Original - North Central Michigan College Library

The state of my mind will be imagined.Arrived at the door some delay was occasionedby the absence of the key and a few momentswere thus allowed me in which to look aroundfor a hiding place. In one corner of the garretwas a heap of those vessels of birch bark usedin maple sugar making as I have recentlydescribed.The door was unlocked, and opening, andthe Indians ascending the stairs, before I hadcompletely crept into a small opening, whichpresented itself at one end of the heap. Aninstant after four Indians entered the room,all armed with tomahawks, and all besmearedwith blood upon every part of their bodies.The die appeared to be cast. I could scarcelybreathe; but I thought that the throbbing ofmy heart occasioned a noise loud enough tobetray me. The Indians walked in everydirection about the garret, and one of them approachedme so closely that at a particularmoment, had he put forth his hand, he musthave touched me. Still I remained undiscovered,a circumstance to which the dark colorof my clothes and the want of light in a roomwhich had no window, and in the corner inwhich I was, must have contributed. In a word,after taking several turns in the room, duringwhich they told M. Langlade how many theyhad killed and how many scalps they hadcumstances the course he adopted was the wisest oneopen to him. Editor. 84