kept scouts to rear and fore, but the Iroquois had
deserted their boats and were hanging on the flanks of the company to
attempt an ambush. It was apparent that a fort had been erected at the
foot of the rapids. Leaving half the band in their boats, Radisson
marched overland with two hundred warriors. Iroquois shots spattered
from each side; but the Huron muskets kept the assailants at a
distance, and those of Radisson's warriors who had not guns were armed
with bows and arrows, and wore a shield of buffalo skin dried hard as
metal. The Iroquois rushed for the barricade at the foot of the Sault.
Five of them were picked off as they ran. For a moment the Iroquois
were out of cover, and their weakness was betrayed. They had only one
hundred and fifty men, while Radisson had five hundred; but the odds
would not long be in his favor. Ammunition was running out, and the
enemy must be dislodged without wasting a shot. Radisson called back
encouragement to his followers. They answered with a shout. Tying the
beaver pelts in great bundles, the Indians rolled the fur in front
nearer and nearer the Iroquois boats, keeping under shelter from the
shots of the fort. The Iroquois must either lose their boats and be
cut off from escape, or retire from the fort. It was not necessary for
Radisson's warriors to fire a shot. Abandoning even their baggage and
glad to get off with their lives, the Iroquois dashed to save their
boats.

[Illustration: Voyageurs running the Rapids of the Ottawa River.]

A terrible spectacle awaited Radisson inside the enclosure of the
palisades.[21] The scalps of dead Indians flaunted from the pickets.
Not a tree but was spattered with bullet marks as with bird shot. Here
and there burnt holes gaped in the stockades like wounds. Outside
along the river bank lay the charred bones of captives who had been
burned. The scarred fort told its own tale. Here refugees had been
penned up by the Iroquois till thirst and starvation did their work.
In the clay a hole had been dug for water by the parched victims, and
the ooze through the mud eagerly scooped up. Only when he reached
Montreal did Radisson learn the story of the dismantled fort. The
rumor carried to the explorers on Lake Michigan of a thousand Iroquois
going on the war-path to exterminate the French had been only too true.
Half the warriors were to assault Quebec, half to come down on Montreal
from the Ottawa. One thing only could save