CHAPTER III.
The capture of Louisburg was at once followed up by a descent upon theFrench settlements on the Acadian coast by Sir Charles Hardy, with halfa dozen ships of the line and some frigates, carrying with them a smallland force under the command of Wolfe. This was intended partly as ameasure of retaliation and partly to draw away a portion of the enemy'sforces from the theatre of war on the lakes. Miramichi and thevillages along the Bay of Chaleurs and at Point Gaspe were partially orwholly destroyed, and although no needless cruelty may have been addedto the inevitable horrors involved in such an expedition, thesufferings of the peaceful inhabitants of the devoted districts cannotbut excite the deepest commiseration. Their dwellings were burnt, andthe stores of provisions laid up for the winter totally destroyed,whilst the people themselves were either killed, taken prisoners, ordriven out into the woods, where many perished with cold and hunger.Some of course managed to escape, and a few betook themselves to otherplaces on the St. Lawrence, or, like Isidore de Beaujardin, ultimatelyjoined the army under Montcalm.
It was in company with some of these fugitives, who had been organisedat Quebec, that Isidore and Boulanger at last reached Crown Point, onLake Champlain, where they found that no operations of any importancehad been undertaken since the great repulse of the English atTiconderoga. Skirmishes indeed occasionally took place along theborder, and one expedition under Major Rogers, on the shore of LakeChamplain, kept the French on the alert. Whilst Montcalm was unablefor want of a sufficiently numerous army to undertake any greatoffensive movement, Abercromby, disheartened by his late fruitlessattempt on Ticonderoga, lay almost inactive in the neighbourhood ofLake George.
Such a state of things was distasteful enough to Isidore, who had hopedin the excitement of a busy campaign to be able to forget his sorrows,and who fretted continually over the mean and miserable position he wasnow condemned to occupy. He had begun to think seriously of returningto Quebec in the hope of meeting with his uncle the Baron de Valricour,when an event occurred which put an end, at all events for a time, toany such thoughts. As he was sitting one evening, disconsolatelyenough, on the parapet of a small outwork, he heard footstepsapproaching him, and on looking up he recognised at once the small andwell-remembered figure of the Marquis de Montcalm. Almost mechanicallyhe rose and saluted. Montcalm, apparently struck by his appearance,stopped and eyed him curiously; his singularly retentive memory neverfailed him at such a moment.
"Truly," said he at last, "I could hardly have believed it possible.Who would have thought of seeing you here, Colonel de Beaujardin--andin such a disguise too!" he added, with a searching and somewhatsuspicious glance at Isidore's costume, which had little of the soldierabout it.
"I do not call myself Colonel de Beaujardin now," replied Isidore,bitterly, "but Claude Breton, general, at your service."
"Breton--Breton!" exclaimed the marquis, considering for a moment. "Itwas reported to me, I recollect, that a Canadian called Breton showedgreat courage and coolness in a little affair of outposts a few dayssince. Was it you?"
Isidore bowed slightly, but made no other answer.
Montcalm was silent for a minute or so, and fidgeted with hissword-knot, though he kept his eyes intently fixed on his _quondam_aide-de-camp.
"Monsieur de Beaujardin," said he at length, with his usual rapidity ofutterance, "I believe you know as well as any one that I have alwaysheld that men seldom lose caste and come down in the world without somefault of their own. I should be sorry indeed to think this is the casewith you, but you beyond all other men had at your command everythingthat could ensure an honourable and even brilliant career. What canhave brought you to this?"
"No fault of mine, sir," replied Isidore, proudly. "I have been thevictim of circumstances which it was beyond my power to control."
"Beyond your power! What! with a father in the position of the marquisto assist you?" rejoined Montcalm. "There is no man whom I would morewillingly believe, or more willingly assist, but----"
"General Montcalm will have the goodness to remember that I haveneither sought nor solicited his assistance," answered Isidore,haughtily.
"I do not forget it, sir," was the reply, "indeed it is that whichjustifies my doubts. I, at all events, am not changed, and if Monsieurde Beaujardin has nothing to reproach himself with, he may withoutscruple claim both sympathy and assistance from me."
Isidore was touched with the generous forbearance evinced by such agentle answer to his rather defiant speech.
"Sir," said he, "His Majesty has done me the honour to issue a _lettrede cachet_ against me, and not for all the world would I place such afriend as you have been in a false position, by asking at your handswhat, as the king's lieutenant here, you have scarcely a right toaccord to me."
"I accept the reason, and I honour you for it, de Beaujardin," saidMontcalm, grasping his hand. "I grieve to find you in such a position,but I am happily not called upon to act on your information, of which,indeed," he added with a smile, "I will choose to doubt the accuracy.It is not for me to pry into your family affairs, but if you desire toconfide in me, I will assuredly counsel and help you to the best of mypower."
Isidore could not repel an offer of friendship so kindly and generouslymade, and as briefly as possible he narrated the circumstances that hadled to his revisiting Canada. Montcalm listened to him attentively andwithout interruption.
"You are certainly more sinned against than sinning," said he, whenIsidore had concluded, "and if you have in some respects acted hastily,it has been from noble and generous impulses. I take a real interestin the unfortunate young lady, whose father I well remember as a braveand devoted soldier. To restore you to your former position, or evento appoint you to a company, is plainly impossible at present, but Ican give you active employment of a kind which will keep you out of theway of being recognised, and should an opportunity offer, I will notforget you."
