180 THE IROQUOIS INVASION. [1689. 



no mention of their having encountered opposition ; 

 nor do they seem to have met with any loss but 

 that of some warriors killed in the attack on the 

 detachment from Fort Remy, and that of three 

 drunken stragglers who were caught and thrown 

 into a cellar in Fort La Presentation. When they 

 came to their senses, they defied their captors, and 

 fought with such ferocity that it was necessary to 

 shoot them. Charlevoix says that the invaders 

 remained in the neighborhood of Montreal till 

 the middle of October, or more than two months ; 

 but this seems incredible, since troops and militia 

 enough to drive them all into the St. Lawrence 

 might easily have been collected in less than a 

 week. It is certain, however, that their stay was 

 strangely long. Troops and inhabitants seem to 

 have been paralyzed with fear. 



At length, most of them took to their canoes, 

 and recrossecl Lake St. Louis in a body, giving 

 ninety yells to show that they had ninety prisoners 

 in their clutches. This was not all ; for the whole 

 number carried off was more than a hundred and 

 twenty, besides about two hundred who had the 

 good fortune to be killed on the spot. As the 

 Iroquois passed the forts, they shouted, " Onontio, 

 you deceived us, and now we have deceived 

 you." Towards evening, they encamped on the 

 farther side of the lake, and began to torture and 

 devour their prisoners. On that miserable night, 

 stupefied and speechless groups stood gazing from 

 the strand of La Chine at the lights that gleamed 

 along the distant shore of Chateaugay, where their 



