The King's Warrant: A Story of Old and New France

  CHAPTER II.

  Two months passed away, and beneath the bright August sun the stillwaters of the St. Lawrence were reflecting the clear and well-definedimage of its lofty and thickly wooded banks, when Isidore again stoodon that well-remembered knoll, conversing eagerly with his humbleCanadian friend. The contrast between the two men was even morestriking than on the last occasion of their meeting there. Boulangerseemed if possible more hale and hearty than ever, and there was in hiswhole manner and deportment a vivacity and joyousness even greater thanthat which commonly characterised him. Still he seemed to checkhimself as much as it was in his nature to do, and paused more thanonce in his warmly expressed greetings as he surveyed the pitiablecondition of his visitor, which was indeed more deplorable and wretchedthan when the hospitable woodsman and his wife had done their best tofit him out for his expedition to Louisburg.

  "Alas!" said the Canadian, "we have already heard that it was all of nouse and that the place has fallen, but as yet few particulars havereached us here, as you may suppose. Indeed I too have been away fromhere almost all the time, and have only just come back. But we must dowhat we can to recruit you a little, and then perhaps monsieur willtell us all about it." So once more Isidore found himself seatedwithin the walls of the forester's dwelling, and as the meal went ondid his best to satisfy his host's inquiries as to what had befallenhim since their last meeting.

  "I came too late to witness the beginning of the siege," said he, "forthe fleet arrived there on the 2nd of June. They thought to take theplace by surprise, but our brave General Drucour was not the man to letthem do that, and he had already taken every precaution that skill anddaring could devise to strengthen the defences in every direction."

  "It was a pretty strong place even without that," said Boulanger. "Iwas down at Louisburg myself last year and know it well, with its greatharbour that would hold all the British navy together, and the twogreat tongues of land sheltering it from the south-western andnorth-western gales, and Goat Island in the middle with its long reefof rocks."

  "Just so," continued Isidore. "Well, there had been such a fog for thefirst week, and the sea broke on the beach so heavily, that even thosebold English, with that fellow Wolfe to lead them, could not effect alanding until the 8th, and then they met with a pretty warm reception.It was of no use, however; our fellows were gradually driven back, andthe siege began in good earnest. Every yard of ground was contested,but by degrees our outlying batteries were first silenced, then taken,and it was whilst this was going on that I reached the place. Besidesour regular troops there were three or four hundred Canadians and someIndians; and being a soldier with some experience, I got the command ofa company of irregulars. So matters went on, until at length the GoatIsland batteries were silenced; but on the 9th of last month----"

  "The 9th!" cried Boulanger. "Ah, I recollect that day well enough.I'll tell you about that presently; go on, I pray you."

  "Well, on that night we made a tremendous sortie, and took the enemy bysurprise. They were commanded by a British Lord--Dundonald was hisname--but if the poor fellow was taken unawares he paid dearly for it,for he was killed, together with a great number of his men. Yet theywere soon reinforced, and came on so gallantly that we were repulsed,losing many men and some prisoners. I, too, was hit, but luckily itwas only a graze."

  "What! You were in the sortie then?" exclaimed Boulanger, not a littleexcited by the narrative.

  "Yes, and our brave general was pleased to say I had done good servicein bringing off some of our men who were nearly surrounded. He offeredat once to give me a company of regulars, and asked my name. But Itold him plainly that I was under a cloud and could not accept hisoffer; still he insisted on giving me a few words in writing, which hesaid might some day be of use to me.

  "The rest of my sad story is soon told," Isidore went on to say."Three of our great ships had already been set on fire in the harbour,and the enemy kept up such a cannonade upon them that it was impossibleto save them; but the town being, as you know, three or four miles fromthe spot where the landing was made, the siege was not yet at an end.Ten or twelve days after the sortie, however, Wolfe had pushed on hisattack almost up to the walls. Then the citadel was burnt, and on theday after that the barracks, and at last three great breaches were madein the defences of the place itself. The day following two more of ourline of battle ships were captured and burnt by some of their captains,who made a sudden attack on them in the very harbour itself. All hopeof further resistance was now at an end, and on the 26th theunfortunate Drucour was obliged to surrender."

