warlike designs of the Iroquois. Hunters, trappers and friendly Indians were all agreed as to the vast numbers of these irrepressible savages, who were wintering in Canada, far from their own villages to the south of Lake Ontario, in order to be ready for their murderous and plunderous descent just as soon as the French should begin to break up the soil and sow their spring crops.

These reports greatly disheartened even the most sanguine of the colonists, and they feared lest the colony should be swept out of existence. While so many hearts were trembling with fear, there was one young man in Montreal whose breast burned with a warrior's delight at hearing these rumors, greatly exaggerated as they often were. This young man was Adam Daulac, Sieur des Ormeaux. Though but twenty-five years of age, he had already seen a good deal of service; but while a soldier in old France, had in some way stained his character, and was longing to wipe out the stain by some heroic deed.

He felt that now was the time for action. For years the French had suffered from the inroads of the Iroquois, but had never yet gone out to meet their savage foes, satisfying themselves with repulsing them from behind stone walls, or palisaded log-built forts and blockhouses.

Daulac determined to try a new plan. He would not wait for the savages till their war-whoop should be heard around the dwellings of his countrymen, but with as many choice spirits as he could rally together, willing to risk all, he would go forth to battle with the Iroquois. Having obtained leave from the Governor, Maisonneuve, to collect such a party of volunteers, he at once went to work, and his energy and enthusiasm had soon attracted to his leadership sixteen brave comrades ready to follow wherever he should lead.

Nearly all of these had lately arrived from France, and had been much disappointed in Canada. The continuous confinement in the walled towns, the perpetual dread of the savages and the extremes of heat and cold were trials they had not taken into account. They would willingly have braved any hardship in active warfare; but to have to endure so much without chance of heroic action was intolerable. They, therefore, eagerly seized

Daulac's idea of going out boldly to battle, with the chance of distinguishing themselves in the service of their country. They were fully aware of the terrible risk they ran in going forth so few in number to meet the Indian horde; they showed this by carefully making their wills before setting out on their desperate expedition.

The inhabitants of Montreal looked upon them as a band of heroes; and on a bright morning in the early spring, just as the snow was melting down from Mont Royal, and the swollen river was spreading over the surrounding country, the people flocked in crowds to the chapel of the Hôtel Dieu, to see them make what would probably be their last confession, and receive the last Sacraments. They were, indeed, a gallant young band, but three of them having reached the age of thirty years. It seemed hard that their young lives should have to be thus sacrificed to the general good.

Everywhere throughout the chapel weeping, tear-stained eyes looked upon the little group of manly figures, their faces lighted with a spirit of heroic exaltation. Some of the elder warriors caught their ardor and begged them to wait until the spring crops were sown, in order that they too might go against the Indians. But Daulac refused to listen to such entreaties, urging that the sooner they hurried to the encounter, the better, since each day's delay only gave the Iroquois more time to strengthen their forces and bring them nearer the settlements. He was, in reality, anxious to go forth with his small band. He had no wish for the presence of any of the older men, as in that case he could not be commander of the party, and this was his enterprise. It was his cherished desire, not only to protect the settlers of Montreal, but, above all, to do some heroic deed that would forever clear away the stain from his name.

Having secured an abundant supply of arms and ammunition for the undertaking, and a quantity of hominy, or crushed corn, for food, they took a solemn and tender farewell of their friends, who inwardly felt that they should never again look upon their brave young defenders. The seventeen youths embarked in several large canoes, and began their arduous journey. They had had but little experience in the management of these frail barks, and so found the work of paddling no easy matter. A week was spent in

attempts to pass the swift waters of Sainte Anne, at the head of Montreal Island. However, their strenuous efforts were at last rewarded with success, and the hard-won experience better enabled them to bend the paddle up the difficult Ottawa. Swiftly they toiled across the Lake of the Two Mountains and up the river, until the fierce current at Carillon was reached. Here they took a brief rest and then began the heavy work of poling and hauling their canoes up the rapid torrent. After much severe toil they succeeded in passing the rapid, and then quietly paddled along till they came within sight of the foaming "Long Saut." These rapids, in which Champlain on his first voyage up the Ottawa, almost lost his life, were much more difficult to pass than those of either Sainte Anne or Carillon. As they gazed at the furious waters boiling and seething around bowlders and sunken rocks, they decided that it would not be possible, with their inexperience, to ascend them. They knew that a large party of the Iroquois were encamped on the Upper Ottawa, and that they would have to shoot the rapids on their way down; and they thus thought it best to wait where they were and to give the Indians a hot reception as soon as their canoes appeared. While debating this matter, they saw just at the foot of the rapid a partially cleared spot in the midst of which was a hastily erected palisaded fort. An Algonquin war party had hurriedly thrown it up in the previous autumn.

