The allies remained on the lake, a bowshot from the hostile barricade, their canoes made fast together by poles lashed across. All night they danced with as much vigor as the frailty of their vessels would permit, their throats 5 making amends for the enforced restraint of their limbs. It was agreed on both sides that the fight should be deferred till daybreak; but meanwhile a commerce of abuse, sarcasm, menace, and boasting, gave unceasing exercise to the lungs and fancy of the combatants," much," 10 says Champlain, "like the besiegers and besieged in a beleaguered town.”

As day approached, he and his two followers put on the light armor of the time. Champlain wore the doublet and long hose then in vogue. Over the doublet he 15 buckled on a breastplate, and probably a backpiece, while his thighs were protected by cuisses of steel, and his head by a plumed casque. Across his shoulder hung the strap

of his bandoleer or ammunition box; at his side was his sword, and in his hand his arquebus. Such was the equip20 ment of this ancient Indian fighter, whose exploits date eleven years before the landing of the Puritans at Plymouth, and sixty-six years before King Philip's War.

Each of the three Frenchmen was in a separate canoe, and, as it grew light, they kept themselves hidden, either 25 by lying at the bottom or covering themselves with an Indian robe. The canoes approached the shore, and all landed without opposition at some distance from the Iroquois, whom they presently could see filing out of their barricade, tall, strong men, some two hundred in number, 30 of the boldest and fiercest warriors of North America. They advanced through the forest with a steadiness which

excited the admiration of Champlain. Among them could be seen three chiefs, made conspicuous by their tall plumes. Some bore shields of wood and hide, and some were covered with a kind of armor made of tough twigs interlaced with a vegetable fiber supposed by Champlain to be cotton. 5 The allies, growing anxious, called with loud cries for their champion, and opened their ranks that he might pass to the front. He did so, and, advancing before his red companions-in-arms, stood revealed to the gaze of the

Iroquois, who, beholding the warlike apparition in their 10 path, stared in mute amazement.

"I looked at them," says Champlain, "and they looked at me. When I saw them getting ready to shoot their arrows at us, I leveled my arquebus, which I had loaded with four balls, and aimed at one of the three chiefs. The 15 shot brought down two and wounded another. On this our Indians set up such a yelling that one could not have

heard a thunderclap and all the while the arrows flew thick on both sides. The Iroquois were greatly astonished and frightened to see two of their men killed so quickly, in spite of their arrowproof armor. As I was reloading, 5 one of my companions fired a shot from the woods, which so increased their astonishment, that seeing their chiefs dead, they abandoned the field and fled into the depth of the forest."

The allies dashed after them. Some of the Iroquois 10 were killed, and more were taken. Camp, canoes, provisions, all were abandoned, and many weapons flung down in the panic flight. The victory was complete.

Thus did New France rush into collision with the redoubted warriors of the Five Nations. Here was the 15 beginning, in some measure doubtless the cause, of a long suite of murderous conflicts, bearing havoc and flame to generations yet unborn. Champlain had invaded the tiger's den; and now, in smothered fury, the patient savage would lie biding his day of blood.

I. Dē'vious: winding. Be guil'Ing: entertaining; diverting. Cō'mō: a very beautiful lake in Italy; hence the name is applied to any beautiful lake.

II. Es say'ing: attempting; trying. Prog nos'tic: sign; token. Aus picious (pish'us): favorable; giving promise of success. À quǎt'ic of or pertaining to the water. Cuïss'ès: cuishes; defensive armor for the thighs. Vōgue: fashion. Redoubt'ěd: formidable; feared. Five Nations: a confederacy of five Indian tribes consisting of the Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, Oneidas, and Senecas, inhabiting the region which is now the state of New York. Afterward by the addition of the Tuscaroras it became the Six Nations. Suite (swēt): series.

Courage in the Use of Talent

BY SYDNEY SMITH

Rev. Sydney Smith (1771-1845): An English clergyman and writer, distinguished for his wit, humor, and conversational powers. He published among other works several volumes of sermons, and "Letters on the Subject of the Catholics," which greatly promoted the cause of Catholic emancipation. This selection is from a "Lecture on the Conduct of the Understanding."

A great deal of talent is lost to the world for the want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves a number of obscure men who have only remained obscure because their timidity has prevented them from making a first effort; and who, if they could only have been induced 5 to begin, would in all probability have gone great lengths in the career of fame. The fact is, that to do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand shivering on the brink, and thinking of the cold and the danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.

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It will not do to be perpetually calculating risks and adjusting nice chances. It did very well before the flood, when a man could consult his friends upon an intended scheme for a hundred and fifty years, and then live to see its success for six or seven centuries afterward. But at 15 present, a man waits and doubts and hesitates, and consults his brother and his uncle and his first cousins and particular friends, till one fine day he finds that he is sixty-five years of age; that he has lost so much time in consulting first cousins and particular friends, that he has 20 no more time left to follow their advice.

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Orpheus with his Lute

FROM "KING HENRY VIII.," BY WILLIAM SHAKSPERE

Orpheus with his lute made trees,
And the mountain tops that freeze,
Bow themselves when he did sing:
To his music plants and flowers
Ever sprung, as sun and showers

There had made a lasting spring.

Everything that heard him play,
Even the billows of the sea,

Hung their heads, and then lay by.

In sweet music is such art,

Killing care and grief of heart

Fall asleep, or hearing, die.

ôr'phe (fe) us: according to Greek mythology, a musician whose lyre could charm beasts and move trees and stones.

The Poetry in Words

By R. C. TRENCH

Richard Chenevix Trench (1807-1886): An English clergyman and philologist. He was the author of several volumes of poems and religious works, and some volumes on philology. The most popular of his philological works is a series of lectures "On the Study of Words," from which this selection is taken.