good train to protect me from that people, in case they should attempt to
harm me, as they are evil-disposed.

This intelligence greatly disturbed me, and I at once went to them and told
them, that up to this day I had regarded them as men and truthful persons,
but that now they had shown themselves children and liars, and that if they
would not fulfil their promises, they would fail to show me their
friendship; that, however, if they felt it an inconvenience to give me four
canoes they should only furnish two and four savages.

They represented to me anew the difficulties attending the journey, the
number of the falls, the bad character of the people, and that their reason
for refusing my request was their fear of losing me.

I replied that I was sorry to have them show themselves to so slight an
extent my friends, and that I should never have believed it; that I had a
young man, showing them my impostor, who had been in their country, and had
not found all these difficulties which they represented, nor the people in
question so bad as they asserted. Then they began to look at him, in
particular Tessoueat the old captain, with whom he had passed the winter,
and calling him by name he said to him in his language: Nicholas, is it
true that you said you were among the Nebicerini? It was long before he
spoke, when he said to them in their language, which he spoke to a certain
extent: Yes, I was there. They immediately looked at him awry, and throwing
themselves upon him, as if they would eat him up or tear him in pieces,
raised loud cries, when Tessoueat said to him: You are a downright liar, you
know well that you slept at my side every night with my children, where you
arose every morning; if you were among the people mentioned, it was while
sleeping. How could you have been so bold as to lead your chief to believe
lies, and so wicked as to be willing to expose his life to so many dangers?