themselves of
some guns and ammunition. They next made themselves unwelcome to the
superior of the mission, the Abbe Dufresne, and, in spite of his
protestations, carried off from the mission-house a three-pounder gun.
On their return to St Eustache they forcibly entered the convent which
had been lately completed, though it was not yet occupied, and camped
there.

The loyalists who were forced to flee from the village carried the news
of these proceedings to Montreal; but Sir John Colborne was unwilling
to take any steps to subdue the _Patriotes_ of St Eustache until the
insurrection on the Richelieu had been thoroughly crushed. All he did
was to send a detachment of volunteers to guard the Bord a Plouffe
bridge at the northern end of the island of Montreal.

On Sunday, December 3, word reached St Eustache of the defeat of the
insurgents at St Charles. This had a moderating influence on many of
the _Patriotes_. All week the Abbe {95} Paquin, parish priest of St
Eustache, had been urging the insurgents to go back quietly to their
homes. He now renewed his exhortations. He begged Chenier to cease
his revolutionary conduct. Chenier, however, was immovable. He
refused to believe that the rebels at St Charles had been dispersed,
and announced his determination to die with arms in his hands rather
than surrender. 'You might as well try to seize the moon with your
teeth,' he exclaimed, 'as to try to shake my resolve.'

The events of the days that followed cannot be chronicled in detail.
When the Abbe Paquin and his vicar Deseves sought to leave the parish,
Girod and Chenier virtually placed them under arrest. The abbe did not
mince matters with Chenier. 'I accuse you before God and man,' he
said, 'of being the author of these misfortunes.' When some of the
habitants came to him complaining that they had been forced against
their will to join the rebels, he reminded them of the English proverb:
'You may lead a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink.'
Unfortunately, the Abbe Paquin's good influence was counteracted by
that of the Abbe Chartier, the cure of the neighbouring village of St
{96} Benoit, a rare case of an ecclesiastic lending his support to the
rebel movement, in direct contravention of the orders of his superiors.
On several occasions the Abbe Chartier came over to St Eustache and
delivered inflammatory addresses to the rebel levies.

The vicar Deseves has left us a vivid picture of the l