om they hoped to transform into
Canadians by conversion and adoption. Many also were in the hands of the
Indians, who demanded payment for them,--which Dudley had always
refused, declaring that he would not "set up an Algiers trade" by buying
them from their pretended owners; and he wrote to Vaudreuil that for his
own part he "would never permit a savage to tell him that any Christian
prisoner was at his disposal." Vaudreuil had insisted that his Indians
could not be compelled to give up their captives, since they were not
subjects of France, but only allies,--which, so far as concerned the
mission Indians within the colony, was but a pretext. It is true,
however, that the French authorities were in such fear of offending even
these that they rarely ventured to cross their interests or their
passions. Other difficulties were raised, and though the envoys remained
in Canada till late in spring, they accomplished little. At last,
probably to get rid of their importunities, five prisoners were given
up to them,--Sheldon's daughter-in-law, Hannah; Esther Williams, eldest
daughter of the minister; a certain Ebenezer Carter; and two others
unknown. With these, Sheldon and his companions set out in May on their
return; and soon after they were gone, four young men,--Baker, Nims,
Kellogg, and Petty,--desperate at being left in captivity, made their
escape from Montreal, and reached Deerfield before the end of June, half
dead with hunger.

Sheldon and his party were escorted homeward by eight soldiers under
Courtemanche, an officer of distinction, whose orders were to "make
himself acquainted with the country." He fell ill at Boston, where he
was treated with much kindness, and on his recovery was sent home by
sea, along with Captain Vetch and Samuel Hill, charged to open a fresh
negotiation. With these, at the request of Courtemanche, went young
William Dudley, son of the governor.[70]

They were received at Quebec with a courtesy qualified by extreme
caution, lest they should spy out the secrets of the land. The mission
was not very successful, though the elder Dudley had now a good number
of French prisoners in his hands, captured in Acadia or on the adjacent
seas. A few only of the English were released, including the boy,
Stephen Williams, whom Vaudreuil had bought for forty crowns from his
Indian master.

In the following winter John Sheldon made another journey on foot to
Canada, with larger powers than before. He arri