s to me of such importance that I cannot answer you at once; give
me, if you please, the night to think of it. I will commend it to our
Lord; I will examine the arguments on both sides; and to-morrow morning
I will tell you my final resolution." He granted me my request with
astonishment; I spent the night in prayers, greatly beseeching our Lord
that he should not allow me to reach a conclusion by myself; that he
should give me light, in order to know His most holy will; that in all
and through all I wished to follow it, even to the extent of being
burned at a slow fire. The reasons which might keep me in the country
were consideration for the French and for the Savages; I felt love for
them, and a great desire to assist them, insomuch that I had resolved
to spend the remainder of my days in that captivity, for their
salvation; but I saw the face of affairs quite changed.

In the first place, as regarded our three Frenchmen, led captive into
the country as well as I: one of them, named Rene Goupil, had already
been murdered at my feet; this young man had the purity of an angel.
Henry, whom they had taken at Mont-Real, had fled into the woods.
While he was looking at the cruelties which were practised upon two
poor Hurons, roasted at a slow fire, some Iroquois told him that he
would receive the same treatment, and I, too, when I should return;
these threats made him resolve rather to plunge into the danger of
dying from hunger in the woods, or of being devoured by some wild
beast, than to endure the torments which these half-demons inflicted.
It was already seven days since he had disappeared. As for Guilllaume
Cousture, I saw scarcely any further way of aiding him, for they had
placed him in a village far from the one where I was; and the savages
so occupied it on the hither side of that place, that I could no longer
meet him. Add that he himself had addressed me in these words: "My
Father, try to escape; as soon as I shall see you no more, I shall find
the means to get away. You well know that I stay in this captivity
only for the love of you; make, then, your efforts to escape, for I
cannot think of my liberty and of my life unless I see you in safety."
Furthermore, this good youth had been given to an old man, who assured
me that he would allow him to go in peace, if I could obtain my
deliverance; consequently I saw no further reason which obliged me to
remain on account of the French.

As for the savages, I