308 THE SCOURGE OF CANADA. [1692. 



you ? ' One of them answered, l We are French- 

 men : it is La Monnerie, who comes to bring you 

 help.' I caused the gate to be opened, placed a 

 sentinel there, and went down to the river to meet 

 them. As soon as I saw Monsieur de la Monnerie, 

 I saluted him, and said, ' Monsieur, I surrender my 

 arms to you.' He answered gallantly, ' Mademoi- 

 selle, they are in good hands.' ' Better than you 

 think,' I returned. He inspected the fort, and 

 found every thing in order, and a sentinel on each 

 bastion. 6 It is time to relieve them, Monsieur,' 

 said I: 'we have not been off our bastions for a 

 week.' " x 



A band of converts from the Saut St. Louis ar- 

 rived soon after, followed the trail of their heathen 

 countrymen, overtook them on Lake Champlain, 

 and recovered twenty or more French prisoners. 

 Madeleine cle Vercheres was not the only heroine 

 of her family. Her father's fort was the Castle 

 Dangerous of Canada ; and it was but two years 

 before that her mother, left with three or four 



1 Recti de Mile. Magdelaine de Vercheres, dge'e de 14 ans (Collection de 

 l'Abbe Ferland). It appears from Tanguay, Dictionnaire Gene'alorjique, 

 that Marie-Madeleine Jarret de Vercheres was born in April, 1678, which 

 corresponds to the age given in the R€cit. She married Thomas Tarieu 

 de la Naudiere in 1706, and M. de la Perrade, or Prade, in 1722. Her 

 brother Louis was born in 1680, and was therefore, as stated in the 

 Re'cit, twelve years old in 1692. The birthday of the other, Alexander, 

 is not given. His baptism was registered in 1682. One of the brothers 

 was killed at the attack of Haverhill, in 1708. 



Madame de Ponchartrain, wife of the minister, procured a pension 

 for life to Madeleine de Vercheres. Two versions of her narrative are 

 before me. There are slight variations between them, but in all essen- 

 tial points they are the same. The following note is appended to one of 

 them : " Ce re'cit fut fait par ordre de M T . de Beauharnois, gouverneur 

 du Canada." 