Worn out as they were, the Frenchmen at once gladly took possession of it. After unloading their canoes and hauling them up on the shore, they stored their provisions and ammunition in the fort. They were so fatigued with the journey that they did not set to work to repair the fort, much dilapidated by the winter's storms. Having slung their kettles by the shore and partaken of a hearty meal, they wrapped themselves in their blankets and lay down for a much needed rest, determining to remain in this fort and await the enemy.

Soon after Daulac had left Montreal, two roving bands of Indians, the one an Algonquin party of four, under a chief named Mituvenmeg, the other a Huron party of forty led by the famous brave Etienne Annahotaha, came to the settlement seeking employment. When they heard of Daulac's expedition, they expressed a strong desire to join him and help him to crush

the common enemy-the Iroquois. The Governor was doubtful about accepting the offered alliance. He could trust the Algonquins; but since the destruction of the Huron nation many of the subdued race had gone over to, and been adopted by the Iroquois. He feared, therefore, that, should they see their old comrades among the foe, they might be tempted to desert Daulac. But Etienne Annahotaha, whose courage and loyalty to the French cause none could doubt, was so urgent in his solicitations to be permitted to help the brave champions of the settlement, that Maisonneuve at length consented to give him a letter to Daulac. This chief was an eminently brave and wily Indian, who had been nurtured and trained in the wars that had swept his nation out of existence. From boyhood he had fought in a succession of battles, and no better shot or bolder boatman could be found in the American forests or on the bounding streams. Besides being strong and courageous he was also diplomatic; and, but a short time before this, he had gained a signal victory over the Iroquois on the Isle of St. Joseph near Lake Huron, through the wary shrewdness that characterized him. It is not strange that Maisonneuve should have been persuaded to let such an Indian leader take his band to the assistance of Daulac..

These Hurons and Algonquins, knowing that the Iroquois must already be on their way down the Ottawa, eagerly bent their ashen paddles and were soon in sight of the little fort at the foot of the "Long Saut." Daulac was much pleased with this reinforcement, and the hopes of the whole party were greatly raised. Scouts were now constantly sent out to give the French timely warning of the approach of the foe. From time to time, tidings were brought in of their movements, and early one morning several scouts of Etienne's band rushed into camp with the news that two canoes were speeding down the rapids. Daulac hastily concealed a few of his men ne: r the shore, where he thought the Iroquois would land to rest after their exhausting labors, giving them orders to be ready to fire on the enemy, and if possible, to allow none to escape.

The ambushed party waited patiently for their victims who were not long in appearing, their canoes bounding down the turbulent waters. Daulac had chosen the spot for ambush well, for the Iroquois turned their canoes

to the shore just at the point where he expected they would. As they were about to land, Daulac's men fired a too hasty volley and some of the Indians escaped to the forest before the Frenchmen had time to pursue them or to re-load their guns. The fugitives rushed up the Ottawa to warn their companions. Burning for revenge, the whole party straightway broke up camp, launched their canoes, and paddled swiftly towards the "Long Saut."

The French with their Indian allies, after the incident above related, set to work to prepare their morning meal. They were, however, suddenly interrupted by the tidings that a fleet of almost one hundred canoes was already on its way down the Saut. Scarcely had the alarm been given when the foremost boat was seen in the distance. For a moment they all stood watching the canoes as they came skimming, dancing, shooting down the leaping waters, now swiftly gliding over some calm stretch, then rushing with race-horse speed towards a boulder, only to be turned aside at the right moment by the skillful paddle of the steersman; again plunging down some little waterfall and sending the spray in clouds about their prows.

As soon as they began to reach the smooth waters at the foot of the rapids, the keen-eyed and anxious watchers left their kettles and dishes on the shore, and rushed into the fort to prepare for the onset. The Iroquois on landing saw their slain comrades, and, maddened with rage, charged upon the fort, but were driven back with considerable loss. They then endeavored to induce Daulac to surrender, holding out favorable terms, but he only derided their demands.

Before renewing the assault, they built a fort in the forest, to which they might retreat in case of a second repulse. While thus engaged the French and their Indian allies were not idle. Some busily piied their axes in cutting down small trees and erecting a double row of palisades. Others worked diligently with pick and shovel, filling up the space between the two rows with earth, high enough to protect a man standing upright. In the earthwork were left twenty loop-holes large enough to allow three men to use their muskets with advantage at each. Just as they were throwing the last shovelful of earth between the palisades they were called to arms by the Savage yells of the Iroquois who had completed their fort and were returning