the allies only to find that the Hurons
had fled, and here was he, alone in a hostile land, with Iroquois
warriors rampant as molested wasps. In the swift retreat off the trail
Brule lost his way. He was without food {57} or powder, and had to
choose between starvation or surrender to the Iroquois. Throwing down
his weapons, he gave himself up to what he knew would be certain
torture. Had he winced or whined as they tore the nails from his
fingers and the hair from his head, the Iroquois would probably have
brained him on the spot for a poltroon; but the young man, bound to a
stake, pointed to a gathering storm as sign of Heaven's displeasure.
The high spirit pleased the Iroquois. They unbound him and took him
with them in their wanderings for three years.

The Hurons had promised to convey Champlain back down the St. Lawrence
to Quebec, but the defeat had caused loss of prestige. The man "with
the stick that thundered" was no more invulnerable to wounds than they.
They forgot their promises and invented excuses for not proceeding to
Quebec. Champlain wintered with the hunters somewhere north of Lake
Ontario, and came down the Ottawa with the fur canoes the next summer.
He was received at Quebec as one risen from the dead.

While Champlain had been exploring, New France had not prospered as a
colony. Royal patron after royal patron sold the monopoly to fresh
hands, and each new master appointed Champlain viceroy. The fur trade
merchants could pay forty per cent dividends, but could do nothing to
advance settlement. Less than one hundred people made up the
population of New France; and these were torn asunder by jealousies.
Huguenot and Catholic were opposed; and when three Jesuits came to
Quebec, Jesuits and Recollets distrusted each other.

Madam Champlain joined her husband at Quebec, in 1620, to stay for four
years, and that same year Champlain built himself a new habitation--the
famous Castle of St. Louis on the cliff above the first dwelling.
Louis Hebert, the apothecary of Port Royal, is now a farmer close to
the Castle of Quebec; and the wife of Abraham Martin has given birth to
the first white child born in New France.

Now came a revolutionary change. Cardinal Richelieu was virtual ruler
of France. He quickly realized that the monopolists {58} were sucking
the lifeblood of the colony in furs and were giving nothing in return
to the country. In 1627, under the great cardinal's patronage, the