lar mind and had a marked
influence on the character of the people.

For two or three evenings previous to Feb. 29, 1704, a new topic of
supernatural interest has been added to the usual stock. Ominous sounds
have been heard in the night, and, says Rev. Solomon Stoddard, "the
people were strangely amazed by a trampling noise round the fort, as if
it were beset by Indians." The older men recalled similar omens before
the outbreak of Philip's War, when from the clear sky came the sound of
trampling horses, the roar of artillery, the rattle of small arms, and
the beating of drums to the charge. As these tales of fear, coupled with
their own warning, were in everybody's mouth, what wonder if the hearts
of the thoughtful sank within them; that they cowered with undefinable
dread, as under the shadow of impending disaster; and asked each other
with fear and trembling the meaning of this new and dire portent. They
had not long to wait the answer.

Even then, only just beyond the northern horizon an avalanche was
sweeping down to overwhelm the settlement. A horde of Frenchmen turned
half Indian, and savages armed with civilized powers of destruction,
under Hertel de Rouville, a French officer of the line, were hurrying
towards our doomed frontier, over the dreary waste of snow which
stretched away for three hundred miles to the St. Lawrence. In the dark
shade of some secluded glen, or deep ravine, a day's march nearer our
border, each night their camp was pitched and kettles hung. Their fires
lighted up the mossy trunks and overhanging branches of the giant
hemlock and the towering pine, throwing their summits into a deeper
gloom, and building up a wall of pitchy darkness which enclosed the camp
on every side.

A frugal supper, and quiet soon reigned within this circle; around each
camp-fire the tired forms of the invaders were soon stretched on beds of
evergreens--great dark blotches, with luminous centres, on the crystal
snow--a sound sleep undisturbed by the relief of sentinels, or
replenishment of fires--up at dawn, a hasty breakfast, and onward. The
nearer and nearer prospect of blood and plunder added new strength to
their limbs, and sent new gleams of ferocity across their swart faces.
Dogs with sledges aided to transport the equipage of the camp, and the
march was swift.

The errand of this horde was to murder the inhabitants and burn the
dwellings of an unprotected town; its ultimate purpose was to please the
Aben