ad followed with his main body, the consequences to
the English might have been serious; for, as Johnstone remarks, "a
Canadian in the woods is worth three disciplined soldiers, as a soldier
in a plain is worth three Canadians." Vaudreuil called a council of war.
The question was whether an effort should be made to dislodge Wolfe's
main force. Montcalm and the Governor were this time of one mind, and
both thought it inexpedient to attack, with militia, a body of regular
troops whose numbers and position were imperfectly known. Bigot gave his
voice for the attack. He was overruled, and Wolfe was left to fortify
himself in peace.[717]

[Footnote 717: The above is from a comparison of the rather discordant
accounts of Johnstone, the _Journal tenu a l'Armee,_ the _Journal_ of
Panet, and that of the Hartwell Library. The last says that Levis
crossed the Montmorenci. If so, he accomplished nothing. This affair
should not be confounded with a somewhat similar one which took place on
the 26th.]

His occupation of the heights of Montmorenci exposed him to great risks.
The left wing of his army at Point Levi was six miles from its right
wing at the cataract, and Major Hardy's detachment on the Point of
Orleans was between them, separated from each by a wide arm of the St.
Lawrence. Any one of the three camps might be overpowered before the
others could support it; and Hardy with his small force was above all in
danger of being cut to pieces. But the French kept persistently on the
defensive; and after the failure of Dumas to dislodge the English from
Point Levi, Vaudreuil would not hear of another such attempt. Wolfe was
soon well intrenched; but it was easier to defend himself than to strike
at his enemy. Montcalm, when urged to attack him, is said to have
answered: "Let him amuse himself where he is. If we drive him off he may
go to some place where he can do us harm." His late movement, however,
had a discouraging effect on the Canadians, who now for the first time
began to desert. His batteries, too, played across the chasm of
Montmorenci upon the left wing of the French army with an effect
extremely annoying.

The position of the hostile forces was a remarkable one. They were
separated by the vast gorge that opens upon the St. Lawrence; an
amphitheatre of lofty precipices, their brows crested with forests, and
their steep brown sides scantily feathered with stunted birch and fir.
Into this abyss leaps the Montmorenci with