The Plowshare and the Sword: A Tale of Old Quebec
CHAPTER XXI.
IRON AND STEEL.
The fortress was invested upon three sides: up the precipitous westwardslope swarmed the Senacas and Cayugas; the fan-shaped body of theOnondagas advanced from the east, where the ground was broken; eastwardand westerly on the valley side, where the attackers hoped to strikethe victorious blow, the confederate bands of the Mohawks and Oneidaslay hidden, awaiting the signal which had been agreed upon. The riveroccupied the line to the south, and between its banks and the enemyambushed in the valley an outlet was left in order that the Frenchmight be given the opportunity of vacating their position. Once inopen country, they might be broken up into bands and hunted down.
The attack from west and north had been arranged to draw the Frenchfrom the one point where the fortress was vulnerable. It appeared asthough the besieged were tumbling blindfold into the trap, which ageneral of experience would have at once suspected. Every fighting-manin the fortress assembled to hold the almost impregnable heights. Inthe absence of the leader this mistake was pardonable. There the noiseof battle was terrific. The wild light of the bush fire beyond theriver flung its shadows over the grass hill and cast into detailfigures and flashing tomahawks. A storm of hissing arrows swept overthe rocks. The bronze-skinned warriors rushed up and climbed theheights. The bravest of the Senacas, that hardy fighting race of thehighlands, were already within the fortress, tomahawking the gunnerswith hideous yells.
The man-of-war was useless. Boats were let down, and the sailors flungropes round the ends of the logs which supported the fire-raft, andtowed the flaming peril away. Then the clumsy ship blundered upstream, only to find herself helplessly cut off from the enemy by thesheer wall of rock. She drifted back, and the master gave the orderfor the guns to be beached and dragged up the slope to strengthen theresources of the besieged.
"'Fore Heaven!" cried Van Vuren. "The natives win!"
The Dutchmen had perforce returned to watch the progress of theassault. They saw the Cayugas dealing blows against the summit,repulsed, but never actually losing ground. Each assault found theheight invested more strongly by the overwhelming host. Similarsuccess attended the ascent of the Onondagas. The rival factionsswayed upon the distant summit, lit by the fire of the cannon.
The Dutchmen hovered in uncertainty, until the opposition yielded andthe Indians began to burn the huts which looked down upon the river.At this signal a shout went up from the valley, and the Mohawks andOneidas rushed out to complete the work. At the same time Van Vurengave the word, and the big men re-crossed the river, gained the level,and joined the sachems and doctors who were dancing and screaming atthe foot of the hill.
Abruptly a line of soldiers formed upon the crest to the roaring ofcannon, and these trained fighters bore down through the smoke,sweeping away the opposition as wind carries the snow. Immediatelyyells of dismay sounded above, where the Indians who had been trappedwere being put to the sword. The blind repulse had at length given wayto method.
A report had passed about the fortress that Roussilac had beenassassinated, and the body deprived of its brains became thereuponpowerless to act. But Gaudriole came hopping from gun to gun, crying:"Courage, my comrades! I have seen the commandant. He did but go downto the chapel of Ste. Anne to confess his sins. See where he comes!Long live our governor!"
The soldiers caught up his cry and fought with new energy when theybeheld Roussilac's slight figure wrapped in a long cloak. He passeddeliberately from east to north, issuing his orders and rapidlyaltering the entire nature of the fight. The besieged became theattackers; the hunters became the hunted. Roussilac's pale facerestored confidence. His contemptuous coolness brought victory withinsight. Before setting the trap for the Cayugas and Senacas his martialeye had lingered upon the silent valley. There he concentrated hisbest fighters, and despatched an order to the ship, directing themaster to bring up the naval guns. The sailors were soon at theirwork, dragging the light guns into position and training the muzzlesupon the suspected valley, while powder-monkeys ran up with charge andball, and the gunners arranged their port-fire.
With the attack of the previously ambushed Mohawks, the battle forpossession may be said to have commenced. Skill, holding a positionwhich subsequent history proved to be practically impregnable, becameopposed by numbers blindly indifferent to death.
The Dutchmen fled at that repulse when the natives about them had beenflung back almost to the forest. They halted upon the beach anddeliberated on the practicability of flight through the smoking countrywhich hemmed the opposite shore. It was then that Dutoit made thediscovery that two of his men were missing.
"We cannot regain the bodies," said Van Vuren, when the announcementwas made. "The French mayhap have already discovered them, and thusknow that we have taken arms against them. Flight is now forced uponus."
