"Monsieur de Frontenac commença la chanson de guerre, la hache à la main; les principaux chefs des François se joignant à luy avec de pareilles armes la chantèrent ensemble. Les Iroquois du Saut et de la Montagne, les Hurons et les Nipisiriniens donnèrent encore le branle: l'on eut dit, Monsieur, que ces acteurs étoient des possedez par les gestes et les contorsions qu'ils faisoient. Les Sassakouez, ou les cris et les hurlemens que Mr. de Frontenac étoit obligé de faire pour se conformer à leur manière, augmentoit encore la fureur bachique." La Potherie, iii. 97.]
[ 8. MADELAINE DE VERCHÈRES (1696).]
Source.—Narrative of the Heroic Deeds of Mlle. Marie-Madelaine de Verchères, aged fourteen years, against the Iroquois, on the 22nd October, in the year 1696, at eight o'clock in the morning,[1] quoted in Mr. E. Richard's Supplement to the Report on Canadian Archives, 1899.
I was five arpents away from the fort of Verchères, belonging to Sieur de Verchères, my father, who was then at Kebek by order of M. le Chevalier de Callières, Governor of Montreal, my mother being also in Montreal. I heard several shots without knowing at whom they were fired. I soon saw that the Iroquois were firing at our settlers, who lived about a league and a half from the fort. One of our servants called out to me:
"Fly, mademoiselle, fly! the Iroquois are upon us!"
I turned instantly and saw some forty-five Iroquois running towards me, and already within pistol shot. Determined rather to die than fall into their hands, I sought safety in flight. I ran towards the fort, commending myself to the Blessed Virgin....
Meantime my pursuers, seeing that they were too far off to take me alive before I could enter the fort, and knowing they were near enough to shoot me, stood still in order to discharge their guns at me. I was under fire for quite a time, at any rate I found the time quite long enough! Forty-five bullets whistling past my ears made the time seem long and the distance from the fort interminable, though I was so near. When within hearing of the fort, I cried out: "To arms! to arms!"
I hoped that some one would come out to help me, but it was a vain hope. There were but two soldiers in the fort, and these were so overcome by fear that they had sought safety by concealing themselves in the redoubt. Having reached the gates at last, I found there two women lamenting for the loss of their husbands, who had just been killed. I made them enter the fort, and closed the gates myself. I then began to consider how I might save myself and the little party with me, from the hands of the savages. I examined the fort, and found that several of the stakes had fallen, leaving gaps through which it would be easy for the enemy to enter. I gave orders to have the stakes replaced, and heedless of my sex and tender age, I hesitated not to seize one end of the heavy stake and urge my companions to give a hand in raising it. I found by experience that, when God gives us strength, nothing is impossible.