The French party consisted of twenty-eight
_coureurs de bois_ under Du Lhut and Mantet, excellent partisan
chiefs, who manoeuvred so well that the rising sun blazed full in the
eyes of the advancing enemy, and spoiled their aim. The French
received their fire, which wounded one man; then, closing with them
while their guns were empty, gave them a volley, which killed and
wounded eighteen of their number. One swam ashore. The remaining three
were captured, and given to the Indian allies to be burned. [Footnote:
_Frontenac au Ministre_, 15 _Nov._, 1689; _Champigny au Ministre_, 16
_Nov._, 1689. Compare Belmont, whose account is a little different;
also _N.Y. Col. Docs._, IX. 435.]
This gleam of sunshine passed, and all grew black again. On a snowy
November day, a troop of Iroquois fell on the settlement of La
Chesnaye, burned the houses, and vanished with a troop of prisoners,
leaving twenty mangled corpses on the snow. [Footnote: Belmont,
_Histoire du Canada_; _Frontenac a--_, 17 _Nov._, 1689; _Champigny au
Ministre_, 16 _Nov._, 1689. This letter is not the one just cited.
Champigny wrote twice on the same day.] "The terror," wrote the
bishop, "is indescribable." The appearance of a few savages would put
a whole neighborhood to flight.
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