hat three large ships were approaching.

Raoul received it first, and hastened to his aunt.

"It is Charnace," she said. "The crisis has come. God grant us
strength and wisdom according; to our need."

Confident of an easy victory, Charnace sailed right up within
cannon-range, and, having anchored, sent one of his captains ashore
under a flag of truce to demand the surrender of the fort, coupling the
demand with the threat that, if not immediately complied with, he would
level the fort to the ground.

Raoul intently watched his aunt's face as she listened to the message.
He devoutly hoped she would not surrender, but he knew better than to
volunteer his opinion.

Madame listened gravely to what the captain had to say, and then, after
a brief pause, replied:

"Be good enough to say to Monsieur Charnace from me that until he has
laid the walls of Fort La Tour level with the ground, it shall not be
surrendered."

"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.

[Illustration: "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.