Elsie's Journey on Inland Waters

by Martha Finley

  CHAPTER XI.

  Grandma Elsie took a moment to collect her thoughts, then gavethe little ones very much the same story of the settlement andafter-history of Montreal that Lucilla had heard from their fatherearlier in the day. From that she went on to give a similar account ofQuebec.

  "The city," she said, "is built upon a steep promontory, where tworivers, the St. Lawrence, on which we now are, and the St. Charlesmeet. There was formerly an Indian village there called Stadacona.Jacques Cartier, the same person I have been telling you about asthe first white man who visited this spot where Montreal now stands,discovered that Indian village in the same year. But the city of Quebecwas not founded until 1608; and not by Cartier, but by another mannamed Champlain, who on the third day of July of that year raised overit a white flag. Soon afterward rude cottages were built, a few acresof ground cleared, and one or two gardens were planted."

  "Is that all of it there is now, grandma?" asked Elsie.

  "Oh, no, my child! there is a city with a very strong fortress; thereare colleges and churches; there is a building yard for vessels, wherethirty or forty are built every year. Quebec has a very fine harbor,where many vessels can ride at anchor at the same time, and I have readthat from fourteen hundred to two thousand come in every year from theocean."

  "Just to ride there, grandma?" asked Neddie, with grave earnestness.Then he wondered why grandma smiled at his query and everybody elselaughed.

  "No, sonnie," Mrs. Travilla replied, "but to trade. They bring goodsto the people--silk, cotton, woolen; salt too, coal, and hardware. Andthey carry away what the folks in Canada have to sell, which is mostlytimber."

  "Did you say French folks live there, grandma?" asked Elsie.

  "Yes; it was built by the French in the first place, but taken fromthem by the English in 1759."

  "That was before our Revolution, wasn't it, grandma?"

  "Yes; about sixteen years earlier."

  "Please tell about it, grandma."

  Grandma kindly complied.

  "There was war at that time between England and France," she said,"and, for that reason, war between the English and French coloniesof America. The French built a strong fortress on the island of CapeBreton, which is at the mouth of this, the St. Lawrence River; theybegan also to build forts along the lakes and the Ohio and MississippiRivers. Fleets and armies came over from Europe, and the English andFrench colonists, on this side of the ocean, formed armies and engagedIndians to help them fight each other. The English attacked the Frenchfortress of Louisburgh on Cape Breton Island, and took it. Then Wolfe,who was in command, put his troops on board of vessels, and went on upthe river as far as the island of Orleans, a few miles below Quebec.There they built batteries for guns, intending to fire upon Quebec,where was the French general, Montcalm, with an army of 13,000 men;some of them regulars, the rest Canadians and Indians.

  "But I will not go into all the particulars, as you two little onescould hardly understand them well enough to be much interested."

  "Oh, yes, grandma, please go on," exclaimed Elsie.

  "The English were unsuccessful at first, if I remember right, mamma?"remarked Rosie inquiringly.

  "Yes," replied her mother. "It was nearly night when their divisionsjoined, and the grenadiers were so impatient that they charged madlyupon the works of the French before the other troops had time to formand be ready to sustain them. As a natural consequence they were drivenback to the beach with severe loss, where they sought shelter behind aredoubt abandoned by the French.

  "A storm was brewing, and the French kept up a galling fire, until itburst upon their foes with great fury. The tide from the ocean cameroaring up against the current of the river with unusual strength,and the British were obliged to retreat to their camp across theMontmorency, to avoid being caught in the raging waters and drowned.They had lost 180 killed and 650 wounded.

  "Wolfe, who was not a strong, healthy man, was so distressed over thecalamity that he became really ill. Of course he was much fatigued, andthat, joined to distress of mind, brought on a fever and other illnessthat nearly cost him his life. It was almost a month before he was ableto resume command.

