Prompt action was necessary.  Orders were sent to the missionaries in the outlying points to return to headquarters, and towards the end of March the colonists, fifty-three in all, were behind the palisades of their houses on Lake Onondaga.  But they had slight chance of escape, for they had not canoes enough to carry more than half the party.  Moreover, they were closely watched:  Onondaga warriors had pitched their wigwams about the palisades and several had stationed themselves immediately in front of the gate.  The greatest need of the French, however, being adequate means of transportation, they addressed themselves to this problem.  In the principal dwelling was a large garret, and here they built two strong boats, each capable of bearing fifteen men.  But the difficulty still remained of getting these boats to the lake without the knowledge of the savages.

Among the colonists was a young man, Pierre Esprit Radisson, who three years before had been a prisoner among the Iroquois and who was afterwards to figure prominently in the history of the Canadian wilderness.  He was unscrupulous but resourceful; and on this occasion his talents came into good use.  He knew the Indians well and he knew that they could not resist a feast, especially a feast of a semi-religious character.  He persuaded a young man of the mission to feign illness and to invite the Onondagas to aid in his cure by attending a festin a manger tout—­a feast where everything must be eaten.  To sanction this no doubt went much against the grain of the Jesuits, who had been upbraiding the Indians for their superstition and gluttony; but in this case the end seemed assuredly to justify the means.  The Onondagas attended the banquet.  In huge iron pots slung over fires outside the gate of the palisades the French boiled an immense quantity of venison, game, fish, and corn.  They had brought with them to the colony a number of hogs, and these they slew to add to the feast.  The Indians squatted about the kettles, from which the soldiers, employees, and fathers ladled the food; as fast as a warrior’s dish was emptied it was refilled; and when a reveller signified that he had eaten enough, the pretended invalid cried out:  ‘Would you have me die?’ and once more the gorged Onondaga fell to.  To add to the entertainment, some of the Frenchmen, who had brought violins to the wilderness, fiddled with might and main.  At length the gluttony began to take the desired effect:  one after another the Onondagas dropped to sleep to the soothing music of the violins.  Then, when brute slumber had sealed the eyes of all, the colonists roused themselves for flight.  Some one, probably Radisson, suggested that they were fifty-three wide-awake Frenchmen to one hundred sleeping savages, and that it would be easy to brain their enemies as they slept; but the Jesuits would not sanction such a course.  The Frenchmen threw open the gate, and carried the boats from the garret to the lakeside.  They put up effigies of soldiers at conspicuous points within the enclosure, barred and locked the gate, and launched the vessels.  They had swept across the lake and were well down the Oswego before day had dawned and the Indians had awakened from their heavy slumber.