lst the frightened people stood gazing at
the play of lightning across their windows, fourteen hundred Iroquois
warriors landed behind Montreal, beached their canoes, and stole upon
the settlement. What next followed beggars description. Nothing else
like it occurs in the history of Canada. For years this summer was to
be known as "the Year of the Massacre."

Before the storm subsided, the Iroquois had stationed themselves in
circles round every house outside the walls of Montreal. At the signal
of a whistle, the warriors fell on the settlement {166} like beasts of
prey. Neither doors nor windows were fastened in that age, and the
people, deep in sleep after the vigil of the storm, were dragged from
their beds before they were well awake. Men, women, and children fell
victims to such ingenuity of cruelty as only savage vengeance could
conceive. Children were dashed to pieces before their parents' eyes;
aged parents tomahawked before struggling sons and daughters; fathers
held powerless that they might witness the tortures wreaked on wives
and daughters. Homes which had heard some alarm and were on guard were
set on fire, and those who perished in the flames {167} died a merciful
death compared to those who fell in the hands of the victors. By
daybreak two hundred people had been wantonly butchered. A hundred and
fifty more had been taken captives. As if their vengeance could not be
glutted, the Iroquois crossed the river opposite Montreal, and, in full
sight of the fort, weakly garrisoned and paralyzed with fright, spent
the rest of the week, day and night, torturing the white captives. By
night victims could be seen tied to the torture stake amid the
wreathing flames, with the tormentors dancing round the camp fire in
maniacal ferocity. Denonville was simply powerless. He lost his head,
and seemed so panic-stricken that he forbade even volunteer bands from
rallying to the rescue. For two months the Iroquois overran Canada
unchecked. Indeed, it was years before the boldness engendered by this
foray became reduced to respect for French authority. Settlement after
settlement, the marauders raided. From Montreal to Three Rivers crops
went up in flame, and the terrified habitants came cowering with their
families to the shelter of the palisades.

[Illustration: WILLIAM OF ORANGE]

In the midst of this universal terror came the country's savior.
Frontenac had been recalled because he quarreled with the in