Richard Horton had twice, during James’s absence, returned home.  The squire, Mrs. Walsham said, had received him very coolly, in consequence of the letter he had written when James was pressed as a seaman, and she said that Aggie seemed to have taken a great objection to him.  She wondered, indeed, that he could stay an hour in the house after his reception there; but he seemed as if he didn’t notice it, and took especial pains to try and overcome Aggie’s feeling against him.

While waiting at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence, Admiral Durell had succeeded in obtaining pilots to take the fleet up the river.  He had sailed up the river to the point where the difficult navigation began, and where vessels generally took on board river pilots.  Here he hoisted the French flag at the masthead, and the pilots, believing the ships to be a French squadron, which had eluded the watch of the English, came off in their boats, and were all taken prisoners, and forced, under pain of death, to take the English vessels safely up.

The first difficulty of the passage was at Cape Tourmente, where the channel describes a complete zigzag.  Had the French planted some guns on a plateau, high up on the side of the mountains, they could have done great damage by a plunging fire; but Vaudreuil had neglected to take this measure, and the fleet passed up in safety, the manner in which they were handled and navigated astonishing the Canadians, who had believed it to be impossible that large ships could be taken up.

On the 26th, the whole fleet were anchored off the Island of Orleans, a few miles below Quebec.  The same night, a small party landed on the island.  They were opposed by the armed inhabitants, but beat them off, and, during the night, the Canadians crossed to the north shore.  The whole army then landed.

From the end of the island, Wolfe could see the full strength of the position which he had come to attack.  Three or four miles in front of him, the town of Quebec stood upon its elevated rock.  Beyond rose the loftier height of Cape Diamond, with its redoubts and parapets.  Three great batteries looked threateningly from the upper rock of Quebec, while three others were placed, near the edge of the water, in the lower town.  On the right was the great camp of Montcalm, stretching from the Saint Charles, at the foot of the city walls, to the gorge of the Montmorenci.  From the latter point to the village of Beauport, in the centre of the camp, the front was covered with earthworks, along the brink of a lofty height; and from Beauport to the Saint Charles were broad flats of mud, swept by the fire of redoubts and intrenchments, by the guns of a floating battery, and by those of the city itself.

Wolfe could not see beyond Quebec, but, above the city, the position was even stronger than below.  The river was walled by a range of steeps, often inaccessible, and always so difficult that a few men could hold an army in check.