at Lake St. Peter, some miles above Three Rivers.

The two parties met, as agreed, and began their long journey. After a
few days they found traces of a party that had preceded them, their
fires still burning. Judging from certain signs that these were not
enemies, they exerted themselves to {202} overtake them. They found
them to be a party of Indians from Lake Superior who had been to
Montreal and were returning. The two bands united and now formed a
considerable force, in fourteen canoes. This union proved a happy
circumstance, for the next day they were attacked by a war-party of
Iroquois who were lying in wait for the Lake Superior Indians, having
observed their passage down the river. The Iroquois, who had fortified
themselves, were evidently surprised to find themselves confronted by a
far larger force than they expected.

Radisson and an Indian were sent to scout and examine the fort. They
found it to be a stockade surrounded by large rocks. The Iroquois made
overtures for peace by throwing strings of wampum over the stockade,
and that night they slipped away, leaving a free passage to Radisson's
party.

The next day, however, there was a brush with Iroquois, in which three
were killed, as well as one of Radisson's party. The enemy were not in
sufficient force to make a fight in the open and fell back into an old
fort--for this region, being on the route to the upper lakes, was a
constant battleground. Radisson's party gathered to attack it, {203}
the Iroquois meanwhile firing constantly, but doing little harm.
Darkness came on, and the assailants filled a barrel with gunpowder
and, "having stoped the whole" (stopped the hole) and tied it to the
end of a long pole, tried to push it over the stockade. It fell back,
however, and exploded with so much force that three of the assailants
themselves were killed.

Radisson then made a sort of hand-grenade by putting three or four
pounds of powder into a "rind of a tree" (piece of bark) with "a fusey
[fuse] to have time to throw the rind." This he flung into the fort,
having directed his Indians to follow up the explosion by breaking in
with hatchet and sword. Meanwhile the Iroquois were singing their
death-song. The grenade fell among them and burst with terrible
execution. Immediately Radisson's party broke in, and there was a
scene of confusion, assailants and assailed unable in the darkness to
distinguish friend from foe.

Suddenly there fell a