blanket; having shortened and loaded it, he returned with it hid under his dress. This transaction being a convincing proof of his diabolical intention, I directed my man to stand on one side of the door, and I took my post on the other, waiting his entrance into the house. Just as he passed the threshold, I knocked him down with a billet of wood, and taking his short gun from him, beat him so much that we were obliged to carry him down to his canoe, where his family were waiting for him, and ordered them all off the ground, threatening that in case of refusal his canoe should be instantly broken to pieces, and his family turned adrift. The squaws and children appeared very much distressed, and with great reluctance obeyed my orders. Thus I got rid of an unprincipled set; and, as will soon appear, escaped a danger which was certainly intended to involve me and my men in utter ruin.
A few days after their departure, an Indian arrived and informed me that Mr. Joseph la Forme, a brother trader who was settled at Lac le Sel, was killed by a Savage, and described his person. I had no doubt but he was the same man who attempted to destroy me. I communicated every circumstance of his conduct, and the revenge I took on the occasion. The Indian congratulated me on my happy escape, as he was known to be a bad man by all the tribe, having killed his brother and one of his wives last fall, which was the reason that the band he belonged to would not suffer him to stay among them. As I was anxious to know the particulars, I desired him to relate them. He told me that he was informed by a Savage whom he accidentally met, and {116} to whom the murderer had revealed the particulars, that the Indian being disappointed in his design against me, pur-
