376 ANTOINE J)ANIEL. [1648. 



of a blind panic. The priest rallied the defenders ; 

 promised Heaven to those who died for their homes 

 and theu' faith ; then hastened from house to house, 

 calling on unbelievers to repent and receive baptism, 

 to snatch them from the Hell that yawned to ingulf 

 them. They crowded around him, imploring to be 

 saved ; and, immersing his handkerchief in a bowl 

 of water, he shook it over them, and baptized them 

 by aspersion. They pursued him, as he ran again 

 to the church, where he found a throng of women, 

 children, and old men, gathered as in a sanctuary. 

 Some cried for baptism, some held out their children 

 to receive it, some begged for absolution, and some 

 wailed in terror and despau*. " Brothers," he ex- 

 claimed again and again, as he shook the baptismal 

 drops from his handkerchief, — " brothers, to-day 

 we shall be in Heaven." 



The fierce yell of the war-whoop now rose close 

 at hand. The palisade was forced, and the enemy 

 was in the town. The air quivered with the infer- 

 nal din. " Fly ! " screamed the priest, driving his 

 flock before him. " I will stay here. We shall 

 meet again in Heaven." Many of them escaped 

 through an opening in the palisade opposite to that 

 by which the Iroquois had entered ; but Daniel 

 would not follow, for there still might be souls to 

 rescue from perdition. The hour had come for 

 which he had long prepared himself. In a moment 

 he saw the Iroquois, and came forth from the 

 church to meet them. When they saw him in 

 turn, radiant in the vestments of his oflice, con- 

 fronting them with a look kmdled with the mspi- 



