up to Quebec by the flow; and,
finally, that Levis was marching on the town with twelve
thousand men at his back.

He was placed in a hammock and carried up Mountain
Street to the quarters of the General, who was roused from
sleep at three o'clock in the morning to hear his story. The
troops were ordered under arms; and soon after daybreak
Murray marched out with ten pieces of cannon and more than
half the garrison. His principal object was to withdraw the
advanced posts at Ste.-Foy, Cap-Rouge, Sillery, and Anse du
Foulon. The storm had turned to a cold, drizzling rain, and the
men, as they dragged their cannon through snow and mud,
were soon drenched to the skin. On reaching Ste.-Foy, they
opened a brisk fire from the heights upon the woods which now
covered the whole army of Levis; and being rejoined by the
various outposts, returned to Quebec in the afternoon, after
blowing up the church, which contained a store of munitions
that they had no means of bringing off. When they entered
Quebec a gill of rum was served out to each man; several
houses in the suburb of St. Roch were torn down to supply
them with firewood for drying their clothes; and they were left
to take what rest they could against the morrow. The French,
meanwhile, took possession of the abandoned heights; and
while some filled the houses, barns, and sheds of Ste.-Foy and
its neighborhood, others, chiefly Canadians, crossed the
plateau to seek shelter in the village of Sillery.

Three courses were open to Murray. He could defend Quebec,
fortify himself outside the walls on the Buttes-a-Neveu,
or fight Levis at all risks. The walls of Quebec could not withstand
a cannonade, and he had long intended to intrench his army on the
Buttes, as a better position of defence; but the ground, frozen like
a rock, had thus far made the plan impracticable. Even now, though
he surface was thawed, the soil beneath was still frost-bound, making
the task of fortificationextremely difficult, if indeed the French
would give him time for it. Murray was young in years, and younger
still in impulse. He was ardent, fearless, ambitious, and emulous
of the fame of Wolfe. "The enemy," he soon after wrote to Pitt, "was
greatly superior in number, it is true; but when I considered
that our little army was in the habit of beating the enemy, and
had a very fine train of field artillery; that shutting ourselves
at once within the walls was putting all upon the single chance
of hol