Jogues returned to the Huron mission and wintered there, starting in the spring of 1642 for Quebec with the Huron traders to bring supplies to the mission, which was in a state of destitution. As he was returning up the St. Lawrence River he and his companion, Goupil, were captured by the Iroquois, who led them to the Mohawk towns. There most of the Hurons of the party were killed, and Jogues and his white companion were tortured and terribly mutilated. Goupil lost his life in the Iroquois camp, but Jogues was finally rescued by Dutch allies of the Mohawks and sent to Europe. From there he returned to New France and was tortured and killed by the Iroquois in 1646. Isaac Jogues was the first Jesuit to fall in the progress of that warfare which was to bring to a tragic end the Jesuit mission to the Hurons by wiping out the towns in which the missionaries labored. The journey from Quebec to the Huron country was now fraught with peril from the marauding bands of Iroquois warriors. Two years after the first capture of Jogues an expedition led by Brébeuf relieved the needs of the missionaries by bringing supplies. That same year another Jesuit on his way to the mission was taken by the Iroquois, but in 1645 a temporary peace rekindled the hopes of the Fathers. Three years later the warfare broke out with renewed fury, and it soon became evident that the Huron nation was doomed. Large bands of Hurons, deserting their towns, fled into the interior. The Jesuits aided those who remained to defend their homes, but town after town was taken and one after another Jesuit fell into the hands of the Iroquois and suffered martyrdom with cruel tortures. The story of the tragic death of Jean Brébeuf, the founder of the mission, is one of wonderful strength and endurance amid most revolting tortures. The few remaining Jesuits withdrew with the terrified Indian survivors to an island in Lake Huron, which they were able for a time to defend, but the Iroquois lay in an ambuscade and captured the fugitives whenever they went ashore. At the earnest entreaty of the chiefs of the doomed nation the Jesuits gathered the remnant of their people and abandoned with them the desolated country which had been for thirty-five years the seat of missionary labors. Sadly they proceeded on the long journey to Quebec, passing everywhere deserted villages which had been partially destroyed by fire. Once they were attacked by the Iroquois, but at length reached Quebec in safety. The Iroquois had driven the Hurons from their homes to perish by famine and pestilence until the whole nation was practically wiped out, and the most important field of Jesuit missions was turned into a solitude and a desolation. The future for French missions looked dark indeed, and for a time western exploration was also abandoned.