through the woods, had caused us to turn round continually for twelve
hours without advancing!

We were so near an English post at the Prairie de Boileau, that a
grenadier of the Regiment de Berry, seeing his commander, Cormier,
sink down with fatigue, and not in a condition to go any further,
carried off a horse from them which was upon the borders of the wood,
and mounted his commander on it; otherwise he would have been left
aside and taken prisoner by the English, or scalped by the Indians.

Having lost all hopes of going to Montreal through the woods, we took
the road to Fort St. Jean, on the River Chambly, four leagues lower
than Isle aux Noix, and five leagues by land to Montreal. My strength
was so entirely spent, that it was with great difficulty I could draw
one leg after the other. Nevertheless the fear of falling into the
hands of the Indians, the idea of the horrible cruelties which they
practice on their prisoners, which shock human nature, prevented me
from sinking down with pain, and gave me strength to push on.

Arrived at a settlement at four in the afternoon, about a league and a
half from St. John's Fort, where De Bougainville caused his detachment
to halt and repose themselves for the first time since midnight, that
they left Isle aux Noix. I perceived there a boat going off to St.
Jean, and I had only strength enough remaining to throw myself into
it. We lost in this march about eighty men: those who could not hold
out were left behind, victims to the Indians. Arriving at St. John's
Fort, the first person I saw there was Poularies, on the river side,
who told me they had news of our retreat, and that he was sent with
his regiment to sustain us in case we had been pursued by the English.