which de Longueuil seems to have neglected to report, unless indeed the
Marquis de Vaudreuil purposely withheld them. I suspect as much, and
if so, poor de Noyan will be sacrificed, for the king is not likely to
hear the true state of the case."

"A disaster indeed," observed Isidore, who in the interest he felt in
Montcalm's communication seemed to fancy himself once more the
aide-de-camp and personal friend of his old chief. "We have lost,
then, the command of the lake, and what is perhaps worse, our hold on
the many tribes of Indians who used to make Frontenac their great place
of assembly for concluding their contracts and alliances."

"You are right," was the reply. "Beaujardin, or Breton, I see you have
not lost your head in spite of your misfortunes. Well, all that is
past helping now, and what is almost as bad, we shall lose our hold in
the West. General Forbes has long since left Philadelphia with some
one thousand five hundred British regulars, chiefly Highlanders, and at
least five thousand of those New England militia, for an attack on Fort
Duquesne. Forbes is not the man to let himself be decoyed into such a
snare as Braddock fell into, but he has to cross the Alleghanies and a
tract of a hundred leagues or more through a strange and difficulty
country, and that is not done in a week, or a month either. This
brings me to what I have to say to you. I wish de Lignieres, who is in
command at Duquesne to know that I consider the place cannot resist
such a force as will be brought against it; he cannot be reinforced,
and he will do wisely to dismantle and abandon it, falling back on such
points as circumstances may leave him to think best capable of defence.
Will you take this message? and if so, how soon can you set out?"

"I am ready, and will start in ten minutes," was the prompt reply.

Montcalm smiled. "You are indeed worthy of a better fate than that
which has unhappily befallen you. As for a guide----"

"I have with me the Canadian woodsman Boulanger, who took me from
Oswego to Quebec two years ago."

"Boulanger! I recollect the man well; a better guide or a more trusty
fellow you could not have." Saying this, Montcalm wrote a few lines in
pencil on a leaf of his pocket-book and handed it to Isidore. "Now,
adieu," said he; "when we meet again I trust I may be able to welcome
you, not as Claude Breton, but as my old friend and aide-de-camp
Colonel de Beaujardin."

"Farewell, sir," ans