and I never more saw the
old friar, the Indian village or my Indian master till about fourteen
years after when I saw my old Indian master at Port Royal, and again
about twenty-four years since he came from St. John to Fort George to
see me where I made him very welcome.

"My French master had a great trade with the Indians, which suited me
very well, I being thorough in the language of the tribes at Cape
Sable[13] and St. John. I had not lived long with this gentleman
before he committed to me the keys of his store, etc., and my whole
employment was trading and hunting, in which I acted faithfully for
my master and never knowingly wronged him to the value of one
farthing. They spoke to me so much in Indian that it was some time
before I was perfect in the French tongue."

[13] The Micmacs, as distinguished from the St. John river Indians or
Maliseets.

It was in the summer of the year 1695 that John Gyles was purchased of
the Indians by Louis d'Amours, having been nearly six years in
captivity at the Medoctec village. The strong prejudice against the
French instilled into his mind by his mother, who was a devout
puritan, was soon overcome by the kindness of Marguerite d'Amours.

The goods needed by the Sieur de Chauffours for his trade with the
Indians were obtained from the man-of-war which came out annually from
France, and Gyles was sometimes sent with the Frenchmen in his
master's employ to the mouth of the river for supplies. On one of
these trips, in the early spring time, the party in their frail canoes
were caught in a violent storm as they were coming down the
Kennebeccasis--having crossed over thither from Long Reach by way of
Kingston Creek, the usual route of travel. They were driven on Long
Island opposite Rothesay and remained there seven days without food,
unable to return by reason of the northeast gale and unable to advance
on account of the ice. At the expiration of that time the ice broke up
and they were able to proceed, but in so exhausted a state that they
could "scarce hear each other speak." After their arrival at St. John,
two of the party very nearly died in consequence of eating too
heartily, but Gyles had had such ample experience of fasting in his
Indian life that he had learned wisdom, and by careful dieting
suffered no evil consequences.

In the month of October, 1696, the quietude of the household at the
Jemseg was disturbed by the appearance of the Massachusetts milita