odged in the house, he sprang back to his bedroom, seized a pistol,
cocked it, and presented it at the breast of an Indian who had followed
him. It missed fire, and it was well, for the room was thronged in an
instant, and he was seized, bound without being allowed the privilege of
dressing, and kept standing in the cold for an hour. Meanwhile, the
savages amused themselves by taunting him, swinging their hatchets over
him and threatening him. Two of his children and a negro woman were then
taken to the door and butchered. Mrs. Williams was allowed to dress, and
she and her five children were taken captives. Other houses in the
village were likewise attacked, one of them being defended by seven men,
for whom the women inside cast bullets while the fight was in progress.
But the attacking force was an overpowering one, and De Rouville and his
men had by sunrise done their work most successfully with torch and
tomahawk. The blood of forty-nine murdered men, women and children
reddened the snow. Twenty-nine men, twenty-four women, and fifty-eight
children were made captive, and in a few hours the spoil-encumbered
enemy were en route for Canada.

Through the midwinter snow which covered the fields the poor captives
marched out on their terrible pilgrimage. Two of the prisoners succeeded
in escaping, whereupon Mr. Williams was ordered to inform the others
that if any more slipped away death by fire would be visited upon those
who remained. The first night's lodgings were provided for as
comfortably as circumstances would permit, and all the ablebodied among
the prisoners were made to sleep in barns. On the second day's march Mr.
Williams was permitted to speak with his poor wife, whose youngest child
had been born only a few weeks before, and to assist her on her journey.

"On the way," says the pastor, in his famous book, "The Redeemed
Captive", "we discoursed on the happiness of those who had a right to an
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; and God for a father
and friend; as also it was our reasonable duty quietly to submit to the
will of God, and to say, 'The will of the Lord be done.'" Thus imparting
to one another their heroic courage and Christian strength and
consolation, the captive couple pursued their painful way.

At last the poor woman announced the gradual failure of her strength,
and during the short time she was allowed to remain with her husband,
expressed good wishes and prayers for him and