one headlong plunge of nearly
two hundred and fifty feet, a living column of snowy white, with its
spray, its foam, its mists, and its rainbows; then spreads itself in
broad thin sheets over a floor of rock and gravel, and creeps tamely to
the St. Lawrence. It was but a gunshot across the gulf, and the
sentinels on each side watched each other over the roar and turmoil of
the cataract. Captain Knox, coming one day from Point Levi to receive
orders from Wolfe, improved a spare hour to visit this marvel of nature.
"I had very nigh paid dear for my inquisitiveness; for while I stood on
the eminence I was hastily called to by one of our sentinels, when,
throwing my eyes about, I saw a Frenchman creeping under the eastern
extremity of their breastwork to fire at me. This obliged me to retire
as fast as I could out of his reach, and, making up to the sentry to
thank him for his attention, he told me the fellow had snapped his piece
twice, and the second time it flashed in the pan at the instant I turned
away from the Fall." Another officer, less fortunate, had a leg broken
by a shot from the opposite cliffs.

Day after day went by, and the invaders made no progress. Flags of truce
passed often between the hostile camps. "You will demolish the town, no
doubt," said the bearer of one of them, "but you shall never get inside
of it." To which Wolfe replied: "I will have Quebec if I stay here till
the end of November." Sometimes the heat was intense, and sometimes
there were floods of summer rain that inundated the tents. Along the
river, from the Montmorenci to Point Levi, there were ceaseless
artillery fights between gunboats, frigates, and batteries on shore.
Bands of Indians infested the outskirts of the camps, killing sentries
and patrols. The rangers chased them through the woods; there were brisk
skirmishes, and scalps lost and won. Sometimes the regulars took part in
these forest battles; and once it was announced, in orders of the day,
that "the General has ordered two sheep and some rum to Captain Cosnan's
company of grenadiers for the spirit they showed this morning in pushing
those scoundrels of Indians." The Indians complained that the British
soldiers were learning how to fight, and no longer stood still in a mass
to be shot at, as in Braddock's time. The Canadian _coureurs-de-bois_
mixed with their red allies and wore their livery. One of them was
caught on the eighteenth. He was naked, daubed red and blue, and ador