The Rivals of Acadia

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The Rivals of Acadia

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Title: The Rivals of Acadia An Old Story of the New World
Author: Harriet Vaughan Cheney
Release Date: December 19, 2005 [EBook #17351]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE RIVALS OF ACADIA,
AN OLD STORY OF THE NEW WORLD.

When two authorities are up, Neither supreme, how soon confusion May enter 'twixt the gap of both, and take The one by the other.
SHAKSPEARE.
Boston: WELLS AND LILLY, COURT-STREET.
1827.

THE RIVALS OF ACADIA

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT
_District Clerk's Office._
BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the twenty sixth day of January, A.D. 1827, in the fifty-first year of the Independence of the United States of America, Wells and Lilly of the said district, have deposited in this Office the Title of a Book, the Right whereof they claim as Proprietors in the Words following, _to wit_:
"The Rivals of Acadia, an Old Story of the New World.
When two authorities are up, Neither supreme, how soon confusion May enter 'twixt the gap of both, and take The one by the other _Shakspeare._"
In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled "An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned," and also to an Act, entitled "An act supplementary to an Act, entitled, 'An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the Benefits thereof to the Arts of Designing, Engraving, and Etching Historical, and other Prints."
JNO. W. DAVIS. _Clerk of the District of Masachusetts._

THE
RIVALS OF ACADIA
CHAPTER I.
Far on th' horizon's verge appears a speck-- A spot--a mast--a sail--an armed deck! Their little bark her men of watch descry, And ampler canvas woos the wind from high.
LORD BYRON.
On a bright day in the summer of 1643, a light pleasure-boat shot gaily across the harbor of Boston, laden with a merry party, whose cheerful voices were long heard, mingling with the ripple of the waves, and the music of the breeze, which swelled the canvas, and bore them swiftly onward. A group of friends, who had collected on the shore to witness their departure, gradually dispersed, till, at length, a single individual only remained, whose eyes still followed the track of the vessel, though his countenance wore that abstracted air, which shewed his thoughts were detached from the passing scene. He seemed quite unconscious of the silence that succeeded this transient bustle, and a low murmur, which soon begun to spread along the shore, was equally disregarded. Suddenly a confused sound of many voices burst upon his ear, and hurried steps, as of persons in alarm and agitation, at once aroused him from his reverie. At the same moment, a hand was laid heavily on his shoulder, and a voice exclaimed, with earnestness,
"Are you insensible, Arthur Stanhope, at a moment, when every man's life is in jeopardy?"
"My father!" replied the young man, "what is the meaning of all this excitement and confusion?"
"Do you not know?" demanded the other; "a strange sail is approaching our peaceful coast; and, see! they have unfurled the standard of popish France."
"It is true, by heaven!" exclaimed young Stanhope; "and, look, father, yonder boat is flying before them; this is no time to gaze idly on; we must hasten to their rescue."
The vessel, which produced so much alarm, was, in fact, a French ship of considerable force, apparently well manned, and armed for offensive or defensive operations. The national flag streamed gaily on the wind, and, as it anchored just against Castle Island, the roll of the drum, and the shrill notes of the fife, were distinctly heard, and men were seen busied on deck, as if preparing for some important action. The little bark, already mentioned, was filled, chiefly, with females and children, bound, on an excursion of pleasure, to an island in the bay; and their terror was extreme, on thus encountering an armed vessel of the French, who had, on many occasions, shewn hostility to the colonists. The boat instantly tacked, and crowding sail, as much as prudence would permit, steered across the harbor