After some anxious private consideration of the probabilities and doubts, Champlain again called Vignan, and told him that the time was passed for dissimulation, and that now he must speak the truth, and he would forget the past; but that if he went further and found the statement false, he would assuredly have him hung or strangled; whereupon Vignan threw himself on his knees, and confessed that all that he had said in France and since was false; that he had never seen the Northern Sea, or been beyond the village of Tessouat, and had invented the whole story in order to return to Canada. Champlain, enraged, ordered him never to appear before him again, and immediately informed the Indians of the imposture; they proposed that Vignan should be left to them, and they would take care that he should tell no more lies, which Champlain declined. Finding his hopes thus frustrated and his journey at an end, on the 10th of June he took leave of Tessouat, and set out on his return, during which he met with nothing remarkable, save a false alarm of an attack of the enemy, and witnessing the offerings of the savages to the spirit of the Chaudière rapid. He arrived at the Sault St. Louis on the 17th, accompanied by certain of his Indian friends, with whom he made an agreement that they should not trade without his permission. He made Vignan again confess his lies in presence of his countrymen; and, on his promising that he would retrieve his fault by making a journey to the Northern Ocean and bring back news of it in the following year, Champlain pardoned him. He then proceeded to Tadoussac, and, having nothing further to do that year in the country, sailed for France on the 8th of August, and in due time arrived at St. Malo. I have dwelt somewhat at length on this episode of Vignan's imposture, as it preeminently shows the enterprising, persevering, and resolute character of Champlain, combined with a generous and forgiving disposition. Few at that time would have blamed him for inflicting summary justice on the liar who had so deceived him, or have condemned him had he left Vignan to the tender mercies of Tessouat and his tribe. The condition of pardon is also characteristic,--condemnation to perform the journey pretended to have been made, thus turning the imposture to some advantage.