eal and courage, could
do nothing to redress the increasingly adverse balance.
In the middle of March the Americans sent in a summons.
But Carleton refused to receive it; and the garrison put
a wooden horse and a bundle of hay on the walls with a
placard bearing the inscription, 'When this horse has
eaten this bunch of hay we will surrender.' Some excellent
practice made with 13-inch shells sent the Americans
flying from their new battery at Levis; and by the 17th
of March one of the several exultant British diarists,
whose anonymity must have covered an Irish name, was able
to record that 'this, being St Patrick's Day, the Governor,
who is a true Hibernian, has requested the garrison to
put off keeping it till the 17th of May, when he promises,
they shall be enabled to do it properly, and with the
usual solemnities.'

A fortnight later a plot concerted between the American
prisoners and their friends outside was discovered just
in time. With tools supplied by traitors they were to
work their way out of their quarters, overpower the guard
at the nearest gate, set fire to the nearest houses in
three different streets, turn the nearest guns inwards
on the town, and shout 'Liberty for ever!' as an additional
signal to the storming-party that was to be waiting to
confirm their success. Carleton seized the chance of
turning this scheme against the enemy. Three safe bonfires
were set ablaze. The marked guns were turned inwards and
fired at the town with blank charges. And the preconcerted
shout was raised with a will. But the besiegers never stirred.
After this the Old-Countrymen among the prisoners, who had
taken the oath and enlisted in the garrison, were disarmed
and confined, while the rest were more strictly watched.

Two brave attempts were made by French Canadians to reach
Quebec with reinforcements, one headed by a seigneur,
the other by a parish priest. Carleton had sent word to
M. de Beaujeu, seigneur of Crane Island, forty miles
below Quebec, asking him to see if he could cut off the
American detachment on the Levis shore. De Beaujeu raised
three hundred and fifty men. But Arnold sent over
reinforcements. A habitant betrayed his fellow-countrymen's
advance-guard. A dozen French Canadians were then killed
or wounded while forty were taken prisoners; whereupon
the rest dispersed to their homes. The other attempt was
made by Father Bailly, whose little force of about fifty
men was also betrayed. Entrapped in