Libr@rsi

^3^ 165
1656-58] RELATION OF 1657-58 179
overcome them, we [25] left our house by a rear door
and embarked with little noise, without saying Farewell
to our Savages. They were playing a shrewd
part, and thought to beguile us with fair appearances
and attestations of good will until the time fixed
upon for our slaughter.
Our little Lake, over which we paddled silently
in the darkness of the night, froze as we advanced,
and we feared that we should be stopped in the ice
after escaping the fires of the Iroquois. From this
disaster, however, God delivered us; and, after pro-
ceeding all night and the whole of the following day,
past water-falls and frightful rapids, we at length
reached Lake Ontario in the evening, twenty leagues
from our starting-point.
That first day's journey was the most dangerous;
for, had the Iroquois perceived our departure, they
would have intercepted us ; and, had they been only
ten or twelve in number, it would have been easy for
them to throw us into confusion — the river being
very narrow, and being also [26] obstructed, at the
end of ten leagues, by a fearful precipice. Here we
were forced to land, and, for four hours, carry our
baggage and canoes through a wilderness covered
with dense Woods, which would have served the
enemy as a Fort where they could have killed us at
every step and fired upon us unperceived.
God's protection manifestly accompanied us during
all the rest of the journey. We passed through perils
that made us shudder after escaping them, and at
night, after spending the whole day in the water and
amid blocks of ice, we had no lodging except upon
the snow.
Ten days after our departure, we found Lake