n, the Indians were boiling the pulverized bones of the
waste heap. After that the only food was the buckskin that had been
tanned for clothing. "We ate it so eagerly," writes Radisson, "that
our gums did bleed. . . . We became the image of death." Before the
spring five hundred Crees had died of famine. Radisson and Groseillers
scarcely had strength to drag the dead from the tepees. The Indians
thought that Groseillers had been fed by some fiend, for his heavy,
black beard covered his thin face. Radisson they loved, because his
beardless face looked as gaunt as theirs.[6]

Relief came with the breaking of the weather. The rain washed the iced
snows away; deer began to roam; and with the opening of the rivers came
two messengers from the Sioux to invite Radisson and Groseillers to
visit their nation. The two Sioux had a dog, which they refused to
sell for all Radisson's gifts. The Crees dared not offend the Sioux
ambassadors by stealing the worthless cur on which such hungry eyes
were cast, but at night Radisson slipped up to the Sioux tepee. The
dog came prowling out. Radisson stabbed it so suddenly that it dropped
without a sound. Hurrying back, he boiled and fed the meat to the
famishing Crees. When the Sioux returned to their own country, they
sent a score of slaves with food for the starving encampment. No doubt
Radisson had plied the first messengers with gifts; for the slaves
brought word that thirty picked runners from the Sioux were coming to
escort the white men to the prairie. To receive their benefactors, and
also, perhaps, to show that they were not defenceless, the Crees at
once constructed a fort; for Cree and Sioux had been enemies from time
immemorial. In two days came the runners, clad only in short garments,
and carrying bow and quiver. The Crees led the young braves to the
fort. Kettles were set out. Fagged from the long run, the Sioux ate
without a word. At the end of the meal one rose. Shooting an arrow
into the air as a sign that he called Deity to witness the truth of his
words, he proclaimed in a loud voice that the elders of the Sioux
nation would arrive next day at the fort to make a treaty with the
French.

The news was no proof of generosity. The Sioux were the great warriors
of the West. They knew very well that whoever formed an alliance with
the French would obtain firearms; and firearms meant victory against
all other tribes. The news set the Crees by the ears.