Groseillers had all in readiness to depart for Quebec; and five hundred
Indians from the Upper Country had come together to go down the Ottawa
and St. Lawrence with the explorers. As they were about to embark,
_coureurs_ came in from the woods with news that more than a thousand
Iroquois were on the war-path, boasting that they would exterminate the
French.[18] Somewhere along the Ottawa a small band of Hurons had been
massacred. The Indians with Groseillers and Radisson were terrified.
A council of the elders was called.

"Brothers, why are ye so foolish as to put yourselves in the hands of
those that wait for you?" demanded an old chief, addressing the two
white men. "The Iroquois will destroy you and carry you away captive.
Will you have your brethren, that love you, slain? Who will baptize
our children?" (Radisson and Groseillers had baptized more than two
hundred children.[19]) "Stay till next year! Then you may freely go!
Our mothers will send their children to be taught in the way of the
Lord!"

Fear is like fire. It must be taken in the beginning, or it spreads.
The explorers retired, decided on a course of action, and requested the
Indians to meet them in council a second time. Eight hundred warriors
assembled, seating themselves in a circle. Radisson and Groseillers
took their station in the centre.[20]

"Who am I?" demanded Groseillers, hotly. "Am I a foe or a friend? If
a foe, why did you suffer me to live? If a friend, listen what I say!
You know that we risked our lives for you! If we have no courage, why
did you not tell us? If you have more wit than we, why did you not use
it to defend yourselves against the Iroquois? How can you defend your