n that though the roofs might be wet the interior was
as dry as tinder. He had hardly spoken before a great yellow tongue of
flame licked out of one of the windows, and again and again, until
suddenly half of the roof fell in, and the cottage was blazing like a
pitch-bucket. The flames hissed and sputtered in the pouring rain, but,
fed from below, they grew still higher and fiercer, flashing redly upon
the great trees, and turning their trunks to burnished brass.
Their light made the enclosure and the manor-house as clear as day, and
exposed the whole long stretch of the river. A fearful yell from the
woods announced that the savages had seen the canoes, which were plainly
visible from the windows not more than a quarter of a mile away.

"They are rushing through the woods. They are making for the water's
edge," cried De Catinat.

"They have some canoes down there," said Du Lhut.

"But they must pass us!" cried the Seigneur of Sainte Marie. "Get down
to the cannon and see if you cannot stop them."

They had hardly reached the guns when two large canoes filled with
warriors shot out from among the reeds below the fort, and steering out
into mid-stream began to paddle furiously after the fugitives.

"Jean, you are our best shot," cried De la Noue. "Lay for her as she
passes the great pine tree. Lambert, do you take the other gun. The
lives of all whom you love may hang upon the shot!"

The two wrinkled old artillerymen glanced along their guns and waited
for the canoes to come abreast of them. The fire still blazed higher
and higher, and the broad river lay like a sheet of dull metal with two
dark lines, which marked the canoes, sweeping swiftly down the centre.
One was fifty yards in front of the other, but in each the Indians were
bending to their paddles and pulling frantically, while their comrades
from the wooded shores whooped them on to fresh exertions.
The fugitives had already disappeared round the bend of the river.

As the first canoe came abreast of the lower of the two guns, the
Canadian made the sign of the cross over the touch-hole and fired.
A cheer and then a groan went up from the eager watchers. The discharge
had struck the surface close to the mark, and dashed such a shower of
water over it that for an instant it looked as if it had been sunk.
The next moment, however, the splash subsided, and the canoe shot away
uninjured, save that one of the rowers had dropped his paddle while his
h