_]
The emissaries of the Governor had been busy all winter among the tribes
of the West and North; and more than a thousand savages, lured by
prospect of gifts, scalps, and plunder, were now encamped at Montreal.
Many of them had never visited a French settlement before. All were
eager to see Montcalm, whose exploit in taking Oswego had inflamed their
imagination; and one day, on a visit of ceremony, an orator from
Michillimackinac addressed the General thus: "We wanted to see this
famous man who tramples the English under his feet. We thought we should
find him so tall that his head would be lost in the clouds. But you are
a little man, my Father. It is when we look into your eyes that we see
the greatness of the pine-tree and the fire of the eagle."[494]
[Footnote 494: Bougainville, _Journal_.]
It remained to muster the Mission Indians settled in or near the limits
of the colony; and it was to this end that Montcalm went to sing the
war-song with the converts of the Two Mountains. Rigaud, Bougainville,
young Longueuil, and others were of the party; and when they landed, the
Indians came down to the shore, their priests at their head, and greeted
the General with a volley of musketry; then received him after dark in
their grand council-lodge, where the circle of wild and savage visages,
half seen in the dim light of a few candles, suggested to Bougainville a
midnight conclave of wizards.
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