rotect them from the
dangers they might have to encounter during their intended voyage. The
meeting was almost concluded; Monsieur Laporte, in a loving address, was
exhorting them to hold fast to the Gospel, whatever persecutions they
might have to endure, when a loud knocking was heard at the door of the
chapel. On its being opened, an Indian appeared in full war costume,
with one of those formidable bows in his hand, with which the Tamayas
boasted they could send a shaft through the mail-clad body of a foe and
fix him to a tree.

"I am Tecumah!" he exclaimed. "Many here know me as a faithful friend
of the French. I come to give you warning that a large force of your
enemies and ours are on their way down the harbour to attack the island.
They consist of Portuguese and their Indian allies the Tuparas, who
have transported their boats and canoes overland from the place where
they have been secretly built for the purpose. They come in expectation
of taking you by surprise, when, should they gain the victory, not a
human being they may discover will be left alive. They have sworn to
exterminate you and us by all the false saints they have taught their
Indian friends to worship."

Some doubted the information brought by Tecumah; but the count and
Monsieur Laporte urged their countrymen to believe him, as they well
knew the warm affection with which he regarded them, and were convinced
that he would not have alarmed them needlessly. Some time was thus
lost, but at length it was agreed that the count, with two other of the
principal persons, should at once haste with Tecumah to carry the
information to the governor, and urge him to take steps for the
protection of the settlement. Unhappily, the Protestant officers having
all been removed from their posts, there was no one of authority in the
congregation to send a direct order on board the ships to prepare for
action. The night was unusually dark; not a breath of wind rippled the
surface of the mighty estuary; and the ships, which were at anchor close
together off the usual landing-place near the fort, could not move to
any other position, where they might assist in the defence of the
island, three sides of which were thus left unprotected. The enemy
would certainly make their attack where they would not be exposed to the
fire of the ships or that of the fort.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

ATTACKED BY ENEMIES.

Tecumah urged the count and his friends to make all haste