the squaws, spoke
to them sternly, and referred them to his Indian allies for their
answer. Whereupon the head chief of the Illinois, being called upon by
the rest to speak in their behalf, addressed the envoys to this effect:
"Listen to me, you who have troubled all the earth. We see plainly that
you mean only to deceive our father. If we should leave him, as you
wish, you would fall upon him and kill him. You are dogs who have always
bitten him. You thought that we did not know all the messages you have
had from the English, telling you to cut our father's throat, and then
bring them into this our country. We will not leave him alone with you.
We shall see who will be the master. Go back to your fort. We are going
to fire at you again."

The envoys went back with a French escort to prevent their being
murdered on the way, and then the firing began again. The Outagamies and
Mascoutins gathered strength from desperation, and sent flights of
fire-arrows into the fort to burn the straw-thatched houses. The flames
caught in many places; but with the help of the Indians they were
extinguished, though several Frenchmen were wounded, and there was great
fright for a time. But the thatch was soon stripped off and the roofs
covered with deer and bear skins, while mops fastened to long poles, and
two large wooden canoes filled with water, were made ready for future
need.

A few days after, a greater peril threatened the French. If the wild
Indian has the passions of a devil, he has also the instability of a
child; and this is especially true when a number of incoherent tribes or
bands are joined in a common enterprise. Dubuisson's Indians became
discouraged, partly at the stubborn resistance of the enemy, and partly
at the scarcity of food. Some of them declared openly that they could
never conquer those people; that they knew them well, and that they were
braver than anybody else. In short, the French saw themselves on the
point of being abandoned by their allies to a fate the most ghastly and
appalling; and they urged upon the commandant the necessity of escaping
to Michilimackinac before it was too late. Dubuisson appears to have met
the crisis with equal resolution and address. He braced the shaken
nerves of his white followers by appeals to their sense of shame,
threats of the governor's wrath, and assurances that all would yet be
well; then set himself to the more difficult task of holding the Indian
allies to their wor