Radisson and Groseillers wondered if the
Iroquois were reserving their powder for a night raid. The Algonquins
did not wait to know. As soon as darkness fell, there was a wild
scramble for the shore. A long, low trumpet call, such as hunters use,
signalled the Algonquins to rally and rush for the boats. The French
embarked as best they could. The Indians swam and paddled for the
opposite shore of the river. Here, in the dark, hurried council was
taken. The most of the baggage had been lost. The Indians refused to
help either the Jesuits or the French, and it was impossible for the
white _voyageurs_ to keep up the pace in the dash across an unknown
_portage_ through the dark. The French adventurers turned back for
Montreal. Of the white men, Radisson and Groseillers alone went on.
Frightened into their senses by the encounter, the Algonquins now
travelled only at night till they were far beyond range of the
Iroquois. All day the fugitive band lay hidden in the woods. They
could not hunt, lest Mohawk spies might hear the gunshots. Provisions
dwindled. In a short time the food consisted of _tripe de roche_--a
greenish moss boiled into a soup--and the few fish that might be caught
during hurried nightly launch or morning landing. Sometimes they hid
in a berry patch, when the fruit was gathered and boiled, but
camp-fires were stamped out and covered. Turning westward, they
crossed the barren region of iron-capped rocks and dwarf growth between
the Upper Ottawa and the Great Lakes.
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