utton at thirteen
shillings. Notwithstanding repeated refusals, the besiegers periodically
approached the walls with flags of truce. A needless and unaccountable
courting of humiliation. Every now and again the enemy succeeded in
setting fire to houses within the walls. The consequent excitement
relieved the monotony of the blockade, and was an event to talk about.
The garrison made frequent partial sorties in quest of fire-wood,
sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully. Fatigue parties dug
trenches in the snow, without the walls, by way of exercise or bravado.
Sentinels at the Block House and other exposed points were frequently
frostbitten. A kind of sentry-box was fixed on a pole thirty feet high,
at Cape Diamond. Thence could be seen the tin spire of St. Foye Church,
but not the Plains of Abraham, beyond Gallow's Hill, where the besiegers
lay in force. Over the American camp the red-flag waved. Some thought
it was the bloody flag, by way of threat. But it was no more than a
signal to the prisoners within the town. About one hundred men were
picked up and formed into an Invalid Company to guard these prisoners.
Among this guard were some "picqued who did not formerly perceive the
meanness of their behaviour," as the old chronicle tells. On dark nights
rockets were sent up and large fires made on the ramparts and the high
streets to confound the enemy's signals. There was much generous rivalry
between the French militiamen and the British regulars. The former were
greatly encouraged by the priests, who went among them familiarly in
their long black robes. The Seminary, in Cathedral-square, where the
Bishop resided, was as much frequented by the soldiery as the
headquarters of MacLean in the Jesuit barracks, on the other side of the
square. Monseigneur Briand was as truly the defender of Quebec as
General Carleton. The most curious signals of the Americans were
fire-balls which burned from one in the morning till three. Whenever
these were seen, the garrison prepared more actively for an attack.
Spite of precautions on both sides, communication to and from the
beleaguered town was carried on to a considerable extent. A bold, active
man could always go in or out from the side of the river under the Cape,
or along the valley of the St. Charles. The Continentals had not men
enough to effect a complete blockade, and the garrison was not
sufficiently numerous to guard every obscure outlet. But spite of these
deficien