horse with hay in front of it, and that the
English general, Carleton, had said he would not surrender the town
till the horse had caught up to the hay. Skulking riflemen of the
Congress troops had taken refuge in the mansion of Bigot's former
magnificence, the Intendant's Palace, and Carleton had ordered the
cannoneers on his walls to knock the house down. So fell the house of
Bigot's infamy.

Towards 2 A.M. of December 31 the wind began to blow a hurricane. The
bright moonlight became obscured by flying clouds, and earth and air
were wrapped in a driving storm of sleet. Instantly the Congress
troops rallied to their headquarters behind the city. Montgomery at
quick march swept down the steep cliff of the river to the shore road,
and in the teeth of a raging wind led his men round under the heights
of Cape Diamond to the harbor front. Heads lowered against the wind,
coonskin caps pulled low over eyes, ash-colored flannel shirts buttoned
tight to necks, gun casings and sacks wrapped loosely round loaded
muskets to keep out the damp, the marchers tramped silently through the
storm. Overhead was the obscured glare where the lanterns hung out in
a blare of snow above Cape Diamond. Here rockets were sent up as a
signal to Arnold on St. Charles River. Then Montgomery's men were
among the houses of Lower Town, noting well that every window had been
barricaded and darkened from cellar to attic. Somewhere along the
narrow path in front of the town Montgomery knew that barricades had
been built with cannon behind, but he trusted to the storm concealing
his approach till his men could capture them at a rush. At Pres {306}
de Ville, just where the traveler approaching harbor front may to-day
see a tablet erected in memory of the invasion, was a barricade.
Montgomery halted his men. Scouts returned with word that all was
quiet and in darkness--the English evidently asleep; and uncovering
muskets, the Congress fighters dashed forward at a run. But it was the
silence that precedes the thunderclap. The English had known that the
storm was to signal attack, and guessing that the rockets foretokened
the assailants' approach, they had put out all lights behind the
barricade. Until Montgomery's men were within a few feet of the log,
there was utter quiet; then a voice shrieked out, "Fire!--fire!"
Instantly a flash of flame met the runners like a wall. Groans and
screams split through the muffling storm. Montgomery and a