ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 209 



devil his due, if there had been only three like that 

 Acadian, it would have been all up with us. He 

 handled his axe like a real backwoodsman : but the 

 Spaniards wanted either the skill or the strength 

 of arm, and they made little impression. There were 

 only Righteous and myself to oppose them ; for on 

 the other side a dozen more soldiers, with the seventh 

 of those cursed Acadians, were attacking the stockade. 



" Righteous shot down one of the Spaniards ; but 

 just as he had done so the Acadian tore up a palisade 

 by the roots (how he did it I know not to this hour, 

 there must have been a stump remaining on it), held 

 it with the wattles and branches hanging round it 

 like a shield before him, guarding off a blow I aimed 

 at him, then hurled it against me with such force 

 that I staggered backwards, and he sprang past me. 

 I thought it was all over with us. It is true that 

 Righteous, with the butt of his rifle, split the skull of 

 the first Spaniard who entered, and drove his hunting- 

 knife into the next ; but the Acadian alone was man 

 enough to give us abundant occupation, now he had 

 got in our rear. Just then there was a crack of a 

 rifle, the Acadian gave a leap into the air and fell 

 dead, and at the same moment my son Godsend, a 

 boy of ten years old, sprang forward, Asa's rifle in 

 his hand still smoking from muzzle and touchhole. 

 The glorious boy had loaded the piece when he saw 

 that Rachel did not do it, and in the very nick of 

 time had shot the Acadian through the heart. This 



VOL. vi. o 



