of men. No; they must dare all rather than give up the siege. A council was called, and the bravest among them made soul-stirring speeches, calling on their brother warriors to uphold the honor of their race.

Loudest among those bent on continuing the fight, were the Hurons who had so lately deserted. It was their only chance for safety. They knew that the Iroquois were gloating over the prospect of torturing the men making such a gallant resistance, and that if they failed to get these into their power they would satisfy their appetite for blood by sacrificing them.

After the speeches small sticks were tied up in bundles and thrown on the ground, and each one willing to risk all, and join in a determined attack, showed his readiness by picking up a bundle.. Warrior after warrior eagerly stepped forward and seized one, while grunts of approval arose from the throats of their companions. Soon nearly all were enrolled, few daring to keep back lest they should be regarded as cowards.

When the task of enlisting volunteers was completed, they went ernestly to work to plan an attack. All their previous attempts had been vain, and to take the fort by assault would cost them many men; they therefore decided to remain as much as possible under cover, until they should reach the palisade. How to do this puzzled them greatly. At last an Indian, more ingenious than his fellows, proposed that trees be cut down and large wooden shields made, behind which they could take shelter without much danger of being struck by the bullets. His suggestion was acted upon, and busily they plied their hatchets. They then made shields by binding three or four short logs closely together, and soon the many hands had enough. ready for the braves who were to lead the attack. After a brief rest, the order was given to advance. Slowly but surely the chosen ones led on; while protected by them and their shields the rest of the Iroquois followed closely behind.

When the French saw this peculiar, fence-like body advance, they did not at first know what to make of it, but they were soon roused from their bewilderment, and began a rapid, despairing fire on the wooden wall. It was however without much effect; occasionally a shield-bearer would be seen to fall, but the place of the fallen brave was quickly filled by those in the rear.

They did not waver for an instant, and when within a few feet of the palisades-casting their shields from them-they leaped forward, hatchet in hand, and began hacking and tearing the palisades to force their way into the fort.

The brave little garrison felt that the end had come. They had fought like heroes and were now ready to die like heroes. When they had undertaken the expedition, they had determined to accept no quarter; now they knew they need expect none. Daulac strengthened them by actions and words. Eager to repulse the foe, he crammed a large musketoon to the muzzle with powder and shot, and lighting the fuse, attempted to throw it over the wall. It struck the top of the palisades, and fell back into the fort, bursting as it struck the ground. Some of the defenders were blinded and wounded by the explosion, and, in the excitement, left the loop holes. The Indians, taking advantage of this, began to fire upon them from the outside. A breach was soon made through the wall, and the determined warriors rushed in, but equally determined Frenchmen met them, knife and av in hand. Their courage had excited the admiration of the savages, and they were anxious to take them alive that they might kill them by slow death. Orders were given to slay none if possible. Again and again the Iroquois crowded into the gap, but Daulac's axe and knife or those of his comrades went crashing through skulls or pierced savage breasts till a great heap of dead lay about the entrance. At last Daulac was struck down, but his men took his place and kept up the fight.

Maddened by this resistance, and dreading lest the tide of battle might yet be turned, the leaders of the Indians gave the order to fire, and a score of muskets carried death to the survivors of the heroic party. With fiendish yells the Iroquois leaped into the fort in search of scalps. Only three Frenchmen had any life left, and these were at once burned before the eyes of the heartless crowd. Longing for more blood, and disappointed that they had not taken any prisoners, the Iroquois turned for revenge upon the Huron deserters; and some of them were put to death at the stake, with the cruelest torture. Others they reserved for a like fate, when they should reach their villages. Five of these escaped on the journey, and it was from

them that the details of the tragedy reached the ears of the inhabitants of Montreal.

For some weeks before the fight, Quebec, too, had been kept in a great state of alarm by rumors of the Iroquois invasion. An Indian, a friend of the Iroquois, while being tortured by the Algonquins, at Quebec, told the Jesuits of the intended raid, and his tale was substantiated by another party of Indians, meeting a like fate. There could be no doubt about the party having set out for the invasion of Canada, and, for a time, all was excitement. However, as nothing further was heard of it, quiet returned at last.

Then came the tidings of the gallant fight at the Long Saut, and, with eyes dimmed with tears, the French learned of the fate of the noble band who had so freely given their lives for that of the colony. The terrible lesson they gave the Iroquois made the savage host march homeward, not daring to face a people that could send out seventeen men so brave as these.

Montreal mourned her heroes, and for many years, the name of the young leader, Daulac, was held in deserved honor. Whatever may have been the stain that rested upon his name, it was completely forgotten in the memory of his heroic death.

CHAPTER V.

ROBERT DE LA SALLE.

By AGNES MAULE MACHAR.

