Had my own life alone been threatened I would not have purchased it by such a measure, but I considered myself as entrusted also with the protection of Hepburn's, a man who, by his humane attentions and devotedness, had so endeared himself to me that I felt more anxiety for his safety than for my own.

Michel had gathered no tripe de roche and it was evident to us that he had halted for the purpose of putting his gun in order with the intention of attacking us, perhaps whilst we were in the act of encamping.
I have dwelt in the preceding part of the narrative upon many circumstances of Michel's conduct, not for the purpose of aggravating his crime, but to put the reader in possession of the reasons that influenced me in depriving a fellow-creature of life.

Up to the period of his return to the tent his conduct had been good and respectful to the officers, and in a conversation between Captain Franklin, Mr.Hood, and myself, at Obstruction Rapid, it had been proposed to give him a reward upon our arrival at a post.

His principles however, unsupported by a belief in the divine truths of Christianity, were unable to withstand the pressure of severe distress.

His countrymen, the Iroquois, are generally Christians, but he was totally uninstructed and ignorant of the duties inculcated by Christianity, and from his long residence in the Indian country seems to have imbibed or retained the rules of conduct which the southern Indians prescribe to themselves.
On the two following days we had mild but thick snowy weather and, as the view was too limited to enable us to preserve a straight course, we remained encamped amongst a few willows and dwarf pines about five miles from the tent.