He Cried Out Directly That They Had Killed Him, & That It Was For The Men Who Loved The French To Avenge His Death; Which The Savages Who Were Our Friends Having Heard, Went Out Of Their Cabins & Followed The Culprit Without His Adherents Daring To Declare Themselves.

But the pursuit was useless, for he saved himself in the wood after having thrown away his gun & taken in its place his bow & his quiver.

This behaviour surprised our allies, the savages, exceedingly, & obliged them to swear, in their manner, vengeance for it, as much against that savage nation as against the English; but not having enough guns for that enterprise, they resolved to wait until my father and uncle had arrived. In the mean time they sent to entreat all the nations who had sworn friendship to my father & my uncle to come to make war upon the English & the savages on the southern coast, representing to them that they were obliged to take our side because that they had at other times accepted our presents in token of peace & of goodwill; that as to the rest, we were always men of courage, & their brothers.

"As soon as these other nations had received intelligence of the condition in which we were, they resolved to assist us with all their forces, & in waiting the return of my father or my uncle to send hostages for it to give a token of their courage, in the persons of two of their young men. One of the most considerable chiefs among these nations was deputed to conduct them. I received them as I ought. This chief was the adopted father of my uncle, & one of the best friends of the French, whom I found adapted to serve me to procure an interview with the English, to the end of knowing what could possibly be their resolution. For that purpose I deputed this chief savage towards the English, to persuade them to allow that I should visit them & take their word that they would not make me any insult, neither whilst with them nor along the route there, for which this chief stood security. The English accepted the proposition. I made them a visit with one of the French who carried the present that I had seat to make them, in the manner of the savages, & who received it on their part for me according to custom. We traded nothing in that interview regarding our business, because I remembered that the English attributed directly that which had been done against them to the savages. All the advantage that I received in that step was of making a trade for the savages, my friends, of guns which I wanted; although they cost me dear by the gratuity which I was obliged to make to those who I employed there; but it was important that I had in fact hindered the savages from it who came down from the country to trade, of passing on as far as the English. The end of that invitation and that visit, was that I promissed to the solicitation of the Governor of the English of visiting there once again with my chief; after which we retired to our house, where I was informed by some discontented savages not to go any more to see the English, because that they had resolved either to arrest me prisoner or of killing me. Which my chief having also learned, he told me that he wished no more to be security with his word with a nation who had none of it; which obliged us to remain at home, keeping up a very strict guard. At the same time the river Hayes having become free, several detachments of the nations who were our allies arrived to assist us. The Asenipoetes [Footnote: Asenipoetes, Assinipoueles, Assenipoulacs, and, according to Dr. O'Callaghan, Assiniboins, or "Sioux of the Rocks."] alone made more than 400 men. They were the descendants of the great Christionaux of the old acquaintance of my uncle, & all ready to make war with the English; but I did not find it desirable to interest them in it directly nor indirectly, because I did not wish to be held on the defensive in awaiting the return of my father or of my uncle, & that besides I knew that several other nations who loved the French, more particularly those who would come to our relief at the least signal. In the mean time the chief of the Asenipoetes did not wish us to leave his camp around our house, resolved to await up to the last moment the return of my uncle, of whom he always spoke, making himself break forth with the joy that he would have in seeing him by a thousand postures; & he often repeated that he wished to make it appear that he had been worthy of the presents that the Governor of Canada had made to him formerly in giving tokens of his zeal to serve the French.

"The necessity for stores which should arrive in their camp partly hindered the effects of that praiseworthy resolution, & obliged the chief of the Asenipoetes to send back into his country 40 canoes in which he embarked 200 men of the most feeble & of the least resolute. He kept with him a like number of them more robust, & those who were able to endure fatigue & hunger, and determined having them to content themselves with certain small fruits, which commenced to ripen, for their subsistence, in order to await the new moon, in which the spirit of the other savages had predicted the arrival of my uncle, which they believed infallible, because their superstitious custom is of giving faith to all which their Manitou predicts. They remained in that state until the end of the first quarter of the moon, during which their oracles had assured them that my uncle would arrive; but the time having expired, they believed their Manitou had deceived them, & it was determined between them to join themselves with us & of separating in 2 bodys, so as to go attack the English & the savages at the south; resolved in case that the enterprise had the success that they expected, of passing the winter with us, to burn the English ships in order to remove the means of defending themselves in the Spring & of effecting their return.

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