st. Some are set down as "farmers," "yeomen," or "husbandmen;"
others as "shopkeepers," others as "fishermen," and many as "laborers;"
while a great number were handicraftsmen of various trades, from
blacksmiths to wig-makers. They mustered at Boston early in April, where
clothing, haversacks, and blankets were served out to them at the charge
of the King; and the crooked streets of the New England capital were
filled with staring young rustics. On the next Saturday the following
mandate went forth: "The men will behave very orderly on the Sabbath
Day, and either stay on board their transports, or else go to church,
and not stroll up and down the streets." The transports, consisting of
about forty sloops and schooners, lay at Long Wharf; and here on Monday
a grand review took place,--to the gratification, no doubt, of a
populace whose amusements were few. All was ready except the muskets,
which were expected from England, but did not come. Hence the delay of a
month, threatening to ruin the enterprise. When Shirley returned from
Alexandria he found, to his disgust, that the transports still lay at
the wharf where he had left them on his departure.[253] The muskets
arrived at length, and the fleet sailed on the twenty-second of May.
Three small frigates, the "Success," the "Mermaid," and the "Siren,"
commanded by the ex-privateersman, Captain Rous, acted as convoy; and on
the twenty-sixth the whole force safely reached Annapolis. Thence after
some delay they sailed up the Bay of Fundy, and at sunset on the first
of June anchored within five miles of the hill of Beausejour.

[Footnote 253: _Shirley to Robinson, 20 June, 1755._]

At two o'clock on the next morning a party of Acadians from Chipody
roused Vergor with the news. In great alarm, he sent a messenger to
Louisbourg to beg for help, and ordered all the fighting men of the
neighborhood to repair to the fort. They counted in all between twelve
and fifteen hundred;[254] but they had no appetite for war. The force
of the invaders daunted them; and the hundred and sixty regulars who
formed the garrison of Beausejour were too few to revive their
confidence. Those of them who had crossed from the English side dreaded
what might ensue should they be caught in arms; and, to prepare an
excuse beforehand, they begged Vergor to threaten them with punishment
if they disobeyed his order. He willingly complied, promised to have
them killed if they did not fight, and assured them