ners; the whole under command
of the gallant Vauquelin. He did not belie his reputation; fought
his ship with persistent bravery till his ammunition was spent,
refused even then to strike his flag, and being made prisoner,
was treated by his captors with distinguished honor. The
other vessels made little or no resistance. One of them threw
her guns overboard and escaped; the rest ran ashore and
were burned.

The destruction of his vessels was a death-blow to the
hopes of Levis, for they contained his stores of food and
ammunition. He had passed the preceding night in great agitation;
and when the cannonade on the river ceased, he hastened to raise the
siege. In the evening deserters from hiscamp told Murray that the
French were in full retreat; on which all the English batteries
opened, firing at random through the darkness, and sending cannon-balls
_en ricochet_, bowling by scores together, over the Plains of
Abraham on the heels of the retiring enemy. Murray marched out at
dawn of day to fall upon their rear; but, with a hundred and
fifty cannon bellowing behind them, they had made such speed that,
though he pushed over the marsh to Old Lorette, he could not overtake
them; they had already crossed the river of Cap-Rouge. Why, with
numbers still superior, they went off in such haste, it is hard to
say. They left behind them thirty-four cannon and six mortars, with
petards, scaling-ladders, tents, ammunition, baggage, intrenching
tools, many of their muskets, and all their sick and wounded.

The effort to recover Quebec did great honor to the enterprise
of the French; but it availed them nothing, served only
to waste resources that seemed already at the lowest ebb,
and gave fresh opportunity of plunder to Cadet and his crew,
who failed not to make use of it.

After the battle of Ste.-Foy Murray sent the frigate "Racehorse"
to Halifax with news of his defeat, and from Halifax it was sent
to England. The British public were taken by surprise. "Who the
deuce was thinking of Quebec?" says Horace Walpole. "America was
like a book one has read and done with; but here we are on a
sudden reading our book backwards." Ten days passed, and then
came word that the siege was raised and that the French were gone;
upon which Walpole wrote to General Conway: "Well, Quebec is
come to life again. Last night I went to see the Holdernesses.
I met my Lady in a triumphal car, drawn by a Manx horse,
thirteen little fingers high, with La