"Come, lads," James cried, leaping down from the low earthwork into the
ditch. "Let us save the boats, if we can."

The scouts followed him and ran down to the shore; but the Indians had
done their work well. The two sloops, and many of the boats, were well
alight, and it was evident at once that, long before a hole could be
broken through the ice, and buckets brought down from the fort, they
would be beyond all hopes of saving them.

The French, too, opened fire from the woods bordering the lake, and, as
the light of the flames exposed his men to the enemy's marksmen, James
at once called them back to the fort, and the sloops and boats burned
themselves out.

At noon, next day, the French filed out from the woods on to the ice,
at a distance of over a mile.

"What now?" Edwards exclaimed. "They surely don't mean to be fools
enough to march across the ice to attack us in broad daylight."

"It looks to me," James replied, "as if they wanted to make a full show
of their force. See, there is a white flag, and a party are coming
forward."

An officer and several men advanced towards the fort, and Major Eyre
sent out one of his officers, with an equal number of men, to meet
them. There was a short parley when the parties came together, and then
the French officer advanced towards the fort with the English, his
followers remaining on the ice.

On nearing the fort, the French officer, Le Mercier, chief of the
Canadian artillery, was blindfolded, and led to the room where Major
Eyre, with all the British officers, was awaiting him. The handkerchief
was then removed from his eyes, and he announced to the commandant that
he was the bearer of a message from the officer commanding the French
force, who, being desirous of avoiding an effusion of blood, begged the
English commander to abstain from resistance, which, against a force so
superior to his own, could but be useless. He offered the most
favourable terms, if he would surrender the place peaceably, but said
that if he were driven to make an assault, his Indian allies would
unquestionably massacre the whole garrison.

Major Eyre quietly replied that he intended to defend himself to the
utmost.

The envoy was again blindfolded. When he rejoined the French force, the
latter at once advanced as if to attack the place, but soon halted,
and, leaving the ice, opened a fusillade from the border of the woods,
which they kept up for some hours, the garrison contemptuously