  "Yes, we have heard that," said Boulanger; "but General Montcalm hasalready done something to make up for that, though Louisburg has beensuch a triumph for those terrible English."

  "It must indeed be something of importance to make up for what we havelost there," replied Isidore. "My old habits on the staff led to myknowing better than most people the extent of our misfortune. TheEnglish took and destroyed eleven of our great ships, and made nearlysix thousand of our men prisoners, to say nothing of capturing 250 gunsand fifteen thousand stand of arms, and, what is worst of all, they canboast of taking nearly a dozen of our colours."

  "But how did you escape?" inquired the forester anxiously.

  "Well, that is of little consequence," answered Isidore, "though thatwas strange enough after all. I told you that we had some Indiansfighting on our side, and very well they fought too, though I do notcare to have to do with those rascals. Fortunately there were none onthe English side--I say fortunately, for I have always found there ismore anxiety connected with watching against a handful of them thanagainst any number of regulars; one never knows what cunning wiles andsurprises they may be devising. Strange to say, the chief of ourIndians, a fellow named White Eagle, seemed to have taken a mightyliking to me, and stuck close to me wherever I went. I fancy most ofhis tribe managed to escape at the last; but after the capitulation,when I found myself with a number of our Canadian volunteers lodged ina shattered block-house awaiting the decision of our captors, whomshould I find seated quietly by my side but my friend the red skin."

  "Eh?" exclaimed Boulanger with marked surprise. "What tribe did hebelong to?"

  "Oh, he was an Algonquin," replied Isidore. "I asked him how he camethere when most of his people had got safe away? He only grunted theusual 'ugh'; but when most of the prisoners had fallen asleep, tiredout with their long and weary work, he said to me quietly, 'When thesun sets, the pale face can escape and go back to Quebec.' Not a wordmore could I get out of him till night had come on. Then he touched myarm and pointed to the window frame, close to which we lay. The windowitself had been blown out, indeed the place was riddled with shotholes, and the roof had been half blown off, so that what little lightthe moon did give shone right down upon us. Wondering what was to comenext I watched him attentively, and saw him stealthily tie the end of along wampum belt to the stump of one of the iron window stanchions.'Slip down and drop; it is but a couple of lengths more to the ground,'said he. Without a word I crept to the window, and in another minutehad slid down. The drop, however, was longer than I had counted on,and I fell rather heavily. 'Who goes there?' shouted a sentry on thewall, a little way off. Of course I lay as still as death, andfortunately the shadow of a buttress fell exactly across the spot whereI had fallen. The sentry challenged again and fired, but as he did sothe Indian dropped lightly down at my side, seized me by the arm andhurried me away. I suppose there was an alarm, but if they did miss mefrom amongst the prisoners, they probably did not think it worth whileto give chase. Accustomed as we were to the ins and outs of the place,my friend and I managed easily to evade the sentries, and in a quarterof an hour more we were clear of them, and in the open country beyondthe town. We did not slacken our pace, however, and in a couple ofhours we reached an Indian encampment, where I recognised many of thered skins I had seen during the siege. At daybreak we moved off, and Ireturned with the tribe to the neighbourhood of Qu
ebec. At parting thechief presented me with a new wampum belt, which he drew from beneathhis vest, saying, 'Keep this in token that White Eagle has dischargedhis trust.'"

  "What!" cried Boulanger, in great excitement. "Is that the belt whichyou now have on?"

  "Yes," said Isidore, untying and showing it to him; "and I shallcertainly keep it in recollection of my most extraordinary escape."

  The forester gave one look at it, and uttered the word, "Amoahmeh!"

  "Who--what?" said Isidore. "By the by, I have been going to ask youmore than once what has become of that poor Indian girl."

  "Nay, you ought to know better than I, to judge from this wampum belt,"replied Boulanger.

  "Why so? What has become of her?"

  "Well," answered the Canadian, "if you had asked me a few minutes ago Ishould have spoken out pretty strongly about her, but I suspect she isnot so bad after all."

