, drew maps on birch bark
showing rivers that emptied into the Western Sea. De la Verendrye's
smouldering ambitions kindled. He hurried to Michilimackinac. There
the traders and Indians told the same story. Glory seemed suddenly
within De la Verendrye's grasp. Carried away with the passion for
discovery that ruled his age, he took passage in the canoes bound for
Quebec.
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