What happened to the prisoners was graphically told later when one of them arrived at the camp.
He told how the design of his captors had been to descend to a point whence they could land and cut their way through the woods, to the place now known as Chambly. But having too heavy a load of beaver skins to carry, on landing they destroyed their canoes with their axes, as their custom was to render them useless.
When they were in the woods, some four or five leagues from the place whence they left the river, their care of their prisoners became less guarded. He had been set to boil a kettle, and taking the opportunity of being sent to gather wood for the fire, he had eluded his captors and had come to the spot where he had landed. Finding one of the canoes less damaged than the others, he plugged up the dents made by the Iroquois hatchets, and loading it with a few skins, had then paddled up to Ville Marie. The soldiers of the fort went for the rest of the peltries and M. de Maisonneuve distributed them, but kept none fur himself. [51] The fate of the other two prisoners was told later by a Huron who escaped from the Iroquois. We are not told their names by the "Relations" of 1643, but one whose Christian name was Henri, having seen his companion, as well as two Hurons, burnt at a slow fire, had escaped, only to be recaptured for the same terrible fate.
For the rest of that year, apprehension of ambuscades kept the colony within the walls of the fort as far as possible. Even to leave the threshold of their homes was to risk danger.
"Tant il est vrai," adds M. Dollier de Casson, "que dans ces temps on était plus en assurance de ce qu'on avait franchi le seuil de sa porte." From this time begins the history of "Castle Dangerous," as we may term this period of the nascent city, now commencing, when there began a constant struggle with the daily risks of life. It was during this early anxiety that good news came to allay some of the alarm, and this was brought by the governor of Quebec.
For, meanwhile in France, during the winter, the eyes of many were turned onto the infant colony. Praise and criticism alike were freely distributed. The great Company, stung by reflections on their own inactivity, repented of having given their charter to a company which they feared might prove a rival, and would have revoked it, but for the ratification it had received from the King. There were many, however, who in high places strongly approved of the aims and objects of the Company of Montreal. [52] A letter is extant, from Louis XIII himself, written at St. Germain-en-Laye, on February 21st, which was written to M. Montmagny, the agent of the Great Company at Quebec, bidding him "assist and favour in every way in his power, the Seigneur de Maisonneuve in such manner that there shall be no trouble or hindrance." This was one of the last acts of this noble prince, who died on May 24th following, but his kindness to Montreal will always be remembered. It was he who gave the Company of Montreal besides presents of artillery the vessel of 250 tons, which, under the name of Notre Dame de Montréal, was now crossing the ocean bringing new colonists and their effects.
In the month of July, 1643, the colony was delighted with the presence of M. Montmagny, who announced the approaching convoy sent by the Associates, under the guidance of one who was destined to be an able lieutenant to M. Maisonneuve. This was M. Louis d'Ailleboust, Seigneur de Coulonges, a man of an illustrious family that had given distinguished sons to the church and state. The vessels, bringing him and his party of colonists for Montreal, arrived at Quebec on Assumption day, 1643, and soon they reached the fort. Among them, to the great delight of Jeanne Mance, was his noble lady, Barbe de Boulogne. Jean de Saint-Père, the first notary, was also with them. For Jeanne Mance, M. d'Ailleboust brought a message, of which we shall hear later. M. d'Ailleboust was a skillful engineer, and under his guidance the wooden stockade was reinforced with two bastions, which the fear of attacks from the Iroquois had rendered most desirable. This enclosure now began to be called the "Fort" or the "Château."
The religious care of the colony at this time was that exercised by the Jesuit Fathers, [53] whose headquarters were at Quebec. As we have seen, they willingly consented to serve this mission until M. Olier had prepared for the Associates a succession of secular priests formed by his hand for the special purpose of Montreal. The time was now come for M. Olier's company to leave Vaugirard, to which he had gone in 1641, and to follow him to Paris to the parish of St. Sulpice, where he was now training in his Seminary of St. Sulpice, a goodly number of young priests suitable for the Canadian mission of Ville Marie. These were ready to go, but as yet a technical difficulty of ecclesiastical canon law stood in the way.
Since the re-occupation of Quebec by the French in 1632, after the departure of the English under Kerth, the Jesuits had been sent under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Rouen, and this see had continued to claim the Catholics of New France as its diocesans.