  "When sufficiently recovered to write a letter, he sent an almostdespairing one to Pitt, but at its close said he would do his best.Then he and Admiral Saunders contrived their plan for scaling theHeights of Abraham, and so getting possession of the elevated plateauat the back of the city, where the fortifications were weakest, theFrench engineers having trusted for their defence to the precipices andthe river below.

  "Montcalm and his men saw that the English camp was broken up, andthat the troops were conveyed across to Point Levi, then some distanceup the river, by a part of their fleet, while the rest of it remainedbehind to feign an attack upon the intrenchment at Beauport. Montcalm,though he saw these movements, was at a loss to understand them; sohe remained in his camp, while another officer was stationed a littleabove the Plains of Abraham, to watch that part of the English fleetthat had sailed up the river.

  "At night the troops were all embarked in flat boats and proceededup the river with the tide. The French saw them, and marched up theshore to prevent them from landing. Toward daylight the boats movedcautiously down the river, with muffled oars, passing the Frenchwithout being perceived, and the troops landed safely in a cove below.They were all on shore by daylight.

  "Then the light infantry scrambled up the precipice and dispersed aFrench guard stationed there, while the rest of the army climbed upa winding and steep ravine. Then another division landed, and beforesunrise five thousand British troops were drawn up in battle array onthe Plains of Abraham, three hundred feet above the St. Lawrence."

  "How surprised the French must have been!" exclaimed Lucilla.

  "Yes," said Mrs. Travilla, "the first intimation Montcalm had of theirintentions was the sight of the English army drawn up there, on what hehad doubtless deemed those inaccessible heights. He at once perceivedthat this exposed his garrison and the city to imminent danger, andimmediately marched his whole army across the St. Charles to attack theenemy.

  "It was about ten o'clock when he got his troops there and into battleline. He had two field-pieces, while the English had but one; only alight six-pounder which some sailors had dragged up the ravine abouteight o'clock that morning.

  "At that time the plains had no fences or inclosures, and extendedto the walls of the city on the St. Louis side, their surface beingdotted over with bushes which furnished places of concealment for theFrench and Indian marksmen. I will not attempt to describe the relativepositions of the two armies, which you little ones would hardlyunderstand. I will only say that Wolfe placed himself on the right, atthe head of a regiment of grenadiers who were burning to avenge theirdefeat at the Montmorency, and Montcalm was on the left of the French,at the head of his regiments.

  "Wolfe ordered his men to load their pieces with two bullets each andreserve their fire until the French should be within forty yards ofthem, an order which every man was careful to obey.

  "The English fired several rounds, then charged furiously with theirbayonets. Wolfe was urging them on, when some Canadians singled himout and fired, slightly wounding him in the wrist. He wound hishandkerchief about it and still went on, cheering his men, but quicklyreceived another wound in the groin; then another struck him in thebreast, and he fell to the ground mortally wounded. But he seemedhardly to think of himself, only of his troops and gaining the victory.'Support me; let not my brave soldiers see me drop,' he said to anofficer near him. 'The day is ours--keep it.' Then they carried him tothe rear while his troops were still charging. The officer on whoseshoulder he was leaning cried out, 'They run, they run!' At that thelight came back into the dim eyes of the dying hero and he asked, 'Whorun?' 'The enemy, sir; they give way everywhere,' replied the officer.'What! do they run already?' asked the feeble, dying voice. 'Go toColonel Preston and tell him to march Webb's regiment immediately tothe bridge over the St. Charles, and cut off the fugitives' r
etreat.Now, God be praised, I die happy!' He spoke no more, but died, with hissorrowing companions about him, just in the moment of victory. Montcalmtoo was mortally wounded in that battle, and died the next morningabout five o'clock."

  "What a pity!" exclaimed little Ned. "What makes men fight so, grandma?"

  "If there were no sin there would be no fighting," Grandma Elsiereplied. "There is none in heaven; there all is peace and joy and love."

  "Is it bad men that fight, grandma?"