Isidore was about to express a warm acknowledgment of this kindlyassurance, but Montcalm interrupted him: "Wait until I have really donesomething for you," said he. "And now listen to me. The campaign hereis virtually over. With the force at my command, I can do no more thanhold Abercromby in check, and prevent him from detaching anyconsiderable force beyond that sent away by him some time since underBradstreet for the reduction of Fort Frontenac, which has been only toosuccessfully accomplished. I have just heard that the place is takenand the shipping on Lake Ontario captured or destroyed. What could deNoyan do with a hundred and twenty men? The defence of the fort washopeless in the absence of reinforcements, the absolute necessity forwhich de Longueuil seems to have neglected to report, unless indeed theMarquis de Vaudreuil purposely withheld them. I suspect as much, andif so, poor de Noyan will be sacrificed, for the king is not likely tohear the true state of the case."
"A disaster indeed," observed Isidore, who in the interest he felt inMontcalm's communication seemed to fancy himself once more theaide-de-camp and personal friend of his old chief. "We have lost,then, the command of the lake, and what is perhaps worse, our hold onthe many tribes of Indians who used to make Frontenac their great placeof assembly for concluding their contracts and alliances."
"You are right," was the reply. "Beaujardin, or Breton, I see you havenot lost your head in spite of your misfortunes. Well, all that ispast helping now, and what is almost as bad, we shall lose our hold inthe West. General Forbes has long since left Philadelphia with someone thousand five hundred British regulars, chiefly Highlanders, and atleast five thousand of those New England militia, for an attack on FortDuquesne. Forbes is not the man to let himself be decoyed into such asnare as Braddock fell into, but he has to cross the Alleghanies and atract of a hundred leagues or more through a strange and difficultycountry, and that is not done in a week, or a month either. Thisbrings me to what I have to say to you. I wish de Lignieres, who is incommand at Duquesne to know that I consider the place cannot resistsuch a force as will be brought against it; he cannot be reinfor
ced,and he will do wisely to dismantle and abandon it, falling back on suchpoints as circumstances may leave him to think best capable of defence.Will you take this message? and if so, how soon can you set out?"
"I am ready, and will start in ten minutes," was the prompt reply.
Montcalm smiled. "You are indeed worthy of a better fate than thatwhich has unhappily befallen you. As for a guide----"
"I have with me the Canadian woodsman Boulanger, who took me fromOswego to Quebec two years ago."
"Boulanger! I recollect the man well; a better guide or a more trustyfellow you could not have." Saying this, Montcalm wrote a few lines inpencil on a leaf of his pocket-book and handed it to Isidore. "Now,adieu," said he; "when we meet again I trust I may be able to welcomeyou, not as Claude Breton, but as my old friend and aide-de-campColonel de Beaujardin."
"Farewell, sir," answered Isidore; "it will indeed be a proud and happyday for me should I ever again find myself on the staff of a generalwhom our country will surely one day hail as the saviour of New France."
"No," rejoined Montcalm gravely, "that is no longer possible. It isnow only too evident that, backed by a brave and energetic people, withalmost unlimited resources, and assisted by their colonies in America,Pitt will not rest till our beautiful New France has become a Britishcolony. But the great changes that lie before us will not end there.Mark me, de Beaujardin, those mad New Englanders with their foolishnotions of independence will not long brook being ruled by a governmentthree thousand miles off. The time will come, perhaps, when instead offighting against France they may welcome her as an ally who will helpthem to shake off the allegiance they owe to their king, and France,unhappy France, will some day follow their example! I shall not liveto see it, but you may. Once more, adieu!"
Boulanger, who was soon found, evinced no small delight at the newswhich Isidore at once imparted to him, and within the ten minutes whichIsidore had named they were already on the way towards Fort Duquesne.The journey was a long one, a matter of some hundred and fifty leaguesindeed; but it was diversified by many a little episode incidental tolife in the woods and wilds, and Isidore scarcely knew whether he wasmost glad or sorry when it came to an end, and he had delivered to M.de Lignieres the message entrusted to him. They had come just in time.
General Forbes, warned by Braddock's disaster in 1755, had halted atRaystown, nearly a hundred miles from the fort, in order to advanceupon it by a new route, and thus avoid the gorge which had been thescene of the former catastrophe. The Highlanders, however, pushed on,and desirous perhaps of achieving the capture of the place before themain body could come up, had posted themselves at a short distance fromthe fort and challenged a combat in the open ground. This challenge deLignieres had accepted and had signally defeated them, unsupported asthey were. But he knew that the magnitude of the force which wasshortly to be brought against him would make resistance unavailing, andafter dismantling the defences and destroying whatever could not becarried away, he evacuated the place, leaving the famous Fort Duquesneto fall into the hands of the British, and to be known henceforward bythe name of Pittsburg.
It had been Isidore's intention after this event to make his way backto Quebec, and he and Boulanger set out again together for thispurpose. Their route, however, lay in a different direction from thattaken by de Lignieres and the retreating garrison. They had just laindown to rest on the first evening of their march, when the Canadian'ssharp ears detected the approach of footsteps, and before he couldarouse his companion, they were surrounded by a small detachment of NewEngland men sent out to scour the woods. Resistance would have beenmere folly, and they were at once captured. At first they were inhopes that they might pass unnoticed as common Canadian woodsmen, but,unfortunately for them, they were searched, and the testimonial fromGeneral Drucour, which Isidore had carried about with him ever sincethe taking of Louisburg, settled their fate. They were, withoutfurther question, carried off to head-quarters, to be dealt withpossibly as spies, but at the best as prisoners of war.
Tailpiece to Chapter III]
Headpiece to Chapter IV]
The King's Warrant: A Story of Old and New France Page 17
