Champlain told them he wanted to visit another nation called the Nebicerini (or Nipissing) who lived on today’s Lake Nipissing, and asked for the use of four canoes. The island Indians said the Nebicerini were a nation of wizards who killed people with magic, and Chaplain would not be safe among them. Champlain persisted, pointing to his interpreter and saying that Nicolas de Vignau had been there.
To his amazement the Indians responded with an explosion of anger. Tesouat called Vignau a liar to his face and said, “If you visited those tribes it was in your sleep, and every night you slept beside me and my children.” They refused to allow Champlain to go farther, allegedly for his own protection, and offered to deal with Vignau themselves. “Give him to us,” Tessouat said, “and we promise he will tell no more lies.” Champlain protected Vignau, gave up his plan to go farther, and prepared to return south. Before he left, Champlain erected a cross of white cedar with the arms of France and asked the Algonquin to protect it. On June 10, he started home again with an escort of Tessouat and his sons and warriors, who were suddenly friendly again. One suspects that the Indians were protecting the sources of their fur trade, much as other nations had done. Champlain was careful not to challenge them.
On June 17, he and his party were back at the falls near Montreal. Champlain confronted Vignau and demanded an explanation. The young Frenchman confessed that he had never been to the northern sea, and had lied about it so that he would be taken back. He asked Champlain “to leave him in the country among the Indians.” Champlain asked some of the Indians to take him in, but wrote that “none of the Indians would have him, in spite of my request, and we left him in God’s keeping.” Vignau walked off into the forest, and Champlain never saw him again. Perhaps he formed a union with an Indian woman, or possibly he became a solitary trader. He may have been killed by the Indians, who hated a liar more than a murderer. His fate is unknown.