should be too boisterous and it should not be possible
to succeed, they should be stabbed, the rope being
firmly held; and if by chance any of them should get
away, there should be men on land to charge upon them
with swords. Meanwhile, the little cannon on our barque
was to be kept ready to fire upon their companions in
case they should come to assist them, under cover of
which firearms the shallop could withdraw in security.

This plot, though carefully planned, fell far short of
the success which was anticipated. To catch a redskin
with a noose required more skill than was available.
Accordingly, none were taken alive. Champlain says: 'We
retired to our barque after having done all we could.'
Lescarbot adds: 'Six or seven of the savages were hacked
and hewed in pieces, who could not run so lightly in the
water as on shore, and were caught as they came out by
those of our men who had landed.'

Having thus taken an eye for an eye, Poutrincourt began
his homeward voyage, and, after three or four escapes
from shipwreck, reached Port Royal on November 14.

Champlain was now about to spend his last winter in
Acadia. Mindful of former experiences, he determined to
fight scurvy by encouraging exercise among the colonists
and procuring for them an improved diet. A third desideratum
was cheerfulness. All these purposes he served through
founding the Ordre de Bon Temps, which proved to be in
every sense the life of the settlement. Champlain himself