tch, tar, powder bombs,
grenades, and scrap-iron; and towards midnight these floating
hell-boats slipped their moorings and drifted with the tide towards
the English fleet riding at the Point of Orleans. Tide and stream bore
them swiftly through the gloom; and at a given signal, fuses were
ignited and the crews escaped in boats. Sharp tongues of flame ran
along the bulwarks, and the loose powder sputtered and hissed. Then,
suddenly, the night was rent by explosion after explosion,
reverberating through the canons of the distant Laurentides, and
echoing along the river walls beyond Cap Tourmente. A lurid glare lit
up the broad harbour, the towers and minarets of the beleaguered city,
revealing in red light the full tents of the French army along the
Beauport lowlands.

To the English it was "the grandest fireworks that can possibly be
conceived"; but the French were in no mood to enjoy its harmless
effulgence. The fuses had been lighted half an hour too soon, and
before the tide of the north channel carried them to the English
fleet, the magnificent flotilla, upon which Quebec had squandered a
million _livres_, had become a squadron of blazing hulks which the
British sailors grappled and towed to shore. All night long their
impotent fires lit up the Bay, and by sunrise another hope of New
France had turned to ashes.

Although the unquenchable batteries of Point Levi continued to pour
destruction upon Quebec, Wolfe saw that the defeat of Montcalm must
precede the capture of the city; and to this end he now directed his
attention. Beyond the rocky gorge of the Montmorency, a high open land
seemed to offer a possible avenue of attack upon the French camp
across the river, and thither the English General resolved to transfer
his main camp. On the night of the 8th of July he embarked with three
thousand men--the brigades of Townshend and Murray, a body of
grenadiers, light infantry, and the Sixtieth Regiment, or Royal
Americans. Before dawn they made a landing at the village of L'Ange
Gardien, and gained the heights after a slight skirmish with an
irregular body of native militia. Earthworks were hastily thrown up,
fascine batteries were erected, and Montcalm's reveille next
morning was a heavy cannonade from this new quarter.

[Illustration: THE MANOR-HOUSE AT BEAUPORT, MONTCALM'S HEADQUARTERS]

Wolfe had now divided his army into three camps, each so far removed
from the other that little or no help could be expected i