amid the wind that roared through the tree-tops; and, following
reverentially its summons, the dark-robed fathers blessed them, as they
drew near the cross-crowned chapel. In a little time, there was a
crucifix on every dusky bosom. The Indians knelt beneath the lowly roof,
worshipping in the same forms that were observed under the vast dome of
St. Peter's, when the Pope performed high mass in the presence of
kneeling princes. All the religious festivals, that awoke the chiming
bells of lofty cathedrals, called forth a peal from Our Lady's Chapel of
the Forest. Loudly rang the bell of the wilderness while the streets of
Paris echoed with rejoicings for the birthday of the Bourbon, or whenever
France had triumphed on some European battle-field. And the solemn woods
were saddened with a melancholy knell, as often as the thickstrewn leaves
were swept away from the virgin soil, for the burial of an Indian chief.

Meantime, the bells of a hostile people and a hostile faith were ringing
on Sabbaths and lecture-days, at Boston and other Puritan towns. Their
echoes died away hundreds of miles southeastward of Our Lady's Chapel.
But scouts had threaded the pathless desert that lay between, and, from
behind the huge tree-trunks, perceived the Indians assembling at the
summons of the bell. Some bore flaxen-haired scalps at their girdles, as
if to lay those bloody trophies on Our Lady's altar. It was reported,
and believed, all through New England, that the Pope of Rome, and the
King of France, had established this little chapel in the forest, for the
purpose of stirring up the red men to a crusade against the English
settlers. The latter took energetic measures to secure their religion
and their lives. On the eve of an especial fast of the Romish Church,
while the bell tolled dismally, and the priests were chanting a doleful
stave, a band of New England rangers rushed from the surrounding woods.
Fierce shouts, and the report of musketry, pealed suddenly within the
chapel. The ministering priests threw themselves before the altar, and