a most alarming extent. Of the eight thousand men with
whom Murray began that deadly winter not one-half were
able to bear arms in the spring; and not one-half of
those who did bear arms then were really fit for duty.

Montcalm's successor, Levis, now made a skilful, bold,
and gallant attempt to retake Quebec before navigation
opened. Calling the whole remaining strength of New France
to his aid, he took his army down in April, mostly by
way of the St Lawrence. The weather was stormy. The banks
of the river were lined with rotting ice. The roads were
almost impassable. Yet, after a journey of less than ten
days, the whole French army appeared before Quebec. Murray
was at once confronted by a dire dilemma. The landward
defences had never been strong; and he had not been able
to do more than patch them up. If he remained behind them
Levis would close in, batter them down, and probably
carry them by assault against a sickly garrison depressed
by being kept within the walls. If, on the other hand,
he marched out, he would have to meet more than double
numbers at the least; for some men would have to be left
to cover a retreat; and he knew the French grand total
was nearly thrice his own. But he chose this bolder
course; and at the chill dawn of April 28, he paraded
his little attacking force of a bare three thousand men
on the freezing snow and mud of the Esplanade and then
marched out.

The two armies met at Ste Foy, a mile and a half beyond
the walls; and a desperate battle ensued. The French had