pursued by Mohawks, or laying a trap to lure them within shooting
range? Seeing them hesitate, the Indian threw down blanket and hatchet
to signify that he was defenceless, and rushed into the water to his
armpits.

"I would save you," he shouted in Iroquois.

The Algonquins did not understand. They only knew that he spoke the
tongue of the hated enemy and was unarmed. In a trice, the Algonquins
in the nearest canoe had thrown out a well-aimed lasso, roped the man
round the waist, and drawn him a captive into the canoe.

"Brothers," protested the captive, who seems to have been either a
Huron slave or an Iroquois magician, "your enemies are spread up and
down! Sleep not! They have heard your noise! They wait for you!
They are sure of their prey! Believe me--keep together! Spend not
your powder in vain to frighten your enemies by noise! See that the
stones of your arrows be not bent! Bend your bows! Keep your hatchets
sharp! Build a fort! Make haste!"

But the Algonquins, intoxicated with the new power of firearms, would
hear no warning. They did not understand his words and refused to heed
Radisson's interpretation. Beating paddles on their canoes and firing
off guns, they shouted derisively that the man was "a dog and a hen."
All the same, they did not land to encamp that night, but slept in
midstream, with their boats tied to the rushes or on the lee side of
floating trees. The French lost heart. If this were the beginning,
what of the end? Daylight had scarcely broken when the paddles of the
eager _voyageurs_ were cutting the thick gray mist that rose from the
river to get away from observation while the fog still hid the fleet.