as hot as pepper.'

In spite of the going and coming of the Indians, Cartier
from first to last was doubtful of their intentions.
Almost every day in the autumn and early winter some of
them appeared with eels and fish, glad to exchange them
for little trinkets. But the two interpreters endeavoured
to make the Indians believe that the things given them
by the French were of no value, and Donnacona did his
best to get the Indian children out of the hands of the
French. Indeed, the eldest of the children, an Indian
girl, escaped from the ships and rejoined her people,
and it was only with difficulty that Cartier succeeded
in getting her back again. Meanwhile a visiting chief,
from the country farther inland, gave the French captain
to understand that Donnacona and his braves were waiting
only an opportunity to overwhelm the ships' company.
Cartier kept on his guard. He strengthened the fort with
a great moat that ran all round the stockade. The only
entry was now by a lifting bridge; and pointed stakes
were driven in beside the upright palisade. Fifty men,
divided into watches, were kept on guard all night, and,
at every change of the watch, the Indians, across the
river in their lodges of the Stadacona settlement, could
hear the loud sounds of the trumpets break the clear
silence of the winter night.

We have no record of the life of Cartier and his followers
during the winter of their isolation among the snows and
the savages of Quebec. It must, indeed, have been a season