As they looked from the mighty cross to the horde of assembled savages the Frenchmen felt that to-day as never before these words were fulfilled. The uncomprehending Indians, who gazed at the pageant with wondering delight in its pomp, little knew how the minds of these white men were filled with the vision of a time, of which this was the forerunner, when these red-skinned savages should be followers of the heavenly King of the French and the obedient retainers of their earthly monarch. Beside the cross was erected a cedar pole to which was nailed a metal plate engraved with the royal arms of France. As this was being raised the Frenchmen chanted the twentieth Psalm, “In the name of our God we will set up our banners,” and one of the Jesuits, even “in that far-away corner of the earth,” as the record says, offered a prayer for the French king in whose name all this was being done. Thus side by side the standards of the two monarchs were raised in the wilderness, and Saint Lusson, stepping forward amid an expectant hush, with a sword in one hand and a sod of earth in the other, took formal possession of the soil with these words:-- “In the name of the most high and redoubtable sovereign, Louis the Fourteenth, Christian King of France and Navarre, I now take possession of all these lakes, straits, rivers, islands, and regions lying adjacent thereto, whether as yet visited by my subjects or unvisited, in all their length and breadth, stretching to the sea at the north and at the west, or on the opposite side extending to the South Sea. And I declare to all the people inhabiting this wide country that they now become vassals of His Majesty, and bound to obey his laws and follow his customs. He will protect them against all enemies. In his name I declare to all other princes and sovereigns and potentates of whatever rank,--and I warn their subjects,--that they are denied forever seizing upon or settling within the limits set by these seas; except it be the pleasure of His Most Christian Majesty, and of him who shall govern in his behalf; and this on pain of incurring his resentment and the efforts of his arms. Long live the King!” As the last words fell from his lips the Frenchmen responded with a loud shout, “Vive le Roi! Long live the King!”; guns were fired, and the Indians shouted and yelped with delight. “The astonishment and delight of those people,” says the chronicler, knew no bounds, “for they had never seen anything of the kind.” If words and the planting of symbols could do it, the king of France had taken possession of the continent of North America, extending his dominion to the shores of seas of which he had no knowledge. But the dream of the French was not fulfilled. To-day a rival people, which then occupied only a small strip of the Atlantic seaboard, has swept away almost every trace of the empire thus proclaimed.