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Show 210 TilE LILY AND THE TOTEM. torn asunder by an explosion wl1ich was sufficiently gun-like to doccivc the unpractiscd car of the Jndian. The savages answered this fire by a cloud of :m·ows, and began to advance. it. was now that the remaining section of the di\·ision, which bad retained t\Jci1· fire, delivered it with great precision and an effect similar to the former; those who had emptied their pieces on tho previous occasion, contenting thcmsch·cs with discharging n cane. By this time, the two other divisions, under D'Eriacll, haJ pushed through the gorge, and \'I'Crc spreading themselves right and left, among the pines, in a situation to practice the same game with their assailants, which had been played so well by the foremost party. We must not follow the caprices of the battle. It is enough to say that, dccei\·ed by the apparent discharge of all the pieces of the Frenchmen, the Indians, headed by Oolcnoo llilll· self, dasllCd d e~pcratcly upon their enemies, and were recch·ed by the fatal fire f1·om more than a dozen guns, which sent their foremost men headlong to the ground, the subtle chief, Oulcnoe himself, among them. At this sight, the s:wagcs set up a howl of dismay, and fled in all directions; while Oolcnoe, thrice stag· gering to his feet, at length stmk back upon the ground, writhing in an agony which did not, however, prevent him, on the approach of D'Erlach, from making a desperate effort to smite him with his stone hatchet. llis whole form collapsed with tho effort, and wrenching tho rude but heavy implement from the dying savage, the lieutenant dro\'e it into his brain nnd ended his agonies with a single stroke. With this adventure, the difficulties of the party ceased. That nigllt they rcnched the fortress, in season to confirm the authority of Lnudonnicro; and, as \VC have seen, to assist in the execution of the mutineers by whom he had been temporarily overthrown. XVI. IJJSTORICAL SUMMARY. SL'STAINED and rcfl.SSurod by the return of his lieutenant, Lau~ donnierc, released from his bonds, proceeded to rc-orgnnizc his garrison. He promoted those who had proved faithful when all threatened to be false, and deprived the doubtful, or tl1c dangerous, of all tl1 eir pre,·ious trusts. To improve and strengthen his forts, to build vessels, wilich were to supply the places of those which the mutineers l1ad taken, and others of smaller burt ben for the express oa\·igatioo of the ri\·er, were llis immediate cares, in all of which his progress was considerable. During this period he li,•ed on relations of tolerable amity with his Indian neighbors. Their little crops had, by this time, been harvested, and they were not unwilling to exchange their surplus productions for the objects of European m::mufacturc wlJieh they coveted. The sup· plies brought by the red-men were " fish, deere, turki-eocks, leopards, little bcaros, and other things, according to the place of their habitation," for wl1ich they were rf'COmpcnscd with "certaine hatchets, knives, bcades of glasse, combs, and lookingglasses." The " leopards and little bcarcs" were probably wild cats and raccoons, or opossums, :~ll of wllich furnished excellent feeding to our hungry Frenchmen in September. The wild·cat |
