te as ever.

He stood on the rocky peninsula of Ticonderoga. Behind him the great
lake, Champlain, stretched far into north and south. To the west the
ground sloped gently upward a half mile and then sank again. On each
side of the ridge formed thus was low ground, and the ridge presented
itself at once to the military eye as a line of defense. Hugues, one
of his officers, had already recommended it to Montcalm, and men under
two of his engineers, Desandrouin and Pontleroy, were now at work
there.

The final line of defense was begun at dawn, and Robert, whom no one
disturbed, witnessed a scene of prodigious energy. The whole French
army threw itself heart and soul into the task. The men, hot under the
July sun, threw aside their coats, and the officers, putting their own
hands to the work, did likewise. There was a continuous ring of axes,
and the air resounded with the crash of trees falling in hundreds and
thousands.

The tops and ends of the boughs were cut off the trees, the ends left
thus were sharpened and the trees were piled upon one another with the
sharp ends facing the enemy who was to come.

Robert watched as these bristling rows grew to a height of at least
nine feet, and then he saw the men build on the inner side platforms
on which they could stand and fire over the crest, without exposing
anything except their heads. In front of the abattis more trees with
sharpened boughs were spread for a wide space, the whole field with
its stumps and trees, looking as if a mighty hurricane had swept over
it.

Robert was soldier enough to see what a formidable obstruction was
being raised, but he thought the powerful artillery of the attacking
army would sweep it away or level it. He did not know that the big
guns were being left behind. In truth, Langy's first news that the
cannon would not be embarked upon the lake was partly wrong. The
loading of the cannon was delayed, but after the British and Americans
reached their landing and began the march across country for the
attack, the guns, although brought down the lake, were left behind as
not needed. But the French knew all these movements, and whether the
cannon were left at one point or another, it was just the same to
them, so long as they were not used in the assault.

Robert's intense mortification that he should be compelled to lie idle
and witness the efforts of his enemies returned, but no matter how he
chafed he could see no way out of it. Then his