1647.] THE FUGITIVE SQUAW. 815 



fault, and, after a long search, gave up the chase 

 in despair. Shivering, naked, and half-starved, she 

 crawled out from her wild asylum, and resumed 

 her flight. By day, the briers and bushes tore her 

 unprotected limbs ; by night, she shivered with 

 cold, and the mosquitoes and small black gnats 

 of the forest persecuted her with torments which 

 the modern sportsman will appreciate. She sub- 

 sisted on such roots, bark, reptiles, or other small 

 animals, as her Indian habits enabled her to gather 

 on her way. She crossed streams by swimming, 

 or on rafts of driftwood, lashed together with 

 strips of linden-bark ; and at length reached the 

 St. Lawrence, where, with the aid of her hatchet, 

 she made a canoe. Her home was on the Ottawa, 

 and she was ignorant of the great river, or, at 

 least, of this part of it. She had scarcely even 

 seen a Frenchman, but had heard of the French as 

 friends, and knew that their dwellings were on 

 the banks of the St. Lawrence. This was her 

 only guide ; and she drifted on her way, doubtfid 

 whether the vast current would bear her to the 

 abodes of the living or to the land of souls. She 

 passed the watery wilderness of the Lake of St. 

 Peter, and presently descried a Huron canoe. 

 Fearing that it was an enemy, she hid herself, 

 and resumed her voyage in the evening, when she 

 soon came in sight of the wooden buildings and 

 palisades of Three E^ivers. Several Hurons saw 

 her at the same moment, and made towards her ; 

 on which she leaped ashore and hid in the bushes, 

 whence, being entn*ely without clothing, she would 



