232 ISAAC JOGUES. [164S. 



He spent the night in great agitation, tossed 

 by doubt, and full of anxiety lest his self-love 

 should beguile him from his duty.^ Was it not 

 possible that the Indians might spare his life, and 

 that, by a timely drop of water, he might still res- 

 cue souls from torturing devils, and eternal fires of 

 perdition ? On the other hand, would he not, by 

 remaining to meet a fate almost inevitable, incur 

 the guilt of suicide ? And even should he escape 

 torture and death, could he hope that the Indians 

 would again permit him to instruct and baptize 

 then* prisoners] Of his French companions, one, 

 Goupil, was dead ; while Couture had urged Jogues 

 to flight, saying that he would then follow his ex- 

 ample, but that, so long as the Father remained 

 a prisoner, he. Couture, would share his fate. 

 Before morning, Jogues had made his decision. 

 God, he thought, would be better pleased should 

 he embrace the opportunity given him. He went 

 to find his Dutch friends, and, with a profusion of 

 thanks, accepted their offer. They told him that a 

 boat should be left for him on the shore, and that 

 he must watch his time, and escape in it to the 

 vessel, where he would be safe. 



He and his Indian masters were lodged together 

 in a large building, like a bam, belonging to a Dutch 

 farmer. It was a hundred feet long, and had no 

 partition of any kind. At one end the farmer kept 

 his cattle ; at the other he slept mth his wife, a 

 Mohawk squaw, and his children, while his Indian 

 guests lay on the floor in the middle.^ As he is 



1 Buteux, Narr€, MS. 2 i\^id. 



