302 THE SCOURGE OE CANADA. [1692. 



been killed the year before, tolcl him that she 

 was afraid to be left alone, and begged him to 

 remain with her, an invitation which he accepted. 

 Towards morning, the barking of his dog roused 

 him ; when, going out, he saw the night lighted up 

 by the blaze of burning houses, and heard the usual 

 firing and screeching of an Iroquois attack. He 

 went back to his frightened companion, who also 

 had a gun. Placing himself at a corner of the 

 house, he told her to stand behind him. A number 

 of Iroquois soon appeared, on which he fired at 

 them, and, taking her gun, repeated the shot, 

 giving her his own to load. The warriors returned 

 his fire from a safe distance, and in the morning 

 withdrew altogether, on which the pair emerged 

 from their shelter, and succeeded in reaching the 

 fort. The other inhabitants were all killed or 

 captured. 1 



Many incidents of this troubled time are pre- 

 served, but none of them are so well worth the 

 record as the defence of the fort at Vercheres by 

 the young daughter of the seignior. Many years 

 later, the Marquis de Beauharnais, governor of 

 Canada, caused the story to be written down from 

 the recital of the heroine herself. Vercheres was 

 on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, about 

 twenty miles below Montreal. A strong block- 

 house stood outside the fort, and was connected 

 with it by a covered way. On the morning of the 

 twenty-second of October, the inhabitants were at 

 work in the fields, and nobody was left in the place 

 but two soldiers, two boys, an old man of eighty, 



1 Relation, 1682-1712. 



