380 NEW FRANCE AND NEW ENGLAND. [1696. 



three hundred Abenakis, were ready to join them. 

 After the usual feasting, these new allies paddled 

 for Pemaquid ; the ships followed ; and on the 

 next day, the fourteenth of August, they all reached 

 their destination. 



The fort of Pemaquid stood at the west side of 

 the promontory of the same name, on a rocky 

 point at the mouth of Pemaquid River. It was a 

 quadrangle, with ramparts of rough stone, built at 

 great pains and cost, but exposed to artillery, and 

 incapable of resisting heavy shot. The govern- 

 ment of Massachusetts, with its usual military 

 fatuity, had placed it in the keeping of an unfit 

 commander, and permitted some of the yeoman 

 garrison to bring their wives and children to this 

 dangerous and important post. 



Saint-Castin and his Indians landed at New 

 Harbor, half a league from the fort. Troops and 

 cannon were sent ashore ; and, at five o'clock in 

 the afternoon, Chubb was summoned to surrender. 

 He replied that he would fight, " even if the sea 

 were covered with French ships and the land with 

 Indians." The firing then began ; and the Indian 

 marksmen, favored by the nature of the ground, 

 ensconced themselves near the fort, well covered 

 from its cannon. During the night, mortars and 

 heavy ships' guns were landed, and by great exer- 

 tion were got into position, the two priests working 

 lustily with the rest. They opened fire at three 

 o'clock on the next day. Saint-Castin had just 

 before sent Chubb a letter, telling him that, if the 

 garrison were obstinate, they would get no quarter, 