Growth of New France Since Champlain's Days-New England a Rival of New FranceCourcelles Undertakes to Explore the Upper St. Lawrence-Canadian Adventurers Hope to Discover a Short Passage to the East-The Early Training of Robert de la Salle-His Arrival in Canada-Receives a Land Grant Near the Rapids of St. Louis-Seneca Iroquois Visit La Salle-Inspired by Them to Begin His Famous Explorations-Sets Out on His First Expedition-Discovers the Ohio and the Illinois-Frontenac La Salle's Friend and Ally-They Decide to Build a Fort at Cataraqui—Frontenac Proceeds in State to Cataraqui -His Meeting with the Iroquois-The Fort Constructed-The Mississippi Discovered by Joliet and Marquette-News of the Discovery Prompts La Salle to Undertake Another Exploring Expedition-Proceeds to France to Interest the King in His Project-Père Hennepin Comes to Canada with La Salle-La Salle Continues His Discoveries-Returns to France and Receives a Royal Patent Permitting Him to Continue His ExplorationsBegins His Voyages to the Mississippi-His Party Reaches Niagara Falls-Builds a Fort and Vessel Above the Great Cataract-His Reverses Begin-The "Griffin," the First Ship on Lake Erie, Completed-La Salle Enters Lake Michigan-The "Griffin" Returns to Niagara with a Load of Furs-Forebodings of Her Fate-La Salle's Enemies Follow Him into the Wilderness-Mutiny Among His Men-Builds Fort Crèvecœur (Fort Heartbreak) -Convinced of the Loss of the "Griffin"-La Salle's Long and Perilous Journey Back to Fort Frontenac-Plot to Murder La Salle-Overcomes His Enemies-Once More on His Way to the Mississippi--Reaches the "Father of Waters"-Misfortunes Interfere with His Enterprise-Forced to Return to Fort Frontenac-Returns to the Mississippi with Renewed Energy-Journeys Down the Great River-Reaches the Gulf of MexicoAscends the Mississippi and Returns to Canada-His Enemies Triumph Over Him and He Sails for France-Sets out on an Expedition for the Gulf of Mexico-Misfortunes Pursue Him-Misses the Mouth of the Mississippi-One of His Ships Wrecked and Another Obliged to Leave Him-The Hardships of the Colonists-Once More in Search of the "Fatal" River-Quarrels Among His Followers-The Murder of La Salle.

NR

EARLY sixty years had passed away since Champlain had founded his little settlement at the foot of the lonely rock of Quebec, and bad sought from thence to penetrate to the interior of the new continent. before a second great adventurer and explorer, as brave and determined as himself, found his way to New France. In these sixty eventful years, as we have seen, the little colony had struggled nobly against fearful odds, and New France might now be said to have a real individual life of its own.

The promontory of Quebec was by this time crowned by the château of St. Louis, surrounded by forts, churches, convents and seminary; while on the beach below clustered thickly the shingled roofs of the merchants' and tradesmen's establishments. Horses had been brought over for its traffic, and several hundred sail anchored every year in its harbor, while the mineral riches of the region and the fisheries of the river had been somewhat developed under the care of the energetic Intendant, Talon, a new officer in the colony. Three Rivers was a fur-trading hamlet, inclosed by a square palisade. A chain of clearings and houses extended most of the way from Quebec to Montreal, where the fortified wind-mill looked down on the compact row of wooden houses along the shore, the Hôtel Dieu, and the rough stone buildings of the Seminary of St. Sulpice. Beyond Montreal, the occasional clearings soon ceased, lost in the mighty forests that reigned still unbroken to the east of the present Province of Quebec. Louis the Fourteenth, appropriately styled "the Magnificent" had been reigning for thirty years, and his "paternal government" had been directing emigration to the colony and forcing on its progress with artificial rapidity.

Another great change had taken place during these sixty years. New England had sprung up by the side of New France, and had been growing for half a century into a powerful, and, as it proved, a dangerous neighbor. Boston and Manhattan (now New York) were as yet little more than villages growing up with strong Puritan vigor and vitality.

There had been an unusually long respite from harassing raids of the Iroquois, the scourge of New France and the great drag on her progress. But no one could depend on the continuance of this uncertain peace; and M. de Courcelles, then Governor of the colony, had for some time before his resignation, projected an outpost fort somewhere about the junction of Lake Ontario with the St. Lawrence. M. de Courcelles had undertaken an exploring expedition up the St. Lawrence to look for a suitable site for this fort, and one of his last acts as Governor had been to call a council of the Indians in order to ask their consent to build what he represented to them as simply a "fur depot with defenses." The fatigue and exposure of this expedition up the rapids of the St. Lawrence injured the health of the