1692.] FRENCH REPULSE. 355 



of the English muttered something about surren- 

 der. Convers returned, " If you say that again, 

 you are a dead man." Had the allies made a bold 

 assault, he and his followers must have been over- 

 powered ; but this mode of attack was contrary to 

 Indian maxims. They merely leaped, yelled, fired, 

 and called on the English to yield. They were 

 answered with derision. The women in the house 

 took part in the defence, passed ammunition to the 

 men, and sometimes fired themselves on the ene- 

 my. The Indians at length became discouraged, 

 and offered Convers favorable terms. He answered, 

 " I want nothing but men to fight with." An 

 Abenaki who spoke English cried out : "If you 

 are so bold, why do you stay in a garrison house 

 like a squaw ? Come out and fight like a man ! " 

 Convers retorted, " Do you think I am fool enough 

 to come out with thirty men to fight five hundred ? " 

 Another Indian shouted, " Damn you, we'll cut you 

 small as tobacco before morning." Convers re- 

 turned a contemptuous defiance. 



After a while, they ceased firing, and dispersed 

 about the neighborhood, butchering cattle and burn- 

 ing the church and a few empty houses. As the 

 tide began to ebb, they sent a fire-raft in full blaze 

 down the creek to destroy the sloops ; but it 

 stranded, and the attempt failed. They now 

 wreaked their fury on the prisoner Diamond, whom 

 they tortured to death, after which they all disap- 

 peared. A few resolute men had foiled one of the 

 most formidable bands that ever took the war-path 

 in Acadia. 1 



1 Villebon, Journal de ce qui s'est passe a I'Acadie, 1691, 1692; Mather, 



