404 GARNIER. [1649. 



mission of the same name, was a to^vn of five or 

 six hundred families. Its population was, more- 

 over, greatly augmented by the bands of fugitive 

 Huron s who had taken refuge there. When the 

 warriors were warned by Ragueneau's messenger 

 of a probable attack from the Iroquois, they were 

 far from being daunted, but, confiding in their 

 numbers, awaited the enemy in one of those fits 

 of valor which characterize the unstable courage of 

 the savage. At St. Jean all was paint, feathers, and 

 uproar, — singing, dancing, howling, and stamp- 

 ing. Quivers were filled, knives whetted, and toma- 

 hawks sharpened ; but when, after two days of 

 eager expectancy, the enemy did not appear, the 

 warriors lost patience. Thinking, and probably with 

 reason, that the Iroquois were afraid of them, they 

 resolved to sally forth, and take the offensive. 

 With yelps and whoops they defiled into the forest, 

 where the branches were gray and bare, and the 

 ground thickly covered with snow. They pushed 

 on rapidly till the following day, but could not dis- 

 cover their wary enemy, who had made a wide 

 circuit, and was approaching the town from anoth- 

 er quarter. By ill luck, the Iroquois captured a 

 Tobacco 'Indian and his squaw, straggling in the 

 forest not far from St. Jean; and the two prisoners, 

 to propitiate them, told them the defenceless condi- 

 tion of the place, where none remained but women, 

 children, and old men. The delighted Iroquois no 

 longer hesitated, but silently and swiftly pushed on 

 towards the town. 



It was two o'clock in the afternoon of the sev- 



