244 THE IROQUOIS. [1642. 



palisades. Thus a week passed, and their defences 

 were nearly completed, when suddenly the war- 

 whoop rang in their ears, and two hundred Iroquois 

 rushed upon them from the borders of the clearing.^ 



It was the party of warriors that Jogues had met 

 on an island in Lake Champlain. But for the cour- 

 age of Du Rocher, a corporal, who was on guard, 

 they would have carried all before them. They 

 were rushing through an opening in the palisade, 

 when he, with a few soldiers, met them with such 

 vigor and resolution, that they were held in check 

 long enough for the rest to snatch their arms. 

 Montmagny, who was on the river in his brigantine, 

 hastened on shore, and the soldiers, encouraged by 

 his arrival, fought with great determination. 



The Iroquois, on their part, swarmed up to the 

 palisade, thrust their guns through the loop-holes, 

 and fired on those within ; nor was it till several of 

 them had been killed and others wounded that they 

 learned to keep a more prudent distance. A tall 

 savage, wearing a crest of the hair of some animal, 

 dyed scarlet and bound with a fillet of wampum, 

 leaped forward to the attack, and was shot dead. 

 Another shared his fate, with seven buck-shot in 

 his shield, and as many in his body. The French, 

 with shouts, redoubled their fire, and the Indians 

 at length lost heart and fell back. The wounded 

 dropped guns, shields, and war-clubs, and the whole 

 band withdrew to the shelter of a fort which they 

 had built in the forest, three miles above. On the 



1 The Relation of 1642 says three hundred. Jogues who had been 

 among them to his cost, is the better authority. 



