Reassured by the calmness with which James issued his orders, the boats took up the positions assigned to them.  James, who was in the last boat in the line, shuddered at the din going on behind him.  The yells of the Indians, the screams and cries of the provincials, mingled with the sharp crack of rifles or the duller sound of the musket.  The work of destruction was soon over.  Save his own company and some fifty of the provincials in the boats ahead, the whole of Colonel Parker’s force had been killed, or were prisoners in the hands of the Indians, who, having finished their work, set off in pursuit of the boats which had escaped them.

James at once changed the order.  The front boat was halted, and the others formed in a line beside it, presenting the broad side to the approaching fleet of canoes.  When the latter came within a hundred yards, a stream of fire opened from the boats, the men aiming with the greatest coolness.

The canoes were checked at once.  A score of the paddlers had sunk, killed or wounded, into the bottom, and several of the frail barks were upset.  As fast as the men could load, they continued their fire, and, in two minutes from the first shot, the canoes were turned, and paddled at full speed towards the shore, pursued by a hearty cheer from the English.  The oars were then manned again, and the remains of Parker’s flotilla rowed up the lake to Fort William Henry.

Several of the prisoners taken by the Indians were cooked and eaten by them.  A few days afterwards a party of Indians, following the route from the head of Lake Champlain, made a sudden attack on the houses round Fort Edward, and killed thirty-two men.

It was an imposing spectacle, as the French expedition made its way down Lake George.  General Levis had marched by the side of the lake with twenty-five hundred men, Canadians, regulars, and redskins; while the main body proceeded, the troops in two hundred and fifty large boats, the redskins in many hundreds of their canoes.

The boats moved in military order.  There were six regiments of French line:  La Reine and Languedoc, La Sarre and Guienne, Bearn and Roussillon.  The cannons were carried on platforms formed across two boats.  Slowly and regularly the procession of boats made its way down the lake, till they saw the signal fires of Levis, who, with his command, was encamped near the water at a distance of two miles from the fort.  Even then, the English were not aware that near eight thousand enemies were gathered close to them.  Monro was a brave soldier, but wholly unfitted for the position he held, knowing nothing of irregular warfare, and despising all but trained soldiers.