g their canoes until they came to Lake Simcoe. After
crossing this there came another portage, after which the canoes were
launched again on the waters of the river Trent. Down this they made
their way until they came to a suitable spot for a great hunt. The
Frenchmen watched the proceedings and took part in them with great zest.
Five hundred men, forming an extended line, moved through the woods,
gradually closing in toward a wooded point on which they drove the game.
Then they swept along it to its very end. The frightened deer, driven
into the water, were easily killed by the canoe-men with spears and
arrows. Such a great hunt supplied the place of a commissary department
and furnished food for many days.

Out upon Lake Ontario the fleet of frail barks boldly ventured, crossed
it safely, and landed on the shore of what is now New York State. Here
the Indians hid their canoes. Now they were on the enemy's soil and must
move cautiously. For {136} four days they filed silently through the
woods, crossing the outlet of Lake Oneida, and plunged deep into the
Iroquois country. One day they came upon a clearing in which some of the
people of the neighboring villages were gathering corn and pumpkins.

Some of the impetuous young Hurons uttered their savage yell and rushed
upon them. But the Iroquois seized their weapons and defended themselves
so well that they drove back their assailants with some loss. Only the
Frenchmen, opening fire, saved the Hurons from worse disaster. Then the
attacking party moved on to the village. This Champlain found to be far
more strongly defended than any he had ever seen among the Indians.
There were not less than four rows of palisades, consisting of trunks of
trees set in the earth and leaning outward; and there was a kind of
gallery well supplied with stones and provided with wooden gutters for
quenching fire.

Something more than the hap-hazard methods of the Hurons was needed to
capture this stronghold, and Champlain instructed them how to set about
it. Under his direction, they built a wooden tower high enough to
overlook the palisades and {137} large enough to shelter four or five
marksmen. When this had been planted within a few feet of the
fortification, three arquebusiers mounted to the top and thence opened a
deadly raking fire along the crowded galleries. Had the assailants
confined themselves to this species of attack and heeded Champlain's
warnings, the result w