ies of the attacking party were inconsiderable, since but
two of their chiefs and fifteen warriors were wounded. In addition to
their repulse, the Hurons suffered a severe disappointment through the
failure to join them of five hundred allies who had given their solemn
promise. Although Champlain had received two severe wounds, one in the
leg and another in the knee, he urged a second and more concerted
attack. But in vain. The most the Hurons would promise was to wait
four or five days for the expected reinforcements. At the end of this
time there was no sign of the five hundred, and the return began. 'The
only good point,' says Champlain, 'that I have seen in their mode of
{111} warfare is that they make their retreat very securely, placing
all the wounded and aged in their centre, being well armed on the wings
and in the rear, and continuing this order without interruption until
they reach a place of security.'

Champlain himself suffered tortures during the retreat, partly from his
wounds, but even more from the mode of transportation. The Indian
method of removing the wounded was first to bind and pinion them 'in
such a manner that it is as impossible for them to move as for an
infant in its swaddling-clothes.' They were then carried in a kind of
basket, 'crowded up in a heap.' Doubtless as a mark of distinction,
Champlain was carried separately on the back of a savage. His wound
was so severe that when the retreat began he could not stand. But the
transportation proved worse than the wound. 'I never found myself in
such a _gehenna_ as during this time, for the pain which I suffered in
consequence of the wound in my knee was nothing in comparison with that
which I endured while I was carried bound and pinioned on the back of
one of our savages. So that I lost my patience, and as soon as I could
sustain myself got out of this prison, or rather _gehenna_.'

{112}

The enemy made no pursuit, but forced marches were kept up for
twenty-five or thirty leagues. The weather now grew cold, as it was
past the middle of autumn. The fight at the fort of the Onondagas had
taken place on October 10, and eight days later there was a snowstorm,
with hail and a strong wind. But, apart from extreme discomfort, the
retreat was successfully accomplished, and on the shore of Lake Ontario
they found the canoes intact.

It had been Champlain's purpose to spend the winter at Quebec, and when
the Hurons were about to le