  "Bad! What do you mean?"

  "Why, you see, monsieur," replied Boulanger, "you had scarcely left usa couple of days when she bolted without a word, not even saying asmuch as 'thank ye,' or 'good-bye.' I did feel vexed, I confess, for Iwas quite sure she had joined a tribe of Indians that had been loafingabout here for some time. I had more than once noticed her at workover a wampum belt, as if she had a hankering after her old life.'What's bred in the bone is sure to come out in the flesh,' I said toBibi, and 'you can't make a silk purse out of a pig's ear.' However,as she seems to have had some hand in your escape, I'll not say a wordagainst her. But what does monsieur intend to do now?"

  Isidore did not answer him, and Boulanger was making some remarks as tothe need in which his guest stood of a long rest after so much fatigueand anxiety, when Bibi suddenly held up her hand, saying softly, "Hush,I declare he has dropped off."

  There was no mistake about that--the seat which the young soldieroccupied, and which very possibly did duty as a bed by night, made byday a particularly comfortable couch, covered as it was with a finesoft buffalo-robe of huge dimensions. More than once towards theconclusion of his story Isidore had nodded, but had roused himself witha spasmodic start. At last, utterly overcome by prolonged fatigue, hehad sunk down gradually and fallen fast asleep.

  "Poor gentleman," said Boulanger, in a whisper, "I don't wonder at it,and I would not wake him for the world after all he has had to gothrough."

  So the little curtain was drawn as noiselessly as possible to keep outthe rays of the now setting sun, and creeping away stealthily ontiptoe, the kind-hearted and hospitable couple left their visitor tohis dreams.

  The sun had not only set, but had risen again when Isidore was arousedfrom his sleep by the noisy gambols of Boulanger's little ones beneaththe window. Refreshed by his long rest, he was soon fortifying himselfstill further by a hearty breakfast, at which the conversation of theprevious day was at once resumed.

  "I am quite ashamed of having talked of nothing but myself yesterday,"said Isidore, "instead of listening to others. You were sayingsomething about our having had successes to set against the fall ofLouisburg, and I did hear a report that Montcalm had repulsed theEnglish on Lake George, but of course I have heard no particulars.What does it all amount to?"

  "I fancy I can tell you about as much as any one," answered Boulanger;"I happened to be there."

  "You!" exclaimed Isidore, with some surprise.

  "Yes. You must know that very shortly after you left us, and whilst Iwas fretting about Miss Amoahmeh's unceremonious departure, I found ourfolks at Quebec preparing to send up reinforcements to General Montcalmat Ticonderoga, where a great attack was expected."

  "I thought so," said his guest; "indeed I heard even before leavingFrance that Pitt's plans comprised not only the attack on Louisburg,but simultaneous operations on the lakes, and also in the west, on theOhio."

  "Well, it is all up with them on Lake George, at all events," continuedthe forester. "I found they wanted guides at Quebec for thedetachments going up country, and being unsettled and just in thehumour for it, I offered my services, and so it came about that Ireached Ticonderoga at the beginning of last month. It was on the 4th,just as Montcalm's scouts reported the embarkation of the English atthe southern end of Lake George, on the way to attack us. You knowthat country, monsieur?"

  "Of course; I was at Fort William Henry, you know. Ticonderoga, Irecollect, lies just at the southern extremity of Lake Champlain, justwhere the northern end of the comparatively small Lake George almostjoins it. What was the English force?"

  "Ah, you gentlemen on the staff are always asking what's the enemy'sstrength. Well, I heard one of our officers say that GeneralAbercromby had with him nine or ten thousand New England militia, andabout six thousand English regulars. They had more than a thousandboats and barges, and I'm told that there never was a grander sightthan to see them all coming up the lake on the 5th of July, with musicplaying and streamers flying, just for all the world like a holidayprocession."

  "They could not add to the beauty of that lovely lake," said Isidore,interrupting him. "Well do I remember it with its myriads ofenchanting little islands mirrored in its clear smooth waters, andglowing all bright and lovely in the setting sun."

