rrative, "a violent
north-east wind began to blow, accompanied by snow and
hail, which told us that we should have a terrible night.
The Iroquois were all this time lurking about us; and I
judged by their movements that, instead of being deterred
by the storm, they would climb into the fort under cover
of the darkness. I assembled all my troops, that is to
say, six persons, and spoke to them thus: 'God has saved
us to-day from the hands of our enemies, but we must take
care not to fall into their snares to-night. As for me, I
want you to see that I am not afraid. I will take charge
of the fort with an old man of eighty, and another who
never fired a gun; and you, Pierre Fontaine, with La
Bonte and Gachet, will go to the blockhouse with the
women and children, because that is the strongest place;
and if I am taken do not surrender, even if I am cut to
pieces and burned before your eyes. The enemy cannot hurt
you in the blockhouse if you make the least show of
fight.' I placed my young brothers on two of the
bastions, the old man on the third, and I took the
fourth; and all night, in spite of wind, snow, and hail,
the cries of 'All's well' were kept up from the
blockhouse to the fort, and from the fort to the
blockhouse. One would have thought the place was full of
soldiers. The Iroquois thought so, and were completely
deceived, as they confessed afterwards to Monsieur de
Callieres, whom they told that they had held a council to
make a plan for capturing the fort in the night, but had
done nothing because such a constant watch was kept....

"At last the daylight came again; and as the darkness
disappeared our anxieties seemed to disappear with it.
Everybody took courage except Mademoiselle Marguerite,
the wife of the Sieur Fontaine, who, being extremely
timid, as all Parisian women are, asked her husband to
carry her to another fort.... He said, 'I shall never
abandon this fort while Mademoiselle Madeleine is here.'
I answered him that I would never abandon it; that I
would rather die than give it up to the enemy; and that
it was of the greatest importance that they should never
get possession of any French fort.... I may say with
truth that I did not eat or sleep for twice twenty-four
hours. I did not go once into my father's house, but kept
always on the bastion, or went to the blockhouse t