xpose themselves. Sharpshooters in the fort
replied to their fire, and all day the fort was fringed with light
puffs of smoke, whilst the cannon thundered unceasingly. The next
morning, the French battery on the left opened with eight heavy cannon
and a mortar, and on the following morning the battery on the right
joined in with eleven other pieces.

The fort only mounted, in all, seventeen cannon, for the most part
small, and, as some of them were upon the other faces, the English
fire, although kept up with spirit, could reply but weakly to that of
the French. The fort was composed of embankments of gravel, surmounted
by a rampart of heavy logs, laid in tiers, crossing each other, the
interstices filled with earth; and this could ill support the heavy
cannonade to which it was exposed. The roar of the distant artillery
continuing day after day was plainly audible at Fort Edward; but
although Monro had, at the commencement of the attack, sent off several
messengers asking for reinforcements, Webb did not move.

On the third day of the siege he had received 2000 men from New York,
and, by stripping all the forts below, he could have advanced with 4500
men, but some deserters from the French told him that Montcalm had
12,000 men, and Webb considered the task of advancing, through the
intervening forests and defiles between him and Fort Henry, far too
dangerous an operation to be attempted. Undoubtedly it would have been
a dangerous one, for the Indians pervaded the woods as far as Fort
Edward. No messenger could have got through to inform Monro of his
coming, and Montcalm could therefore have attacked him, on the march,
with the greater part of his force. Still, a brave and determined
general would have made the attempt. Webb did not do so, but left Monro
to his fate.

He even added to its certainty by sending off a letter to him, telling
him that he could do nothing to assist him, and advising him to
surrender at once. The messenger was killed by the Indians in the
forest, and the note taken to Montcalm, who, learning that Webb did not
intend to advance, was able to devote his whole attention to the fort.
Montcalm kept the letter for several days, till the English rampart was
half battered down, and then sent it in by an officer to Monro, hoping
that it would induce the latter to surrender. The old soldier, however,
remained firm in his determination to hold out, even though his
position was now absolutely hopeless.