arling had
played in it all. He had grown curiously at ease when he had found
himself in an Iroquois camp. I had no choice but to believe that
Pemaou had tricked and deceived him, as he had said, but that did not
mean that he had not been in league with Pemaou in the beginning.
Pemaou was capable of tricking a confederate. No Englishman
understands an Indian, and if he had patronized Pemaou the Huron would
have retaliated in just this way. I grew sick with the maze of my
thought. But one thing I grasped. With part of the Senecas in the
French camp, we Frenchmen would be spared for a time. We would be
convenient for exchange, or to exact terms of compromise. They might
torture us, but they would keep us alive till the issue of this
expedition was known.

All about me were preparations for a permanent camp. This puzzled me
for a time, but I soon worked out the reason. They were afraid to
march with their full force on Michillimackinac, for they feared the
friendship of the western tribes for the French, and thought that if a
large war party marched openly toward the garrison these tribes would
rally to Cadillac's defense. So this camp was kept as watch-dog for
the western region. I prayed that Cadillac keep his judgment cool.

One thing brought smiles that I had to turn into vacant and misleading
laughter. Through all the talk ran my name,--that they did not know
was mine. They had heard that I was stirring among the western tribes,
and that I was making them dangerous. They spoke of my knowledge of
Indian tongues, and added apocryphal tales of my feats of wit and
daring. My image loomed large, and it was no wonder that they did not
connect this mythical Colossus with the swaggering royster who played
buffoon for their mirth. I wondered that Pemaou had not told them, but
I reflected that there is a mutual distrust among Indians that takes
the place of reticence, and that that had saved me. I had escaped for
the moment, but the ice was thin. I should be given short shrift once
my name was known.

The day passed, warm and lovely in the woods and on the water, hideous
and sweltering in the stench of the camp. I saw captives die of heat
and flies, but I could do nothing. My men took cue from me, and we all
laughed and chaffered. I even took a turn at spear throwing, but was
too discreet to win. I gained some good-will, perhaps, but nothing
more, and when the stars came out that night I ground my teet