way from St Johns,
thus depriving Major Preston, the commandant, of his best
couriers at the very worst time. But the evil did not
stop there; for nearly all the few French-Canadian
militiamen whom the more distant seigneurs had been able
to get under arms deserted _en masse_, with many threats
against any one who should try to turn them out again.

Chambly is only a short day's march from Montreal to the
west and St Johns to the south; so its capture meant that
St Johns was entirely cut off from the Richelieu to the
north and dangerously exposed to being cut off from
Montreal as well. Its ample stores and munitions of war
were a priceless boon to Montgomery, who now redoubled
his efforts to take St Johns. But Preston held out bravely
for the remainder of the month, while Carleton did his
best to help him. A fortnight earlier Carleton had arrested
that firebrand, Walker, who had previously refused to
leave the country, though Carleton had given him the
chance of doing so. Mrs Walker, as much a rebel as her
husband, interviewed Carleton and noted in her diary that
he 'said many severe Things in very soft & Polite Termes.'
Carleton was firm. Walker's actions, words, and
correspondence all proved him a dangerous rebel whom no
governor could possibly leave at large without breaking
his oath of office. Walker, who had himself caused so
many outrageous arrests, now not only resisted the legal
arrest of his own person, but fired on the little party
of soldiers who had been sent to bring him into Montreal.
The soldiers then began to burn him out; whereupon he
carried his wife to a window from which the soldiers
rescued her. He then surrendered and was brought into
Montreal, where the sight of him as a prisoner made a
considerable impression on the waverers.

A few hundred neighbouring militiamen were scraped
together. Every one of the handful of regulars who could
be spared was turned out. And Carleton set off to the
relief of St Johns. But Seth Warner's Green Mountain
Boys, reinforced by many more sharpshooters, prevented
Carleton from landing at Longueuil, opposite Montreal.
The remaining Indians began to slink away. The
French-Canadian militiamen deserted fast--'thirty or
forty of a night.' There were not two hundred regulars
available for a march across country. And on the 30th
Carleton was forced to give up in despair. Within the
week St Johns surrendered with 688 men, who were taken
south as prisoners of war. Pr