All at once the Algonquins opened their ranks and Champlain, in full armor, walked forth. The Iroquois gazed in wonder on the first European soldier they had ever seen. Champlain leveled his musket and fired. Two chiefs fell. Then another report rang through the woods, and the boldest warriors in North America broke and fled in confusion. The Algonquins, yelling like demons, ran after them, killing and capturing as many as possible. There was great rejoicing among the victors, and Champlain was their hero. But there must have been great sorrow and vows of revenge among the Iroquois. [Illustration: THE ROUTES FOLLOWED BY CHAMPLAIN] [Sidenote: =Champlain and the Algonquins invade the Iroquois country=] The next year Champlain joined another Algonquin war party, and helped win another victory from the Iroquois. Again, in 1615, he joined a party of more than five hundred fiercely painted warriors. They traveled to the shore of Lake Ontario and boldly crossed to the other side in their bark canoes. They hid their boats and then silently marched into the country of the Iroquois. Some miles south of Oneida Lake they came upon a fortified Indian town. For several days Champlain and his Indians tried to break into or burn the fort, but had to give it up. These campaigns made the Iroquois hate the French almost as much as they did the Algonquins. [Illustration: THE DEFEAT OF THE IROQUOIS AT LAKE CHAMPLAIN _After an engraving of Champlain's published in 1613_] [Sidenote: =Iroquois make St. Lawrence unsafe for French=] For this reason Frenchmen found it safer to go west by traveling up the Ottawa River and crossing over to Lake Huron than by paddling up the St. Lawrence and through lakes Ontario and Erie. The result was that the French discovered Lake Michigan and Lake Superior long before they ever saw Lake Erie. On the other hand, we are soon to see how the Dutch made friends with the Iroquois. [Illustration: A FRENCH FUR TRADER ON SNOWSHOES] [Sidenote: =Champlain true to king and country=] Champlain remained many years in Canada, always working for the good of New France, as the country was called. He helped on the work of the missionaries, made peace between hostile tribes of Indians, and encouraged the fur trade and the coming of new settlers. Worn out with toil and travel, far away from kindred and native land, Champlain died at Quebec on Christmas Day, 1635. JOLIET AND MARQUETTE, FUR TRADER AND MISSIONARY, EXPLORE THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY FOR NEW FRANCE [Sidenote: =Stories of a new country=] =33. French Explorers in the Northwest.= Year after year, traders and missionaries, returning to Montreal and Quebec from the west, told strange stories of a great river larger than any the French had yet seen. In May, 1673, Joliet, a fur trader, and Marquette, a missionary, were sent out by Count Frontenac, governor of the French settlements in Canada, to explore this river. [Sidenote: =Joliet and Marquette find the Mississippi=]