greatly reduced, and the advancing season told them that their work must
be done quickly, or not done at all.

On the other side, the distress of the French grew greater every day.
Their army was on short rations. The operations of the English above the
town filled the camp of Beauport with dismay, for troops and Canadians
alike dreaded the cutting off of their supplies. These were all drawn
from the districts of Three Rivers and Montreal; and, at best, they were
in great danger, since when brought down in boats at night they were apt
to be intercepted, while the difficulty of bringing them by land was
extreme, through scarcity of cattle and horses. Discipline was relaxed,
disorder and pillage were rife, and the Canadians deserted so fast, that
towards the end of August two hundred of them, it is said, would
sometimes go off in one night. Early in the month the disheartening news
came of the loss of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, the retreat of
Bourlamaque, the fall of Niagara, and the expected advance of Amherst
on Montreal. It was then that Levis was despatched to the scene of
danger; and Quebec was deplorably weakened by his absence. About this
time the Lower Town was again set on fire by the English batteries, and
a hundred and sixty-seven houses were burned in a night. In the front of
the Upper Town nearly every building was a ruin. At the General
Hospital, which was remote enough to be safe from the bombardment, every
barn, shed, and garret, and even the chapel itself, were crowded with
sick and wounded, with women and children from the town, and the nuns of
the Ursulines and the Hotel-Dieu, driven thither for refuge. Bishop
Pontbriand, though suffering from a mortal disease, came almost daily to
visit and console them from his lodging in the house of the cure at
Charlesbourg.

Towards the end of August the sky brightened again. It became known that
Amherst was not moving on Montreal, and Bourlamaque wrote that his
position at Isle-aux-Noix was impregnable. On the twenty-seventh a
deserter from Wolfe's army brought the welcome assurance that the
invaders despaired of success, and would soon sail for home; while there
were movements in the English camps and fleet that seemed to confirm
what he said. Vaudreuil breathed more freely, and renewed hope and
confidence visited the army of Beauport.

Meanwhile a deep cloud fell on the English. Since the siege began, Wolfe
had passed with ceaseless energy from camp to camp