With the first two the Indian spokesman promised that his nation would not eat Count Frontenac's children, those cowardly Illinois.
The next was a plaster to heal Tonty's wound.
The next was oil to anoint him and the Récollets, so their joints would move easily in traveling.
The next said that the sun was bright.
And the sixth and last pack ordered the French to get up and leave the country.
When the speaker sat down, Tonty came to his feet and looked at the beaver skins piled before them. Then he looked around the circle of hard weather-beaten faces and restless eyes, and thanked the Iroquois for their gift.
"But I would know," said Tonty, "how soon you yourselves intend to leave the country and let the Illinois be in peace?"
There was a growl, and a number of the braves burst out with the declaration that they intended to eat Illinois flesh first.
Tonty raised his foot and kicked the beaver skins from him. In that very way they would have rejected a one-sided treaty themselves. Up they sprang with drawn knives and drove him and Father Membré from the fort.
All night the French stood guard for fear of being surprised and massacred in their lodge. At daybreak the chiefs ordered them to go without waiting another hour, and gave them a leaky boat.