“No matter what may happen, I will have no plundering,” said Vaudreuil; and Lévis, Amherst, and Murray said the same.
It must be confessed that the outcome of another council of war within the walls of Montreal was anxiously awaited by the English on both sides of the St. Lawrence. Each branch of the army was held in readiness for immediate service, the soldiers sleeping on their arms and the cannoneers under their pieces.
In the city the hubbub was greater than ever. The citizens gathered around headquarters and begged for peace. The Governor-General had to listen to endless advice. Lévis protested to the last that he wanted the honors of war accorded to his troops. But Amherst, as said before, was unyielding; and at last Vaudreuil signed the paper which, in the course of time, gave all of the Canadian possessions into the hands of the English government and made of the French-Canadians British subjects.
The news was carried far and wide as swift as horses and messengers could travel. “Canada has surrendered! The war is over!” was the glad tidings, and in every portion of the English colonies, as well as in England itself, there was great rejoicing. Cannon were fired, bonfires lit, and bells tolled, and in some places special church services were held, to give thanks to God that the agony of such long standing was at an end. Even the Canadians rejoiced to think that peace was come, and that they could again go to their farms unmolested alike by soldier or Indian.
The capitulation took place on September 8, 1760. It was agreed that the French soldiers and sailors should be allowed to return to France, and that the Canadians should return to their homes, unmolested. No one was to suffer because of his religion, and it was further agreed that, with a few exceptions, all military and political prisoners should be set free. The Indians on both sides were to be held in firm check, so that the atrocities of former campaigns should not be repeated. This last agreement made the Indians on both sides very angry, and the great majority of them tore up their wigwams in disgust and departed for parts unknown. Only a handful remained with Sir William Johnson, this band including White Buffalo and four old braves, the braves remaining to get some money that had been promised to them and the chief that he might be near Dave, to go home with the young soldier when the latter was discharged.
“Montreal is ours after all!” cried the young soldier, when the news reached camp. “And we didn’t have to fire a shot, excepting at the scoundrels who tried to plunder the place.”
Dave was anxious to get into Montreal, to learn something concerning Henry if possible. But it was a good two weeks before he got the chance to enter the city. Then he was placed on a detail sent to visit one of the hospitals.
As the detail was passing down a side street of the city the young soldier chanced to look into the window of one of the houses they were passing.
“Can it be possible!” burst from his lips. Then he ran to the officer in command of the detail. “Will you—you let me off a while—just a few minutes, lieutenant?”
“Why, what’s the matter, Morris?” queried the officer. “You look as if you’d seen a ghost.”