CHAPTEE XIX. 



1644, 1645. 



PEACE. 



Iroquois Prisoners. — Piskaret. — His Exploits. — More Pris- 

 oners. — Iroquois Embassy. — The Orator. — The Great 

 Council. — Speeches op Kiotsaton. — Muster of Savages. — 

 Peace Confirmed. 



In the damp and freshness of a midsummer 

 morning, when the sun had not yet risen, but when 

 the river and the sky were red with the glory of 

 approaching day, the inmates of the fort at Three 

 Rivers were roused by a tumult of joyous and 

 exultant voices. They thronged to the shore, — 

 priests, soldiers, traders, and officers, mingled with 

 warriors and shrill-voiced squaws from Huron and 

 Algonquin camps in the neighboring forest. Close 

 at hand they saw twelve or fifteen canoes slowly 

 drifting down the current of the St. Lawrence, 

 manned by eighty young Indians, all singing their 

 songs of victory, and striking their paddles against 

 the edges of theu' bark vessels in cadence with 

 their voices. Among them three Iroquois prisoners 

 stood upright, singing loud and defiantly, as men 

 not fearing torture or death. 



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