Brigadier-General Howe was in reality the soul of the expedition; the soldiers were devoted to him, and ready to follow him to the death. Yet he was a strict disciplinarian. He had brought to bear upon the army all the experience he had gathered during his months of forest warfare under Roger. He made the men under his command dress according to their work. The coats of both regulars and provincials were cut short at the waist; they wore leggings to protect them from the briers. He did away with the long hair which was still the fashion in the English army. All these details would have rendered many men unpopular; but in Howe’s case it had the contrary effect: the sweetness of his temper, his own personal example, and the excessive charm of his manner carried all before him. With the exception of the few weeks he had been persuaded to spend with the Schuylers whilst in the neighbourhood of Albany, he lived in camp with his men, simply and roughly, sharing their hardships, and, one and all, they appreciated his self-sacrifice.
“Nevertheless, though you are too modest to care to hear it, what William Parkmann says is true,” said Madame Schuyler. “Without you there would be neither order nor discipline in the army. If anything were to happen to you, there would be an end to all things.”
“We might throw down our arms at once,” said William Parkmann. “General Montcalm would have a fine chance.”
“I don’t think there’s a man I’m so sorry for as that man, though he be our enemy!” said Howe. “But for him we should walk over the ground. He’s a splendid general, and is holding his own against desperate odds, Vaudreuil is jealous of him, and thwarts him at every step; and the other Canadian officials are thieves and robbers. If Montcalm held all the power in his own hands, and was properly seconded, we should have but little chance; as it is he may yet win!”
“You don’t really think he will?” said Madame Schuyler.
“No, I do not,” answered Howe; “but still he is a splendid fellow, and as long as he holds Quebec he is master of Canada. If he were sole master, then I should say the odds were for him and against us. And now, dear lady, farewell. I have still much to see to to-night, and to-morrow at daybreak we shall start. Never doubt but what as we pass by I shall look upwards to your white house on these sunny upland meadows, and think of the happy hours I have spent here, and the dear friends I leave behind.”
“Farewell, and God be with you,” said Madame Schuyler, her voice choked with tears, as she gave him her hand; he bent for a second over it.
“God bless you and yours,” he said; then he turned away, ran down the terrace, and disappeared from sight.
William Parkmann hastened to follow his chief’s example; but as he took leave of Madame Schuyler he said,—
“You need not fear for him; he is so beloved; we all keep watch and ward over him.”