  "Not quite always; sometimes a good man has to fight to protect hiswife and children, or other helpless ones, from being injured by abad man. If a bad man were trying to hurt your mamma, or one of yoursisters, it would be right for your papa to prevent him, even if he hadto hurt him a great deal in doing so."

  "Oh, yes; and when I grow big I won't let anybody hurt my dear mamma orsisters. I'll help papa drive 'em away if they try to."

  "Please, grandma, tell some more," entreated Elsie.

  "Yes, dear," said grandma. "The British have kept Quebec ever sincethey took it that time, and there was no more fighting there till ourRevolutionary war began some sixteen years later: the 19th of April,1775. In the fall of that year troops were sent to Canada; some underEthan Allen, as you have already learned, some under Montgomery, andothers commanded by Arnold.

  "They, poor fellows, had dreadful times pushing their way through thewilderness, often suffering for lack of sufficient food and raiment,braving storms and bitter cold. I cannot tell you the whole sad storynow, but you can read it when you are older. Arnold and his menreached Quebec first, but were not strong enough to attack it, and thegarrison would not come out and fight them on the plains. Then Arnold,inspecting his arms, found that most of his cartridges were spoiled,therefore he retreated to a place twenty miles distant. There, on the1st of December, he was joined by Montgomery and his troops; but veryfew of them were fit for fighting, many being sick; also a good manyhad deserted, so that the force was small indeed--only about ninehundred men."

  "What's desert, grandma, to run away without leave?" asked Neddie.

  "Yes," she replied; "and they generally shoot a soldier for it."

  "I think I won't be a soldier when I get big," said the little fellowreflectively; "'cause I might get scared and run away and the otherfellows might catch me and shoot me; and then papa and mamma would feelvery sorry; wouldn't they, grandma?"

  "Yes, indeed! and so would a good many other folks, grandma for one,"she replied, dropping her work to put an arm about him, stroking hishair with the other hand, patting his rosy cheek, and kissing him againand again. "But we hope our little boy will make a good and braveman, like his father, and never play the coward by running away fromdangerous duty."

  "Maxie, my big brother, wouldn't, grandma."

  "No, I feel very sure Max would fight for the right and his dear nativeland."

  "So do I," said Lucilla. "Max is very much like our father in bothlooks and character; though papa says Max has a better temper than his.I never saw papa show a bad temper, but he says he has one and thatthat's where I get mine."

  "Now, Lu, don't talk in that way about yourself," said Grace. "I'vehardly seen you show any temper at all for years past. If you got itfrom papa, you got the power of controlling it too, from him, I think."

  At that moment Walter came hurrying down from the deck, whither he hadgone shortly before, his face full of joyous excitement.

  "Folks," he cried, "do you know that it is clearing off? The sun is outand the clouds are retreating rapidly before it. Surely the change willbring grandpa and the captain back in haste, after the rest of us. So Ithink we should better be making our preparations as fast as possible."

  "Why, my dear young brother," laughed Rosie, "one would imagine ourlives or fortunes, one or both, depended on our seeing the sights ofMontreal to-day."

  "Very well, my wise sister, you can stay behind, if you wish," laughedthe lad; "but I'm bound to make one of the exploring party. And there!they have come, for I hear Brother Levis' voice on deck."

  The words had scarcely left his lips when Captain Raymond's quick,manly step was heard coming down the companion-way; then his pleasantvoice, saying, "Everybody who wants to see Montreal to-day must makehaste to don hat and coat or shawl, for the air will be quite cool indriving."

  "Oh, have you brought a carriage for us, papa?" asked little Elsie.

  "Yes," he replied; "we have three of what they call _caleches_ out hereon the wharf. They are pleasant vehicles to ride in, and the three willhold us all very comfortably. We will not want to stop anywhere fordinner," he continued turning to Violet, "so I have ordered a lunch putup for each _caleche_."

  "My dear, you think of everything," she said, with an admiringaffectionate look up into his face. "We will be ready in ten minutes;we need no preparations but what you have advised."