f time remained. From the day of this writing
till that on which he saw the _Inflexible_ leave St. John's, October
4th, was over ten weeks; and it was not until the 9th that Carleton
was ready to advance with the squadron. By that time the American
troops at the head of the Lake had increased to eight or ten thousand.
The British land force is reported[6] as thirteen thousand, of which
six thousand were in garrison at St. John's and elsewhere.

Arnold's last reinforcements reached him at Valcour on the 6th of
October. On that day, and in the action of the 11th, he had with him
all the American vessels on the Lake, except one schooner and one
galley. His force, thus, was two schooners and a sloop, broadside
vessels, besides four galleys and eight gondolas, which may be assumed
reasonably to have depended on their bow guns; there, at least, was
their heaviest fire. Thus reckoned, his flotilla, disposed to the best
advantage, could bring into action at one time, two 18's, thirteen
12's, one 9, two 6's, twelve 4's, and two 2-pounders, independent of
swivels; total thirty-two guns, out of eighty-four that were mounted
in fifteen vessels. To this the British had to oppose, in three
broadside vessels, nine 12's and thirteen 6's, and in twenty gunboats,
twenty other brass guns, "from twenty-four to nines, some with
howitzers;"[7] total forty-two guns. In this statement the radeau and
gondola have not been included, because of their unmanageableness.
Included as broadside vessels, they would raise the British
armament--by three 24's, three 12's, four 9's, and a howitzer--to a
total of fifty-three guns. Actually, they could be brought into action
only under exceptional circumstances, and are more properly omitted.

These minutiae are necessary for the proper appreciation of what
Captain Douglas justly called "a momentous event." It was a strife of
pigmies for the prize of a continent, and the leaders are entitled
to full credit both for their antecedent energy and for their
dispositions in the contest; not least the unhappy man who, having
done so much to save his country, afterwards blasted his name by a
treason unsurpassed in modern war. Energy and audacity had so far
preserved the Lake to the Americans; Arnold determined to have one
more try of the chances. He did not know the full force of the enemy,
but he expected that "it would be very formidable, if not equal to
ours."[8] The season, however, was so near its end that a s