The messengers returned bearing with them a basket and a note.  The basket contained some bottles of choice wine for the General’s table, and the letter, written by Madame Drucour herself, was couched in terms of courtesy and gratitude.  She declared that the fruit for the sick was just the very thing she had been most desiring, and wondered what bird of the air had whispered the message into the ear of the noble English officer.  As for the war itself, deplorable as it must always be, the knowledge that they were fighting against a generous and worthy foe could not but be a source of happiness; and, in conclusion, the lady added that they had within the walls of Louisbourg a surgeon of uncommon skill with gunshot wounds, and that his services should always be at the command of any English officer who might desire them.

“That is like her!” exclaimed Julian to Wolfe, when the terms of the letter were made known.  “She is a very noble and gracious lady, and I trust and hope no hurt will come to her.  But she exposes herself to many perils in the hope of cheering and heartening up the men.  They all fight better for the knowledge that she is near them; and she goes her daily rounds of the ramparts, be the firing ever so hot!”

The cannon were roaring again now from both lines of batteries.  The doomed fortress was holding out gallantly, and had as yet given no sign of surrender.

Wolfe was hard at work, day after day, drawing his lines closer and closer.  His military genius showed itself in every disposition of his lines and batteries.  He saw at a glance exactly what should be done, and set to work to do it in the best possible way.

“How many ships have they in the harbour?” he asked of Julian, two days after his return from the town.

“Only two of any size—­the Bienfaisant and the Prudent.  The rest have been sunk or destroyed.”

“I think we had better make an end of those two,” said Wolfe thoughtfully.

“It might not be a task of great difficulty, if it could be done secretly,” said Julian.  “The soldiers are mostly on land.  They need them more in the citadel than on board; and they think the ships are safe, lying as they do under their own batteries.  If we could get a dull or foggy night, we might make a dash at them.  We can enter the harbour now that the Island battery is silenced and the frigate Arethuse gone.  They say the sailors on board the ships are longing for a task.  They would rejoice to accomplish something of that sort.”

“Get me ready a boat, and you and Humphrey row me out to our fleet yonder,” said Wolfe, looking out over the wide expanse of blue beyond the harbour.  “I will speak of this with the Admiral, and see what he thinks of the undertaking.”

They rowed him out from Flat Point to the flagship, and put him on board.  It was a fine sight to see the great battleships anchored in the bay, ready to take their part in the struggle at a word of command.  But the French fleet had done little or nothing to harass them.  They were complete masters of the deep.  Even the ships in the harbour had not ventured out, and now only two of them remained.