Soon the English were provoked into retaliations; whereupon the regulars
of Beausejour found an excuse for taking part, and the turbid Missaguash
became the scene of such perpetual skirmishes that its waters ran redder
than ever.
Even then there might have been erelong an attempt at reconciliation,
to which end the efforts of Captain Howe were ceaselessly directed. But
Le Loutre made this forever impossible by an outrage so fiendish as to
call forth the execration of even his unscrupulous employers. One morning
the sentries on Fort Lawrence were somewhat surprised to see one who was
apparently an officer from the garrison of Beausejour, with several
followers, approaching the banks of the Missaguash with a flag of truce.
The party reached the dike, and the bearer of the flag waved it as if
desiring to hold a parley. His followers remained behind at a respectful
distance, standing knee-deep in the heavy aftermath of the fertile marsh.
In prompt response to this advance Captain Howe and several companions,
under a white flag, set out from Fort Lawrence to see what was wanted.
When Howe reached the river he detected something in the supposed
officer's dress and language which excited his suspicions of the man's
good faith, and he turned away as if to retrace his step's. Instantly
there flashed out a volley of musketry from behind the dike on the
further shore, and the beloved young captain fell mortally wounded.
The pretended officer was one of Le Loutre's supporters, the Micmac chief,
Jean Baptiste Cope, and the fatal volley came from a band of Micmacs
who had, under cover of darkness, concealed themselves behind the dike.
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