ust when he hoped
that the enemy, foiled and exhausted, were about to return to England,
he found that they had surmounted the obstacles he had deemed
impregnable, and were calmly awaiting him on a fair field of battle.
One who saw him said that he rode towards the field, with a fixed look,
uttering not a word.

The army followed in hot haste, crossed the Saint Charles, passed
through Quebec, and hurried on to the ridge, where the battalion of
Guienne had taken up its position. Nothing could have been stronger
than the contrast which the two armies afforded. On the one side was
the red English line, quiet and silent, save that the war pipes of the
Highlanders blew loud and shrilly; on the other were the white-coated
battalions of the regular army of France, the blue-clad Canadians, the
bands of Indians in their war paint and feathers, all hurried and
excited by their rapid march, and by the danger which had so
unexpectedly burst upon them.

Now the evils of a divided command were apparent. Vaudreuil
countermanded Montcalm's orders for the advance of the left of the
army, as he feared that the English might make a descent upon Beauport.
Nor was the garrison of Quebec available, for Ramesay, its commander,
was under the orders of Vaudreuil and, when Montcalm sent to him for
twenty-five field guns from one of its batteries, he only sent three,
saying that he wanted the rest for his own defence.

Montcalm held a council of war with all his officers, and determined to
attack at once. For this he has been blamed. That he must have fought
was certain, for the English, in the position which they occupied, cut
him off from the base of his supplies; but he might have waited for a
few hours, and in that time he could have sent messengers, and brought
up the force of Bougainville, which could have marched, by a circuitous
route, and have joined him without coming in contact with the English.

Upon the other hand, Montcalm had every reason to believe that the
thirty-five hundred men he saw before him formed a portion, only, of
the English army, that the rest were still on board the fleet opposite
Beauport, and that a delay would bring larger reinforcements to Wolfe
than he could himself receive. He was, as we know, mistaken, but his
reasoning was sound, and he had, all along, believed the English army
to be far more numerous than it really was. He was doubtless influenced
by the fact that his troops were full of ardour, and that