“I think we are all glad,” said several voices.
“Even if it be the dawn of my last day on earth, I shall greet it with thankfulness,” said Wolfe, and the council broke up for a few hours.
CHAPTER XXIX
ON THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM
The following day the English vessels and boats drifted up the river with the tide, within sight of the French sentinels, as if they were seeking a landing place; they had done this more or less for the last week, so Bougainville, who was encamped on the St. Charles, watched them without anxiety, satisfied that they would repeat the same manœuvre on the morrow.
As night drew on, Admiral Saunders, stationed opposite Beauport, opened fire upon the French, under cover of which the troops were embarked. Whether due to the excitement or to the remedies administered by his physician, Wolfe certainly for that day seemed to have taken a new lease of life. But in his own mind, we are told, the certainty that his end was near never for one moment forsook him. As he paced up and down the Sutherland, gazing at the deep blue autumnal sky overhead, to those who watched him his pale face seemed almost transfigured by the light and fire in his eyes. A young midshipman, John Robinson, to whom he had shown especial kindness, standing near him, heard him slowly recite those words which may truly be called his death elegy, so inseparably have they become linked with his name:—
“The boast of Heraldry, the pomp of Pow’r,
And all that Beauty, all that Wealth e’er gave
Await alike the inevitable hour:
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.”
And, seeing that the lad was watching him, he laid his hand on his shoulder, adding, “I had rather be the author of that poem than take Quebec.”
At two o’clock on the morning of the 13th, the signal was given for the troops to enter the boats, and seventeen hundred men took their places in them, and slowly drifted down the stream to their destination.
The French sentries placed along the shore, notwithstanding the darkness, became aware of a more than usual traffic on the river, and challenged them.
“Qui vive?”