Though Montreal was for the moment the Saviour of New France, de Maisonneuve had learned enough from the fugitives from the Long Sault to make him fear the downpour of the revengeful Iroquois either that autumn or the next spring. Consequently he put the town in a state of defence--by fortifying the fort, the Hôtel-Dieu, the mill on the hill, the lonely redoubts, St. Gabriel and Ste. Marie, recently constructed by de Queylus and the Sulpicians, and then hastened to give the news of the exploit of Dollard to Three Rivers and Quebec. The joyful tidings gave Quebec pause to breathe again in peace. For five months public prayers had been daily held in the churches for God's protection of the country and for the five weeks preceding the news, there had been no repose by day or by night.
Yet d'Argenson, the governor, also feared a descent upon Quebec before the harvest, and there would then be utter famine. On July 4th he wrote to France to have provisions sent back immediately, for "we are more in war than ever and in still greater famine.... We have little or no wheat, and there are three months to await for the harvest, which we are in great danger of not gathering, if the Iroquois carry out their resolution to ravage our lands."
Luckily there was no such disaster. Instead great joy was brought to the colony, for on August 19th[87] sixty canoes, led by 300 friendly Ottawan Indians, came to Ville Marie, laden with 200,000 _livres_' worth of beaver peltry. A quarter of this was left at Montreal and the rest taken to Three Rivers. This resumption of trade, so necessary for the colony, gave courage, for many were thinking of leaving the country on account of the continued warfare which crippled commerce. The merchants were in great part recouped for their losses and the people were enabled to buy from France the many necessities of life, which the money from the sale of beaver skins could alone provide.
But trade and peace and the progress of Christianity could only be secured by reinforcement from France, and this year we find d'Argenson writing to France to show the necessity of sending troops. The Jesuit "Relation" of this year urges the same. "Let France only say 'I wish it,' and with this word it opens heaven to an infinity of heathens; it gives life to this colony; it preserves for itself its New France and acquires a glory worthy of a most Christian kingdom.