  "A good many of those poor fellows only saw the sun set once or twicemore," continued the Canadian. "They landed on the following day a fewmiles from Fort Ticonderoga, and marched forward at once, our smallforce of men stationed there retiring before them, and by some blunderlosing their way in the thick woods lying between that spot and thefort. As it happened, they fell in that afternoon with a body of theEnglish under a milord Howe--as brave an officer as ever fought theysay--who was killed by one of the first shots fired; but his men gotthe better of ours, and we lost a few killed and some prisoners. Theirgeneral, however, seems not to have been good for much, and fell back;but on the day after that he sent part of his army forward underanother brave fellow, Colonel Bradstreet."

  "I know," said Isidore; "the same who gallantly forced a passage up theOnondaga quite at the outset of the war. Well, go on."

  "On the 8th they reached a place named Carillon, close to Ticonderoga,and began their attack on the fort. Some of the provincial militiacame on first, but soon gave way, for our general, as you can guess,monsieur, had not only strengthened the fort with a formidable rampartsome eight feet high, but had studded the approach to it with an abatisof prodigious trunks and branches of trees, which not only seemed, butactually proved impenetrable. On came the regulars as briskly andbravely as our men could have done, but it was only to be shot down inscores and hundreds by our sharpshooters sheltered behind theearthworks, who picked them off as they crossed the open and tried invain to struggle through the abatis. Three times the attack wasrenewed by fresh troops, and the English fought splendidly; but eventhe Highlanders, though they climbed like wild cats, could only hereand there get a few men through the tangled defences outside of us. Atlast their General Abercromby seemed to despair of success, and insteadof trying some other point to the right or left, where I believe wewere not half so well protected, he ordered a retreat. From thatmoment it was all up with them; their general's loss of heart seemed toaffect even the brave fellows he commanded. When on the followingday--the very 9th of July, monsieur, on which you were making yoursortie at Louisburg--he gave the order to fall back towards the placewhere they had landed, a panic seized them. They fancied, I suppose,that all was lost, and there was a regular stampede for the lake, intowhich they might perhaps have rushed like a herd of bisons over aprecipice, if that same Colonel Bradstreet had not made a stand againstthem and restored something like order. However, there they embarkedas fast as they could, and went back to Fort William Henry, leavingnearly two thousand killed and wounded behind them, which was prettywell, considering that the troops our general had did not number morethan about three thousand altogether."

  "A great and glorious day for us indeed," exclaimed Isidore; "and fromwhat you say of the nature of the conflict, I should hope it did notcost us very dear."
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  "Less than four hundred men in all," replied the Canadian; "so if wehave lost Louisburg we beat them at Ticonderoga. And if they are proudof their General Wolfe, let them send him to fight Montcalm and weshall see who is the best man."

  It may easily be imagined that Isidore had listened to this narrativewith the deepest interest, and indeed at times with no littleexcitement. No sooner was it concluded than he started up, exclaiming,"I cannot stay here brooding over my misfortunes whilst such things aregoing on around me--it would kill me. No, I will not sit idle with myhands folded whilst others are shedding their blood for France. I havemade up my mind to go to the army on the lakes. I should hardly berecognised now," he added, somewhat bitterly, "and if I were, whatmatters it? One can but die once, and I have little to live for saveone thing, that seems every hour to become more utterly hopeless."

  "Monsieur is right," cried Boulanger. "I also feel that there aretimes when every good Frenchman should be up and doing. We will startto-morrow."

  "We!" rejoined Isidore, surprised. "You surely do not mean to leaveyour home again so soon?"

  "As for that," replied the forester, "I had thought of it already. Itis my chief business to be moving about for one thing or another, andthe more I stick to that the sooner I shall be able to call this littleplace my own for good and all. So there's an end of it."

  Isidore could not but think that the honest Canadian's attachment tohim had something to do with this determination, and he would fain havepersuaded him to reconsider his resolve, but it was to no purpose. Therest of the day was accordingly spent in making preparations for theirdeparture, and on the following morning they set out on their journey.

  Tailpiece to Chapter II]

  Headpiece to Chapter III]