366 THE WAR IN ACADIA. [1694. 



escaped. The remaining seven were successfully 

 defended, though several of them were occupied 

 only by the families which owned them. One of 

 these, belonging to Thomas Bickford, stood by the 

 river near the lower end of the settlement. Roused 

 by the firing, he placed his wife and children in a 

 boat, sent them down the stream, and then went 

 back alone to defend his dwelling. When the In- 

 dians appeared, he fired on them, sometimes from 

 one loophole and sometimes from another, shout- 

 ing the word of command to an imaginary garrison, 

 and showing himself with a different hat, cap, or 

 coat, at different parts of the building. The In- 

 dians were afraid to approach, and he saved both 

 family and home. One Jones, the owner of an- 

 other of these fortified houses, was wakened by the 

 barking of his clogs, and went out, thinking that 

 his hog-pen was visited by wolves. The flash of a 

 gun in the twilight of the morning showed the true 

 nature of the attack. The shot missed him nar- 

 rowly ; and, entering the house again, he stood on 

 his defence, when the Indians, after firing for some 

 time from behind a neighboring rock, withdrew 

 and left him in peace. Woodman's garrison house, 

 though occupied by a number of men, was attacked 

 more seriously, the Indians keeping up a long and 

 brisk fire from behind a riclge where they lay 

 sheltered ; but they hit nobody, and at length 

 disappeared. 1 



Among the unprotected houses, the carnage was 



1 Woodman's garrison house is still standing, having been carefully 

 preserved by his descendants. 



