Meanwhile, Cadillac's efforts to oust the English from their hold upon the Choctaw met with dismal failure: the Charles Town traders laughed at the pompous governor of Louisiana and his handful of coquins. It was fortunate, perhaps, for Louisiana that this was the moment chosen by Cadillac for his journey to Illinois to discover the mine. In February, 1715, he set out, leaving to the experienced and adroit Bienville the task of saving the colony in its hour of greatest danger. Sealed orders bade him use every effort, and all the presents sent over from France, to drive out the Carolinians. Bienville knew, none better, that the affair required despatch. He saw, wrote La Harpe, that 'without a prompt remedy the colony would fall into the power of the English.' To allay discontent among the chiefs, and perhaps to vent his own spleen, he assured the Indian council that La Mothe was gone, never to return. At his bidding the Choctaw arrested an English trader, and pillaged the magazine of presents destined for the Mississippi tribes. The tide was turning.