Twelve days after the shipwreck, the prisoner to the Algonquins, for whose deliverance Nicolet started on his journey, arrived at Sillery--the commander at Three Rivers, following the order of the governor, having ransomed him. He was conducted to the hospital of the place to be healed of the injuries he had received from his captors. They had stripped the flesh from his arms, in some places to the bone. The nuns at the hospital cared for him with much sympathy, and cured him so quickly that in a month's time he was able to return to his country. All the neophytes showed him as much compassion and charity as the Algonquins had displayed of cruelty. They gave him two good, Christianized savages to escort him as far as the country of a neighboring tribe of his own, to the end that he might reach his home in safety.[112] After the return of the French to Quebec, the Jesuits, as previously mentioned, were commissioned with the administration of spiritual affairs in New France. Some of these turned their attention to the Europeans; the rest were employed in missions among the savages. In the autumn of 1635, the residences and missions of Canada contained fifteen Fathers and five Brothers of the Society of Jesus. At Quebec, there were also formed two seculars--ecclesiastics. One of these was a brother of Nicolet.[113] He had come from Cherbourg to join him upon the St. Lawrence; and, during his residence in the colony, which was continued to 1647, he was employed in visiting French settlements at a distance from Quebec.[114] Another brother--Pierre--who was a navigator, also resided in Canada, but left the country some time after Nicolet's death.[115] The widow of Nicolet was married at Quebec, in 1646, to Nicholas Macard. Nicolet's discoveries, although not immediately followed up because of the hostility of the Iroquois and the lack of the spirit of adventure in Champlain's successor, caused, finally, great results. He had unlocked the door to the Far West, where, afterward, were seen the fur-trader, the _voyageur_, the Jesuit missionary, and the government agent. New France was extended to the Mississippi and beyond; yet Nicolet did not live to witness the progress of French trade and conquest in the countries he had discovered. The name of the family of Nicolet appears to have been extinguished in Canada, with the departure of M. Gilles Nicolet, priest, already mentioned; but the respect which the worthy interpreter had deserved induced the people of Three Rivers to perpetuate his memory. The example had been given before his death. We read in the _Relation_ of 1637 that the river St. John, near Montreal (now the river Jésus), took its name from _John_ Nicolet. To-day Canada has the river, the lake, the falls, the village, the city, the college, and the county of Nicolet.[116] From the United States--especially from the Northwest--equal honor is due.