tremendous downpour of rain, with pitchy
darkness, which seemed so timely for the Iroquois that Radisson
remarks, "To my thinking, the Devill himselfe made that storme to give
those men leave to escape from our {204} hands." All sought shelter.
When the storm was over the Iroquois had escaped. The victors found
"11 of our ennemy slain'd and 2 only of ours, besides seaven wounded."
There were also five prisoners secured. The bodies of their own dead
were treated with great respect. "We bourned our comrades," says
Radisson, "being their custome to reduce such into ashes being slained
in batill. It is an honnour to give them such a buriall."

At daybreak the party resumed their journey, rejoicing in "10 heads and
foure prisoners, whom we embarqued in hopes to bring them into our
country, and there to burne them att our own leasures for the more
satisfaction of our wives." Meanwhile they allowed themselves a little
foretaste of that delight. "We plagued those infortunate. We plucked
out their nailes one after another." Probably, when Radisson says
"we," he means the Indians only, not his brother and himself.

Traveling on, the party espied a large force of Iroquois hovering near.
Anticipating an attack, "we killed our foure prisoners, because they
embarrassed us." "If ever blind wished the Light, we wished the
obscurity of the night, which no {205} sooner approached but we
embarqued ourselves without any noise and went along." Radisson thinks
the Iroquois must have been encumbered with prisoners and booty: else
they would not have let his party get away so easily. Fearing,
however, to be pursued, these plied their paddles desperately "from
friday to tuesday without intermission," their "feete and leggs" all
bloody from being cut in dragging the canoes over sharp rocks in the
shallows. After this terrible strain, being "quite spent," they were
fain to rest, so soon as they felt themselves safe from pursuit.

The party was following Champlain's old route, up the Ottawa River,
across country to Lake Nipissing, then down its outlet, French River,
to Lake Huron.

After a hard and perilous journey, having "wrought two and twenty dayes
and as many nights, having slept not one houre on land all that while,"
they came out on Lake Huron. Still trouble beset them, in the form of
dearth of food. Game was scarce along the shore, and they were glad of
such berries as they found. Radisson records that the "wildmen," as