auharnois built Crown Point at the narrows of Lake
Champlain. The stronghold of Carillon was situated a few miles beyond.
On the Alleghany river, Forts Venango and Le Boeuf barred the westward
growth of Pennsylvania; and Fort Duquesne, begun as an English fort by
the Ohio Company, guarded the junction of the Alleghany and the
Monongahela. Fort Niagara, near one end of Lake Ontario, and Fort
Frontenac at the other, were also to figure in the closing stages of
the conflict.

The exploit of the Sieur de la Verendrye, which marked this period,
was perhaps the most picturesque achievement Quebec had witnessed
since the days of La Salle. In the spring of 1731, La Verendrye, with
his three sons and a handful of adventurous _coureurs de bois_, set
off from the trading post of Michillimackinac to take possession of
the West. By a long succession of paddles and portages. La Verendrye
came to the Lake of the Woods. Then, threading his way through its
myriad islands, he found and followed a wild stream which bore him
down to Lake Winnipeg. From here he passed into the Red River, and at
its junction with the Assiniboine built Fort Rouge. From this base the
bold explorers made their way as far north as the forks of the
Saskatchewan; and by 1743 the distant peaks of the Rocky Mountains had
rewarded the vision of a younger La Verendrye. To no avail: for this
wide dominion was destined to pass to hands firmer to hold, if slower
to acquire.

[Illustration: The Earl of Chatham from the collection in the
possession of Lord Bridport]

CHAPTER XI

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

The growing power of England, on the sea, in America, and in India,
was only equalled by the increasing jealousy of the Catholic nations
of Europe, and especially of her ancient rival France. The question of
the Austrian succession, in which these two conspicuous opposites
stood for and against Maria Theresa, supplied a pretext for war; yet
it hardly concealed the real purpose of each power to destroy the
other; and the battles of Fontenoy, Nollwitz, and Dettingen, though
fought in the heart of Europe, were as decisive for an Eastern and a
Western empire as was the warfare on the frontiers of India, or the
sullen conflict in the Ohio valley.

Across the Atlantic, France, as usual, dealt the first blow. With a
thousand soldiers from Louisbourg, Du Vivier assailed Annapolis Royal;
but neither by investment nor assault could the French overcome the
small but