him. Boisrondet and Etienne Renault also walked at his
side into the open space between two barbaric armies. The Iroquois did
not stop firing when he held up and waved the belt in his left hand.
Bullets spattered on the hummocky sod of the prairie around him.

"Go back," Tonty said to Boisrondet and Renault and the young Indian.
"What need is there of so many? Take the lad back, Boisrondet."

They hesitated to leave him.

"Go back!" he repeated sharply, so they turned, and he ran on alone. The
Iroquois guns seemed to flash in his face. It was like throwing himself
among furious wolves. Snarling lips and snaky eyes and twisting sinuous
bodies made nightmares around him. He felt himself seized; a young
warrior stabbed him in the side. The knife glanced on a rib, but blood
ran down his buckskins and filled his throat.

"Stop!" shouted an Iroquois chief. "This is a Frenchman; his ears are
not pierced."

Tonty's swarthy skin was blanching with the anguish of his wound, which
turned him faint. His black hair clung in rings to a forehead wet with
cold perspiration. But he held the wampum belt aloft and spat the blood
out of his mouth.

"Iroquois! The Illinois nation are under the protection of the French
king and Governor Frontenac! I demand that you leave them in peace!"

A young brave snatched his hat and lifted it on the end of a gun.
At that the Illinois began a frenzied attack, thinking he was killed.
Tonty was spun around as in a whirlpool. He felt a hand in his hair and
a knife at his scalp.

"I never," he thought to himself, "was in such perplexity in my life!"

"Burn him!" shouted some.

"But he is French!" others cried. "Let him go!"

Through all the uproar he urged the peace belt and threatened them with
France. The wholesome dread which Governor Frontenac had given to that
name had effect on them. Besides, they had not surprised the Illinois,
and if they declared a truce, time would be gained to consider their
future movements.

The younger braves were quieted, and old warriors gave Tonty a belt
to carry back to the Illinois. He staggered across the prairie. Father
Ribourde and Father Membre, who had just reached the spot, ran to meet
him, and supported him as he half fainted from loss of blood.

Tonty and his allies withdrew across the river. But the Iroquois,
instead of retreating, followed. Seeing what must happen, Tonty thought
it best for the Illinois to give up their town and go to protect the