ded forth a deadly
fire. Itself taken by surprise, the Continental army broke and fled.
No sound reached the wakeful guard save the groans of the wounded who
had gone down before that fatal barrier; but, distrustful even of the
silence, their battery continued to sweep the pass.

At dawn a reconnoitring party ventured forth from the guard-house.
Thirteen bodies lay half buried in the snow, and the only remains of
the invading army were General Montgomery, his two aides-de-camp,
Cheeseman and M'Pherson, a sergeant, and eight men. All but the
sergeant were dead, and he too died within an hour. As for the
General, only an arm appeared above the snow, and a drummer-boy picked
up his sword close by. The English soldiers, uncertain whose body it
was, fetched a prisoner, one of Arnold's forlorn hope, who could not
restrain his grief for the brave General who had been the idol of his
troops. Widow Prentice, of Freemasons' Hall, also recognised
Montgomery by the sabre-cut upon his cheek; and Sir Guy Carleton
having no further doubt as to his identity, gave orders that the
slain General should have honourable burial. Up Mountain Hill they
bore him to the small house in St. Louis Street, still known as
Montgomery House, and later in the same day he was laid in a coffin
draped with black, and borne by soldiers to a new-made grave in the
gorge of the St. Louis bastion. A brass tablet now marks the spot near
the present St. Louis Gate.

[Illustration: CAPE DIAMOND
(Pres-de-Ville, where Montgomery fell)]

Although both divisions of their army were defeated, over four hundred
prisoners taken, and their General slain, the invaders were yet
unwilling to give up the struggle against the grim walls of Quebec.
They were sore beset by cold, hunger, and the hardships of active
warfare; and smallpox carried off nearly five hundred of their
number. On the death of Montgomery, Arnold had succeeded to the chief
command, but it was April before his wound was healed. Meanwhile, they
had quickly erected a new battery at Point Levi, and once again the
guns of the citadel entered upon an artillery duel with that historic
ravelin. From time to time rockets sent up from the enemy's camp threw
the defenders of the city into unusual alarm, and once or twice, when
the signals seemed more pregnant, the whole force turned out and
swiftly took up their assigned positions. General Carleton on the
other side, not having enough soldiers to dislodge the besie