  Destruction menaced fair Mount Royal, And the bravest cheek grew pale When from the shadowy, awesome forest Came the blood-curdling tale That the unsparing, ferocious Iroquois Would encompass them once more; Twelve hundred plumed and painted warriors Would in fury on them pour. Palisaded around and bastioned, But war-worn and wasted so, With the pale shadow of doom upon them, How shall they foil the dread foe? Often, when life and its cares seem darkest, Doth aid and guidance appear, And the storm and the threatened danger On the horizon disappear. Thus saved was the lovely Mount Royal By as heroic a deed As e’er blazon’d the page of history; And it came in their sore need. Noble, self-sacrificing des Ormeaux, And sixteen fair youths so brave, Resolved on a desperate rescue, Their homes and country to save. Aye, resolved though to a man they perish, The rescue should be complete; And prepared for the awful issue— ’Twas death, but never defeat. In war’s panoply arrayed They received the holy sacrament, And solemnly knelt and prayed. And bidding their well-beloved friends farewell, As men who to death march away— (Aye, and so were they, for all, all were slain In the merciless affray). And stemming the current of swift St. Anne, They fearlessly launch away O’er the sparkling Lake of Two Mountains, Onward, by night and by day. And by the pass of the Long Sault Rapid, In a redoubt deserted, old— A mere breastwork of logs and abatis, Covered by moss and mould— There, with forty Hurons and Algonquins, They took their intrepid stand, And waited the approach of the Iroquois, Who were very near at hand. The French and their red allies strengthened Their frail post with earth and sod, Leaving twenty loopholes for musketoons; And, commending all to God, They took post, prepared now and watchful Under the All-seeing Eye, To fight heroically for their homes, And, if need, for them to die. “Hist! hist!” Dulac des Ormeaux whispered, “Make ready the musketoons; Hear the signal hoot of the boding owl, And the cry of lonely loons! Signaling their reptile advance; Mon braves, let’s teach them what Frenchmen can do For love and glory of France! “Let them come, let them come, now, very near, Then level the musketoons; Answer thus the hoot of the boding owl, And the cry of the lonely loons! Hand to hand, use the halberd, sword and lance, Make these reptiles bite the grass, And strike as the Spartans did of old, When Leonidas kept the pass! “See! through the dim and shadowy forests, They like deadly serpents creep— Mark the cruel light in their devilish eyes, As our frail defence they sweep! Steady, brothers; comrades, aim low and sure, Let every good missile tell! Rain sure on the malignant Iroquois A consuming fire of hell!” And they opened then with crash and flame, And wild, savage cries of pain Pierced through the roar of the musketoons; Swift again, and yet again, Sure volleys burst, hurling death, dismay, The old gray redoubt around, And the withering fire from that brave band Struck many a red fiend down. For five long days the Iroquois Swarmed around that frail redoubt, Repulsed again, aye, and yet again. Worn by hunger, thirst and doubt, And fought with valiant might Through long, frightful days of carnage And the horrors of the night. Iroquois reinforcements now arrived And the Hurons, in dismay At the dreadful, inevitable result, In desertion fled away. For three days longer seven hundred foes Beleaguered that frail redoubt, Defied by the score of dauntless youths, Still barring the red fiends out By a ceaseless fire of the musketoons; Keeping their post night and day With the unyielding courage of despair, Holding the red scourge at bay. And, reeling in uttermost weariness, Realizing their doom is sealed, They can but die in the unequal strife, But must not—no, must not yield! The Iroquois, covered by wooden shields, Rushed up to the palisades; Up swift from the river’s concealing banks, And sheltering forest glades. Crouching below the fire of musketoons, They furiously cut away Post after post of the frail palisades That held them so long at bay. Firing through the loops on their pent-up foes, Tearing a breach in the walls, They swarm within with ferocious joy; But many a red fiend falls Deliv’ring lightning blows; Aski |
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