welcome which more than made amends; for among these priests, united in a
community of faith and enthusiasm, there was far more than the genial
comradeship of men joined in a common enterprise of self-devotion and
peril. [ 1 ] On their way, they had met Daniel and Davost descending to
Quebec, to establish there a seminary of Huron children,--a project long
cherished by Brebeuf and his companions.

[ 1 "Ie luy preparay de ce que nous auions, pour le receuoir, mais quel
festin! vne poignee de petit poisson sec auec vn peu de farine;
i'enuoyay chercher quelques nouueaux espics, que nous luy fismes rostir a
la facon du pays; mais il est vray que dans son coeur et a l'entendre,
il ne fit iamais meilleure chere. La ioye qui se ressent a ces
entreueues semble estre quelque image du contentement des bien-heureux a
leur arriuee dans le Ciel, tant elle est pleine de suauite."--Le Mercier,
Relation des Hurons, 1637, 106. ]

Scarcely had the new-comers arrived, when they were attacked by a
contagious fever, which turned their mission-house into a hospital.
Jogues, Garnier, and Chatelain fell ill in turn; and two of their
domestics also were soon prostrated, though the only one of the number
who could hunt fortunately escaped. Those who remained in health
attended the sick, and the sufferers vied with each other in efforts
often beyond their strength to relieve their companions in misfortune.
[ Lettre de Brebeuf au T. R. P. Mutio Vitelleschi, 20 Mai, 1637, in
Carayon, 157. Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 120, 123. ]
The disease in no case proved fatal; but scarcely had health begun to
return to their household, when an unforeseen calamity demanded the
exertion of all their energies.

The pestilence, which for two years past had from time to time visited