the Canadians of Gaspe, with the provision-bateaux and the field-hospital; and, lastly, a rear guard of regulars closed the line.  So, under the flush of sunset, they held their course along the romantic lake, to play their part in the historic drama that lends a stern enchantment to its fascinating scenery.  They passed the Narrows in mist and darkness; and when, a little before dawn, they rounded the high promontory of Tongue Mountain, they saw, far on the right, three fiery sparks shining through the gloom.  These were the signal-fires of Levis, to tell them that he had reached the appointed spot.[505]

[Footnote 504:  Etat de l’Armee Francaise devant le Fort George, autrement Guillaume-Henri, le 3 Aout, 1757.  Tableau des Sauvages qui se trouvent a l’Armee du Marquis de Montcalm, le 28 Juillet, 1757.  This gives a total of 1,799 Indians, of whom some afterwards left the army. Etat de l’Armee du Roi en Canada, sur le Lac St. Sacrement et dans les Camps de Carillon, le 29 Juillet, 1757.  This gives a total of 8,019 men, of whom about four hundred were left in garrison at Ticonderoga.]

[Footnote 505:  The site of the present village of Bolton.]

Levis had arrived the evening before, after his hard march through the sultry midsummer forest.  His men had now rested for a night, and at ten in the morning he marched again.  Montcalm followed at noon, and coasted the western shore, till, towards evening, he found Levis waiting for him by the margin of a small bay not far from the English fort, though hidden from it by a projecting point of land.  Canoes and bateaux were drawn up on the beach, and the united forces made their bivouac together.

The earthen mounds of Fort William Henry still stand by the brink of Lake George; and seated at the sunset of an August day under the pines that cover them, one gazes on a scene of soft and soothing beauty, where dreamy waters reflect the glories of the mountains and the sky.  As it is to-day, so it was then; all breathed repose and peace.  The splash of some leaping trout, or the dipping wing of a passing swallow, alone disturbed the summer calm of that unruffled mirror.

About ten o’clock at night two boats set out from the fort to reconnoitre.  They were passing a point of land on their left, two miles or more down the lake, when the men on board descried through the gloom a strange object against the bank; and they rowed towards it to learn what it might be.  It was an awning over the bateaux that carried Roubaud and his brother missionaries.  As the rash oarsmen drew near, the bleating of a sheep in one of the French provision-boats warned them of danger; and turning, they pulled for their lives towards the eastern shore.  Instantly more than a thousand Indians threw themselves into their canoes and dashed in hot pursuit, making the lake and the mountains ring with the din of their war-whoops.  The fugitives had nearly reached land when their pursuers opened fire.  They replied; shot one Indian dead, and wounded another; then snatched their oars again, and gained the beach.  But the whole savage crew was upon them.  Several were killed, three were taken, and the rest escaped in the dark woods.[506] The prisoners were brought before Montcalm, and gave him valuable information of the strength and position of the English.[507]