Then three or four men agreed to go. When they put their canoe in the water, behold a wonder! To the great surprise of every one the sea subsided so that before them lay a pathway of calm water. To their further amazement, they made the journey to Isle aux Coudres with incredible rapidity. As they neared the shore they could see M. Compain walking up and down, a book in his hand. When they were within hearing distance he called out "Pere de La Brosse is dead. You come to get me to bury him. I have been waiting an hour for you." When the canoe touched the shore M. Compain embarked and they carried him to Tadousac. At Isle aux Coudres the bell of the chapel had distinctly sounded three times at midnight as at Tadousac. M. Compain knew what it meant for Pere de La Brosse had told him what he told his friends at Tadousac. Other church bells in the neighbourhood also rang miraculously on that night. Pere de La Brosse had said while cure at Isle Verte, "If I die elsewhere than here, you will have certain knowledge of the fact at the moment of my death." The legend, the rather obscure motive of which is to emphasize the saintly virtues of Pere de La Brosse, is believed even to this day by many simple people, hundreds of whom know it by heart. But some are skeptical. "I should have been able to give more certainty to this tradition," says M. Mailloux, the historian of Isle aux Coudres and also its cure, "had I been able to make more extended investigation. Meanwhile," he adds naively, "my investigations suffice to give a high idea of the virtues of this admirable missionary."