t whether they heard me; at all events no one
appeared. The daylight meanwhile was beginning to discover to the
Iroquois the theft that I was making of myself; I feared that they
might surprise me in this innocent misdemeanor. Weary of shouting, I
return to the boat; I pray God to increase my strength; I do so well,
turning it end for end, and push it so hard that I get it to the water.
Having made it float, I jump into it, and go all alone to the ship,
where I go on board without being discovered by any Iroquois. They
lodge me forthwith down in the hold; and in order to conceal me they
put a great chest over the hatchway. I was two days and two nights in
the belly of that vessel, with such discomfort that I thought I would
suffocate and die with the stench. I remembered then poor Jonas, and I
prayed our Lord, Ne fugerem a facie Domini, that I might not hide
myself before his face, and that I might not withdraw far from his
wishes; but on the contrary, infatuaret omnia consilia quae non essent
ad suam gloriam, I prayed him to overthrow all the counsels which
should not tend to this glory, and to detain me in the country of those
infidels, if he did not approve my retreat and my flight. The second
night of my voluntary prison, the minister of the Dutch came to tell me
that the Iroquois had indeed made some disturbance, and that the Dutch
inhabitants of the country were afraid that they would set fire to
their houses or kill their cattle; they have reason to fear them, since
they have armed them with good arquebuses. To that I answer: Si
propter me orta est tempestas, projicite me in mare: "If the storm has
risen on my account, I am ready to appease it by losing my life;" I
had never the wish to escape to the prejudice of the least man of their
settlement. Finally, it was necessary to leave my cavern; all the
mariners were offended at this, saying that the promise of security had
been given me in case I could set foot in the ship, and that I was
withdrawn at the moment when it would be requisite to bring me thither
if I were not there; that I had put myself in peril of life by escaping
upon their words; that it must needs be kept, whatever the cost. I
begged that I be allowed to go forth, since the captain who had
disclosed to me the way of my flight was asking for me. I went to find
him in his house, where he kept me concealed; these goings and these
comings having occurred by night, I was not yet discovered.