One of the younger women began to sob. An officer of the garrison took
her hand to comfort her grief. Norton's rolling eyes caught sight of
the innocent conference between the officer and the young wife. With a
roar the dying bully hurled himself up in bed:--
"I'll burn you alive! I'll burn you alive," he shrieked. With oaths
on his lips he fell back dead.
[Illustration: Fort Prince of Wales (Churchill), from Hearne's Account,
1799 Edition.]
Samuel Hearne became governor of the fort. For ten years nothing
disturbed the calm of his rule. Marie, Norton's daughter, still lived
in the shelter of the fort; the wives found consolation in other
husbands; and Matonabbee continued the ambassador of the company to
strange tribes. One afternoon of August, 1782, the sleepy calm of the
fort was upset by the sentry dashing in breathlessly with news that
three great vessels of war with full-blown sails and carrying many guns
were ploughing straight for Prince of Wales. At sundown the ships
swung at anchor six miles from the fort. From their masts fluttered a
foreign flag--the French ensign. Gig boat and pinnace began sounding
the harbor. Hearne had less than forty men to defend the fort. In the
morning four hundred French troopers lined up on Churchill River, and
the admiral, La Perouse, sent a messenger with demand of surrender.
Hearne did not feel justified in exposing his men to the attack of
three warships carrying from seventy to a hundred guns apiece, and to
assault by land of four hundred troopers.
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