Dawn was near when Hough reached the scene of action. The din ofbattle had carried over the land, driving the birds and beastsnorthward in fear, and he and his stout comrade had started out atonce. Scarce a mile had been traversed when Penfold's leg gave way; hesent his companion on, and hobbled slowly along his track, hoping to bein before the end.
At a glance the Puritan perceived the flaw in the attack.
"Why do ye waste your men against that wall?" he shouted at the chiefs."Bring every man round to the east. Follow me, warriors. Follow, weshall conquer yet."
He might as profitably have addressed the stones. He ran in among thefighters, dealing blows with the flat of his sword, and pointingthrough the shadows to the fierce conflict upon the edge of the valley.
"There!" he shouted, trying to recall some scattered words of thelanguage. "There, where the sun rises!"
At length he made himself clear, and a section of the fighters, morecool-headed than the remainder, professed themselves willing to follow,and some of the hot-headed chiefs, perceiving method in theEnglishman's madness, turned also calling back their men.
Twice had the Mohawks broken through the front line and been repulsedbefore reaching the cannon, which spouted its hail down the valley. Abarrier of French dead piled the space beside the artillery. Roussilacstrode to and fro, withdrawing men from points where they could ill bespared that he might throw them upon the side where the lines wavered.Here the flower of the fighting-men struggled. Laroche fought herelike the brave man he undoubtedly was, swearing fearfully, but neverceasing from the skilful sword-play which freed many a brown warriorfrom the burden of the fight. A charm seemed to protect his greatbody, the arrows leaving him unscathed, the blows of the tomahawksseeming to deflect as they descended, until the soldiers fought for thepride of place at the side of the priest, whom they believed to beunder the special protection of the saints.
"Infidels, unbelieving and unbaptised! Down, down!" shouted Laroche,blinking the sweat from his eyes.
Repeatedly the Iroquois turned the line at the weak spot which Naturehad overlooked in her plan of fortification, but Roussilac was preparedalways with a band waiting to stem the rush. This could not last. Hissoldiers were thinning, and there seemed to be no limit to the numbersof the Indians. They pressed up in horde upon horde, their shoutscleaving the moist wind, their arrows inexhaustible, their courageundiminished. Then the word came that the Cayugas and Senacas weregiving way upon the west with the manifest intention of strengtheningtheir allies.
"Let them come," cried Roussilac loudly, for his men's benefit. "Onlysend me as many soldiers as can be spared from that position." But tohimself he muttered: "The game is up," and he wrung his brain for a_ruse de guerre_.
"Send me a dozen men with a cannon yonder to work round and attackthese savages in the rear," he said to one of his captains, who hadbeen put out of the fight by a wound in the arm. "If they can butraise sufficient noise they may appear as a relieving force. Itdisheartens even a brute to fight between two foes."
"We cannot spare the men, Excellency."
"They must be spared," replied Roussilac.
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A messenger rushed up, breathless and triumphant.
"Excellency, the Algonquins are coming to our aid in force," he panted.
For the first time in many hours the commandant smiled.
"You spoke truly," he said to the captain. "We cannot spare those men."
He turned and recoiled with a shiver. St Agapit, a long, black figure,stood beside him in the wet wreaths of the dawn.
"Your cousin is dead," said the priest. "He died but half an hour ago,with a curse upon his tongue. You have lost me that man's soul."
He half lifted his hand and moved away, seeing nothing of the greatstruggle, heeding the clamour not at all, because the sun was about torise and he had his Mass to say.
While light was breaking over the cliffs in the east, where thefishermen of Tadousac hid themselves throughout that night, Oskelanobrought his men clear of the forest and disposed them upon the plain.The old man was no mean general. He sent out his spies, and when themen returned with the information that the French were being crushed bysuperior numbers he divided his force into three bands. The first hesent like a wedge between the Onondagas and the force advancing fromthe west under Hough's leadership; the second he flung to the north ofthe Mohawks and Oneidas; and, having thus completely separated theallied forces, he threw his third band upon the rear of the men whowere slowly carrying the position from the valley.
The Cayugas and Senacas were beaten back to the river. The Onondagas,attacked on two sides and at first mistaking foe for friend, wereshattered at a first charge and fled for the forest. The fighters inthe valley alone held their ground, until the light became strong; andthen Roussilac drew up his entire force and directed in person a chargewhich hurled the stubborn Mohawks back upon the axes of the Algonquinsawaiting them upon the lower ground. The survivors fled and werepursued by the northern tribe. The French flung themselves downexhausted, while Laroche wiped his sword and streaming face, and panteda benediction upon dead and wounded and living alike.
Thus the Iroquois Confederacy received a shattering blow from which itnever recovered; and the land was made secure to France for a long twohundred years.