blet of population thus strung scantily along the banks of the vast
river seemed as nothing in the mighty forest by which it was surrounded.
The country therefore had in great part the virgin look of the primeval
solitude.

After an eight weeks' stormy voyage in the London barque _Chatham_,
Germain cast his eyes with relief on the tawny, lion-like rock of
Quebec, with the fortress above and the little town about its feet, and
straggling up its sides. The vessel at length drew up to moorings, the
anchor dropped, and a boat came out for the passengers. He disembarked
with his boxes, and inquired for a good lodging in the Upper Town. A
_caleche_-driver undertook to find him one, and leaving the heavier
luggage with a merchant near by, lashed his brisk little horse with the
ends of the reins, and inspired it into a cat-like climb by which Lecour
was whisked up the precipitous windy street called Mountain Hill, from
the busy Lower to the aristocratic and military Upper Town.

After some searching they found a certain Madame Langlois, a widow who
lived in a comfortable house on St. Louis Street, and could give the
gentleman a front room on her first floor. There he could see the
principal doings of the town, for it was not far from the Place d'Armes
and the Castle. It suited him and he installed himself. As it was late
in the afternoon, he occupied the time by unpacking his effects until
called to supper by Madame Langlois. At the meal, he noted that his
landlady--a thin, civil woman of thirty-eight or so, was simply dying of
discreet curiosity. He vouchsafed her only his name, and that he was
just arrived from France. He, however, asked a number of questions about
the Castle, the Governor, his staff, and the prominent people of the
town, and inflamed her interest as much by his questions as by his dress
and manners. Then retiring till dusk fell, he went out and wandered
about the neighbourhood.

The rock of Quebec is like a lion couchant beside the St. Lawrence. On
the head is the fortress, on the back the Upper Town, around the feet
nestles the Lower Town, while the River St. Charles flows around the
hinder parts.

The city was no vast place: its population was but some seven thousand
souls, with about two thousand of a garrison, and the occupied area in
the Upper Town covered a few streets only, the remainder consisting of
grassy fields stretching to the fortification walls. The citadel,
picturesquely crowning the summ