1692.] CAPTURE OF YORK. 349 



on the Penobscot, urged them to strike the Eng- 

 lish. A hundred and fifty of his converts took the 

 war-path, and were joined by a band from the Ken- 

 nebec. It was January ; and they made their way on 

 snow-shoes along the frozen streams, and through 

 the deathly solitudes of the winter forest, till, after 

 marching a month, they neared their destination, 

 the frontier settlement of York. In the afternoon 

 of the fourth of February, they encamped at the 

 foot of a high hill, evidently Mount Agamenticus, 

 from the top of which the English village lay in 

 sight. It was a collection of scattered houses along 

 the banks of the river Agamenticus and the shore 

 of the adjacent sea. Five or more of them were 

 built for defence, though owned and occupied by 

 families like the other houses. Near the sea stood 

 the unprotected house of the chief man of the 

 place, Dummer, the minister. York appears to 

 have contained from three to four hundred per- 

 sons of all ages, for the most part rude and ignorant 

 borderers. 



The warriors lay shivering all night in the forest, 

 not daring to make fires. In the morning, a heavy 

 fall of snow began. They moved forward, and 

 soon heard the sound of an axe. It was an English 

 boy chopping wood. They caught him, extorted 

 such information as they needed, then tomahawked 

 him, and moved on, till, hidden by the forest and 

 the thick snow, they reached the outskirts of the 

 village. Here they divided into two parties, and each 

 took its station. A gun was fired as a signal, upon 

 which they all yelled the war-whoop, and dashed 



