extremity of Lake Champlain, on the western bank. The entire night was
spent by each army in dancing and singing, and in bandying words. At
daybreak Champlain's men stood to arms. The Iroquois were composed of
about two hundred men, stout and rugged in appearance, with their three
chiefs at their head, who could be distinguished by their large plumes.
The Indians opened their ranks and called upon Champlain to go to the
front. The arrows were beginning to fly on both sides when Champlain
discharged his musket, which was loaded with four balls, and killed two
of the chiefs and mortally wounded the third. This unexpected blow
caused great alarm among the Iroquois, who lost courage, abandoned their
camp and took to flight, seeking shelter in the woods. Fifteen or
sixteen men of Champlain's party were wounded, but the enemy had many
wounded, and ten or twelve were taken prisoners.

This victory did not entail much hardship on the part of the French.
Champlain and his two companions did more to rout the Iroquois than the
sixty allies with their shower of arrows. The result of this day's
proceedings was highly satisfactory to the Indians, who gathered up the
arms and provisions left behind by the Iroquois, and feasted
sumptuously amidst dancing and singing. "The spot where this attack took
place," says Champlain, "is in the latitude of 43° and some minutes, and
the lake is called Champlain." This place is now called Ticonderoga, or
the Cheondoroga of the Indians.

Champlain returned to Quebec with the Montagnais, and a few days after
he set out for Tadousac to see whether Pont-Gravé had arrived from
Gaspé. He met Pont-Gravé on the morrow, and they both decided to sail
for France, and to leave Quebec in the meantime under the command of
Pierre de Chauvin,[12] pending the decision of de Monts as to the future
of the colony. Both visited Quebec in order to invest Chauvin with