Boys' Book of Indian Warriors and Heroic Indian WomenSabin, Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand)
History
Boys' Book of Indian Warriors and Heroic Indian Women
Sabin, Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand)
Indians of North America -- Biography; Indians of North America -- Wars
Down the Richelieu, and down the St. Lawrence, nothing disagreeable
happened, save that, when one of the Mohawks (a large, out-spoken
warrior) defied the Algonkins to do their worst upon him, and called
them weaklings, he was struck across the mouth, to silence him.
"Where are you taking us, then?"
"We are taking you to the French governor at Quebec. He is our father,
and you belong to him, not to us."
That indeed was surprising news. Usually the Hurons and the Algonkins
refused to deliver any of their prisoners to the missions or the forts,
but carried them away to the torture.
The Richelieu empties into the St. Lawrence below Montreal. On down
the St. Lawrence, thick with melting ice, hastened the canoes, until
Quebec, the capital of the province, was within sight.
Four miles above Quebec there had been founded another mission for
Christian Indians. It was named Sillery. Here a number of Algonkins
had erected a village of log huts, on a flat beside the river, under
the protection of a priests' house, church and hospital.
As they approached Sillery, the Piskaret party raised their eleven
scalps on eleven long poles. While they drifted, they chanted a song
of triumph, and beat time to it by striking their paddles, all
together, upon the gunwales of their canoes.
The two captives, believing that the hour of torture was near, sang
their own songs of defiance.
That was a strange sight, to be nearing Sillery. So the good father in
charge of Sillery sent a runner to Quebec. He himself, with his
assistants, joined the crowd of Algonkins gathered at the river shore.
The canoes came on. The scalps and the two prisoners were plain to be
seen. Piskaret! It was the noted warrior Piskaret! Guns were being
fired, whoops were being exchanged, and the mission father waited,
hopeful and astonished.
Now the chief of the Sillery Algonkins, who had been baptised to the
name of Jean Baptiste, made a speech of welcome, from the shore.
Standing upright in his canoe, Piskaret the champion replied. And now
a squad of French soldiers, hurrying in from Quebec, added to the
excitement with a volley of salute.
Piskaret landed, proud not only that he had again whipped the Iroquois,
but that he had acted like a Christian toward his captives. He had not
burned them nor gnawed off their finger tips. And instead of giving
them over for torture by other Algonkins, he had brought them clear
down the river, to the governor.
The scalp trophies were planted, like flags, over the doorways of the
Sillery lodges. The two captives were placed under guard until the
governor should arrive from Quebec. The happy Father Jesuit bade
everybody feast and make merry, to celebrate the double victory of
Piskaret.
The governor of this New France hastened up from Quebec, hopeful that
at last a way had been opened to peace with the dread Iroquois.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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