at
skill as a ranger told him much. His garments were disarranged. Burrs
and one or two little twigs were clinging to them. Obviously he had
come far and in haste. The thoughts of St. Luc, and, in truth, the
thoughts of all of them, went to the Anglo-American army.

"Speak, Monsieur Langy," said Montcalm. "I can see that you have come
swiftly, and you would not come so without due cause."

"I wish to report to you, sir," said Langy, "that the entire army of
the enemy is now embarked on the Lake of the Holy Sacrament, and is
advancing against us."

Montcalm's eyes sparkled. His warlike soul leaped up at the thought of
speedy battle that was being offered. A flame was lighted also in
St. Luc's blood, and Bourlamaque was no less eager. It was no lack of
valor and enterprise that caused the French to lose their colonies in
North America.

"You know this positively?" asked the commander-in-chief.

"I have seen it with my own eyes."

"Tell it as you saw it."

"I lay in the woods above the lake with my men, and I saw the British
and Americans go into their boats, a vast flock of them. They are all
afloat on the lake at this moment, and are coming against us."

"Could you make a fair estimate of their numbers?"

"I obtained the figures with much exactitude from one or two
stragglers that we captured on the land. My eyes confirm these
figures. There are about seven thousand of the English regulars, and
about nine thousand of the American colonials."

"So many as that! Five to one!"

"You tell us they are all in boats," said St. Luc. "How many of these
boats contain their artillery?"

"They have not yet embarked the cannon. As nearly as we can gather,
the guns will not come until the army is at Ticonderoga."

"What?"

"It is as I tell you," replied Langy to St. Luc. "The guns cannot come
up the lake until a day or two after the army is landed. Their
force is so great that they do not seem to think they will need the
artillery."

St. Luc, his face glowing, turned to Montcalm.

"Sir," he said, "I made to you the prophecy that some chance, some
glorious chance, would yet help us, and that chance has come. Their
very strength has betrayed them into an error that may prove fatal.
Despising us, they give us our opportunity. No matter how great the
odds, we can hold earthworks and abattis against them, unless they
bring cannon, or, at least we may make a great attempt at it."

The swarthy face of Montcalm was illu