1644.] PILOT AND HER BROOD. 271 



dered from the Huron canoes. They had taken 

 also, and probably destroyed, all the letters from 

 the missionaries in the Huron country, as well 

 as a copy of their Relation of the preceding year. 

 Of the three French prisoners, one escaped and 

 reached Montreal ; the remaining two w^ere burned 

 alive. 



At Villemarie it was usually dangerous to pass 

 beyond the ditch of the fort or the palisad6s of the 

 hospital. Sometimes a solitary warrior would lie 

 hidden for days, without sleep and almost without 

 food, behind a log in the forest, or in a dense 

 thicket, watching like a lynx for some rash strag- 

 gler. Sometimes parties of a hundred or more 

 made ambuscades near by, and sent a few of their 

 number to lure out the soldiers by a petty attack 

 and a flight. The danger was much diminished, 

 however, when the colonists received from France 

 a number of dogs, which proved most eflicient sen- 

 tinels and scouts. Of the instinct of these animals 

 the writers of the time speak with astonishment. 

 Chief among them was a bitch named Pilot, who 

 every morning made the rounds of the forests and 

 fields about the fort, followed by a troop of her 

 offspring. If one of them lagged behind, she bit 

 him to remind him of his duty ; and if any skulked 

 and ran home, she punished them severely in the 

 same manner on her return. When she discovered 

 the Iroquois, which she was sure to do by the scent, 

 if any were near, she barked furiously, and ran at 

 once straight to the fort, followed by the rest. The 

 Jesuit chronicler adds, with an amusing naivete,, 



