1692.1 VILLEBON AND THE ABEXAETS. 351 



risoner. and the agonized mother went back to 



L o 



p 



the Indian camp to beg for his release. They 

 again permitted her to return; but, when she 

 came a second time, they told her that, as she 

 wanted to be a prisoner, she should have her wish. 

 She was carried with the rest to their village, where 

 she soon died of exhaustion and distress. One of 

 the warriors arrayed himself in the gown of the 

 slain minister, and preached a mock sermon to the 

 captive parishioners. 1 



Leaving York in ashes, the victors began their 

 march homeward ; while a body of men from Ports- 

 mouth followed on their trail, but soon lost it, and 

 failed to overtake them. There was a season of 

 feasting and scalp-dancing at the Abenaki towns ; 

 and then, as spring opened, a hundred of the war- 

 riors set out to visit Villebon, tell him of their 

 triumph, and receive the promised gifts from their 

 great father the king. Villebon and his brothers, 

 Portneuf , Neuvillette, and Desiles, with their Cana- 

 dian followers, had spent the winter chiefly on the 

 St. John, finishing their fort at Naxouat, and pre- 

 paring for future operations. The Abenaki visitors 



1 The best French account of the capture of York is that of Cham- 

 pigny in a letter to the minister, 5 Oct., 1692. His information came 

 from an Abenaki chief, who was present. The journal of Villebon con- 

 tains an exaggerated account of the affair, also derived from Indians. 

 Compare the English accounts in Mather, Williamson, and Xiles. These 

 writers make the number of slain and captives much less than that given 

 by the French. In the contemporary journal of Rev. John Pike, it is 

 placed at 48 killed and 73 taken. 



Two fortified houses of this period are still (1875) standing at York. 

 They are substantial buildings of squared timber, with the upper story 

 projecting over the lower, so as to allow a vertical fire on the heads of 

 assailants. In one of them some of the loopholes for musketry are still 

 left open. They may or may not have been originally enclosed by 

 palisades. 



