1649.] HIS DEATH. 405 



enth of December.^ Ghabanel had left the place 

 a day or two before, m obedience to a message 

 from Ragueneau, and Garnier was here alone. He 

 was making his rounds among the houses, visiting 

 the sick and instructing his converts, when the hor- 

 rible din of the war-whoop rose from the borders 

 of the clearing, and, on the instant, the town was 

 mad with terror. Children and guis rushed to and 

 fro, blind with fright ; women snatched theu' in- 

 fants, and fled they knew not whither. Garnier 

 ran to his chapel, where a few of his converts 

 had sought asylum. He gave them his benedic- 

 tion, exhorted them to hold fast to the Faith, and 

 bade them fly while there was yet time. For 

 himself, he hastened back to the houses, run- 

 ning from one to another, and giving absolution 

 or baptism to all whom he found. An Iroquois met 

 him, shot him with three balls through the body 

 and thigh, tore off his cassock, and rushed on m 

 pursuit of the fugitives. Garnier lay for a moment 

 on the ground, as if stunned ; then, recovering his 

 senses, he was seen to rise into a kneeling posture. 

 At a little distance from him lay a Huron, mortally 

 wounded, but still showing signs of life. With the 

 Heaven that awaited him glowing before his fading 

 vision, the priest dragged himself towards the dying 

 Indian, to give him absolution ; but his strength 

 failed, and he fell again to the earth. He rose once 

 more, and again crept forward, when a party of Iro- 

 quois rushed upon him, split his head with two 

 blows of a hatchet, stripped him, and left his body 



1 Bressani, Relation Ahr€g€e, 264. 



