with the Indians, and so
delayed the aid coming to La Tour; but when Charnisay's searchers came
on board off Sable Island, Madame La Tour was hidden among the freight
in the hold. For the delay she sued the sailing master in Boston and
obtained a judgment of 2000 pounds; and when he failed to pay, had his
cargo seized and sold, and with the proceeds equipped three vessels to
aid her outlawed husband. So the whole of 1646 passed, each side
girding itself for the final fray.

April, 1647, spies brought word to Charnisay that La Tour was absent
from his fort. Waiting not a moment, Charnisay hurried ships,
soldiers, cannon across the bay. Inside La Tour's fort was no
confusion. Madame La Tour had ordered every man to his place. Day and
night for three days the siege lasted, Charnisay's men closing in on
the palisades so near they could bandy words with the fighters on the
galleries inside the walls. Among La Tour's fighters were Swiss
mercenaries--men who fight for the highest pay. Did Charnisay in the
language of the day "grease the fist" of the Swiss sentry, or was it a
case of a boorish fellow refusing to fight under a woman's command?
Legend gives both explanations; but on Easter Sunday morning
Charnisay's men gained entrance by scaling the walls where the Swiss
sentry stood. Madame La Tour rushed her men to an inner fort loopholed
with guns. Afraid of a final defeat that would disgrace him before all
the world, Charnisay called up generous terms if she would surrender.
To save the {69} lives of the men Madame La Tour agreed to honorable
surrender, and the doors were opened. In rushed Charnisay! To his
amazement the woman had only a handful of men. Disgusted with himself
and boiling over with revenge for all these years of enmity, Charnisay
forgot his promise and hanged every soul of the garrison but the
traitor who acted as executioner, compelling Madame La Tour to watch
the execution with a halter round her neck amid the jeers of the
soldiery. Legend says that the experience drove her insane and caused
her death within three weeks. Charnisay was now lord of all Acadia,
with 10,000 pounds worth of Madame La Tour's jewelry transferred to
Port Royal and all La Tour's furs safe in the warehouses of Annapolis
Basin; but he did not long enjoy his triumph. He had the reputation of
treating his Indian servants with great brutality. On the 24th of May,
1650, an Indian was rowing him up the narrows near Port Ro