CHAPTER XXVII. 



1649. 



RUIN OF THE HURONS. 



St. Louis on Eire. — Invasion. — St. Ignacb captured. — Bre- 



BEUF AND LaLEMANT. — BaTTLE AT St. LouIS. — SaINTE MaRIB 

 THREATENED. RENEWED FiGHTING. DESPERATE CONFLICT. — 



A Night of Suspense. — Panic among the Victors. — Burn- 

 ing OF St. Ignace. — Retreat of the Iroquois. 



More than eight months had passed since the 

 catastrophe of St. Joseph. The winter was over, 

 and that dreariest of seasons had come, the churUsh 

 forerunner of spring. Around Sainte Marie the 

 forests were gray and bare, and, in the cornfields, 

 the oozy, half-thawed soil, studded with the sodden 

 stalks of the last autumn's harvest, showed itself 

 in patches through the melting snow. 



At nine o'clock on the morning of the sixteenth 

 of March, the priests saw a heavy smoke rising 

 over the naked forest towards the south-east, about 

 three miles distant. They looked at each other in 

 dismay. " The Iroquois ! They are burning St. 

 Louis ! " Flames mingled with the smoke ; and, 

 as they stood gazing, two Christian Hurons came, 



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