A short distance from the Chateau rose a tower of rough masonry--
crenellated on top, and loopholed on the sides--which had been built
as a place of defence and refuge during the Indian wars of the
preceding century. Often had the prowling bands of Iroquois turned
away baffled and dismayed at the sight of the little fortalice
surmounted by a culverin or two, which used to give the alarm of
invasion to the colonists on the slopes of Bourg Royal, and to the
dwellers along the wild banks of the Montmorency.
The tower was now disused and partly dilapidated, but many wonderful
tales existed among the neighboring habitans of a secret passage
that communicated with the vaults of the Chateau; but no one had
ever seen the passage--still less been bold enough to explore it had
they found it, for it was guarded by a loup-garou that was the
terror of children, old and young, as they crowded close together
round the blazing fire on winter nights, and repeated old legends of
Brittany and Normandy, altered to fit the wild scenes of the New
World.
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