Libr@rsi

1 656 - 58] RELA TION OF 1637 -58 157
eronnons— who chanced to be in those places at the
time. Both of these Iroquois nations became irritated
at this detention of their men, claiming that it was
unjust; and, in order to take cruel vengeance, they
convoked a secret council, in which they formed a
plan of implacable warfare against the French.
Nevertheless, they deemed it expedient to dissimulate
for some time, until, by sending back Father
Simon le Moyne, who was then at Agniegu6, they
should have gained the release of their own Men,
who were in irons. They counted on venting imme-
diately after this, the chief force of their fury upon
us Frenchmen who were at Onnontague, to the
number of fifty or sixty,— imprisoned, as it were, in
the very heart of their country, whence they believed
it impossible for us to escape.
They even held the view, at this [9] Council, that
in our persons they would hold precious hostages,
whether for recovering by exchange those of their
own Number who were in our prisons, or for obtain-
ing anything that they might desire when, in plain
view of our French settlements, they should make
us feel the effects of their cruelty. Undoubtedly,
sights like these and so fraught with horror, together
with the doleful cries of forty or fifty innocent
Frenchmen, would have touched with compassion
and placed in a difficult position the Governor and
the inhabitants of any place whatever.
We knew only in secret these wretched schemes
of the Iroquois, but saw openly their minds prepared
for war. As early as the month of February, various
companies took the field for this purpose — 200
Agnieronnons on one hand, and 40 Onneiotchronnons
on another, while some troops from Onnontagu6 had