"I cannot but admire your courage, Madame, although I beg to doubt the wisdom of your decision," responded the captain, bowing low, while Raoul gave a cheer in which the others joined.
The instant the captain returned to the ship the flag of truce was lowered, and with the crash and roar of the first broadside the battle began.
Now among Madame La Tour's many accomplishments, was skill in the firing of big guns. This she had acquired when a mere girl at La Rochelle, and she had kept her hand and eye in by occasional practice after coming to Acadia.
It was therefore but natural that she should direct the firing from the fort, and so, posting herself in one of the bastions, with Raoul as her aide-de-camp to fly to and fro with orders, she pointed the first cannon with her own hands.
"SHE POINTED THE FIRST CANNON WITH HER OWN HANDS."
Charnace's own ship was her target, and the well-aimed shot went straight to its mark, killing three men upon the crowded deck. A second shot was equally effective, and then the whole fort broke forth into flame, the iron missiles hurtling across the eddying waters, and smashing into the bulwarks of the ships, or carrying away their masts and rigging.
Right gallantly did Charnace return broadside for broadside, but his cannon balls had little more effect upon the massive stone walls of Fort La Tour than they would have had upon the rocky cliffs near by, and Raoul laughed triumphantly as the round shot rolled harmlessly back into the moat.
"Charnace can keep that up as long as he likes," he cried. "It won't do us any harm, and it's wasting his powder."