. A skirmish
followed. Scarcely had it begun when Lord Howe dropped dead, shot
through the breast. For a moment, something like a panic seized the
army, who believed that they had fallen into an ambush, and that
Montcalm's whole force was upon them. The rangers, however, fought
steadily, until Rogers' Rangers and the Royal Scouts, who were out in
front, came back and took the French in the rear. Only about 50 of
these escaped, 148 were captured, and the rest killed or drowned in
endeavouring to cross the rapids.

The loss of the English was small in numbers, but the death of Howe
inflicted an irreparable blow upon the army. As Major Mante, who was
present, wrote:

"In Lord Howe, the soul of General Abercromby's army seemed to expire.
From the unhappy moment that the general was deprived of his advice,
neither order nor discipline was observed, and a strange kind of
infatuation usurped the place of resolution."

The loss of its gallant young general was, indeed, the destruction of
an army of 15,000 men. Abercromby seemed paralysed by the stroke, and
could do nothing, and the soldiers were needlessly kept under arms all
night in the forest, and, in the morning, were ordered back to the
landing place.

At noon, however, Bradstreet was sent out to take possession of the
sawmill, at the falls which Montcalm had abandoned the evening before.
Bradstreet rebuilt the two bridges, which had been destroyed by the
enemy, and the army then advanced, and in the evening occupied the
deserted encampment of the French.

Montcalm had, for some days, been indecisive as to his course. His
force was little more than a fourth of that of the advancing foe. He
had, for some time, been aware of the storm which was preparing against
him. Vaudreuil, the governor, had at first intended to send a body of
Canadians and Indians, under General Levis, down the valley of the
Mohawk to create a diversion, but this scheme had been abandoned, and,
instead of sending Levis, with his command, to the assistance of
Montcalm, he had kept them doing nothing at Montreal.

Just about the hour Lord Howe was killed, Montcalm fell back with his
force from his position by the falls, and resolved to make a stand at
the base of the peninsula on which Ticonderoga stands. The outline of
the works had already been traced, and the soldiers of the battalion of
Berry had made some progress in constructing them. At daybreak, just as
Abercromby was drawing his troops ba