ll
their lives as dearly as possible. But Father Hennepin said to them, "I
shall allow myself to be killed without any resistance. I came to
announce to the savages a God, who for the world's redemption allowed
Himself to be falsely accused, unjustly condemned, and cruelly
crucified, without showing the least enmity to those who put Him to
death. I shall imitate the example thus set me."

The night passed peacefully away, and the morning of the 12th of April
dawned upon this scene so wild and picturesque.

As all were gathered around their camp fires, cooking their breakfasts,
one of the chiefs, Narketoba by name--presenting a hideous aspect in
his barbarian military trappings, his face and bare chest smeared with
war paint--approached Father Hennepin and asked for the peace calumet.
Receiving it, he filled the cup with tobacco, and having taken a few
whiffs himself, presented it to one after another of the whole band.
Each one smoked the pipe, though some with evident reluctance. The
Frenchmen understood this to indicate that, for the present at least,
their lives were to be spared. They were then informed that they must
accompany the Indians up the river to their own country.

"I was not sorry," Father Hennepin writes, "in this conjuncture, to
continue our discovery with this people."

CHAPTER VII.

_Life with the Savages_.

Ascending the River with the Savages. Religious Worship. Abundance of
Game. Hardihood of the Savages. The War-Whoop. Savage Revelry. The
Falls of St. Anthony. Wild Country Beyond. Sufferings of the Captives.
Capricious Treatment. Triumphal Entrance. The Adoption. Habits of the
Savages.

Father Hennepin and his two companions reembarked in their canoe, and,
oppressed with varied feelings of anxiety and curiosity, recommenced
their journey up the river. The thirty large canoes, filled with their
captors, surrounded them. The current was rapid; the savages were
seldom in a hurry, and their progress was slow. At night they always
landed and slept in the open air, unless it was stormy, when they would
sometimes construct for themselves a frail shelter.

The devout ecclesiastic felt in duty bound daily to say his office, as
it was called, in accordance with the rules of the Catholic Church. He
had his breviary, composed of matins, lauds, vespers, and compline, or
last prayer at night. These exercises he scrupulously performed. The
superstitious Indians, seeing him open his book, and mo