The journey was a long one.  It was the 29th of July when they reached a point far down the lake, near the present site of Crown Point.  They had paddled all night.  They hid here all day.  Champlain fell asleep on a heap of spruce boughs, and in his slumber dreamed that he had seen the Iroquois drowning in the lake, and that when he tried to rescue them he had been told by his Algonquin friends to leave them alone, as they were not worth the trouble of saving.

The Indians believed in the power of dreams.  They had beset Champlain daily to learn if he had had any visions.  When now he told them his dream they were filled with joy.  Victory had spoken into his slumbering ear.  With gladness they re-embarked when night came on, and continued their course down the lake.

They had not far to go.  At ten o’clock, through the shadows of the night, they beheld a number of dark objects on the lake before them.  It was a fleet of Iroquois canoes, heavier and slower craft than those of the Algonquins, for they were made of oak-or elm-bark, instead of the light paper-birch used by the latter.

Each party saw the other, and recognized that they were in the presence of foes.  War-cries sounded over the shadowy waters.  The Iroquois, who preferred to do their fighting on land and who were nearer shore, hastened to the beach and began at once to build a barricade of logs, filling the air of the night with yells of defiance as they worked away like beavers.  The allies meanwhile remained on the lake, their canoes lashed together with poles, dancing with a vigor that imperilled their frail barks, and answering the taunts and menaces of their foes with equally vociferous abuse.

It was agreed that the battle should be deferred till daybreak.  As day approached Champlain and his two followers armed themselves, their armor consisting of cuirass, or breast-plate, steel coverings for the thighs, and a plumed helmet for the head.  By the side of the leader hung his sword, and in his hand was his arquebuse, which he had loaded with four balls.  The savages of these woods were now first to learn the destructive power of that weapon, for which in the years to come they would themselves discard the antiquated bow.

The Iroquois much outnumbered their foes.  There were some two hundred of them in all, tall, powerful men, the boldest warriors of America, whose steady march excited Champlain’s admiration as he saw them filing from their barricade and advancing through the woods.  As for himself and his two companions, they had remained concealed in the canoes, and not even when a landing was made did the Iroquois behold the strangely-clad allies of their hereditary enemies.