There was a rush of the twelve foremost canoes to reach the landing and cross the portage before the thinning mist lifted entirely.  Twelve boats had got ashore when the fog was cleft by a tremendous crashing of guns, and Iroquois ambushed in the bordering forest let go a salute of musketry.  Everything was instantly in confusion.  Abandoning their baggage to the enemy, the Algonquins and French rushed for the woods to erect a barricade.  This would protect the landing of the other canoes.  The Iroquois immediately threw up a defence of fallen logs likewise, and each canoe that came ashore was greeted with a cross fire between the two barricades.  Four canoes were destroyed and thirteen of the Indians from the Upper Country killed.  As day wore on, the Iroquois’ shots ceased, and the Algonquins celebrated the truce by killing and devouring all the prisoners they had taken, among whom was the magician who had given them warning.  Radisson and Groseillers wondered if the Iroquois were reserving their powder for a night raid.  The Algonquins did not wait to know.  As soon as darkness fell, there was a wild scramble for the shore.  A long, low trumpet call, such as hunters use, signalled the Algonquins to rally and rush for the boats.  The French embarked as best they could.  The Indians swam and paddled for the opposite shore of the river.  Here, in the dark, hurried council was taken.  The most of the baggage had been lost.  The Indians refused to help either the Jesuits or the French, and it was impossible for the white voyageurs to keep up the pace in the dash across an unknown portage through the dark.  The French adventurers turned back for Montreal.  Of the white men, Radisson and Groseillers alone went on.

Frightened into their senses by the encounter, the Algonquins now travelled only at night till they were far beyond range of the Iroquois.  All day the fugitive band lay hidden in the woods.  They could not hunt, lest Mohawk spies might hear the gunshots.  Provisions dwindled.  In a short time the food consisted of tripe de roche—­a greenish moss boiled into a soup—­and the few fish that might be caught during hurried nightly launch or morning landing.  Sometimes they hid in a berry patch, when the fruit was gathered and boiled, but camp-fires were stamped out and covered.  Turning westward, they crossed the barren region of iron-capped rocks and dwarf growth between the Upper Ottawa and the Great Lakes.  Now they were farther from the Iroquois, and staved off famine by shooting an occasional bear in the berry patches.  For a thousand miles they had travelled against stream, carrying their boats across sixty portages.  Now they glided with the current westward to Lake Nipissing.  On the lake, the Upper Indians always cached provisions.  Fish, otter, and beaver were plentiful; but again they refrained from using firearms, for Iroquois footprints had been found on the sand.