one thing which was entirely independent of French fault
or British merit. All the other strokes of luck owed
something to human causes. Wise-acres had shaken their
heads over the crazy idea of taking British cannon balls
solely to fit French cannon that were to be taken at the
beginning of the siege: it was too much like selling the
pelt before the trap was sprung. Yet these balls actually
were used to load the forty-two pounders taken with the
Royal Battery! Moreover, as if to cap the climax, ten
other cannon were found buried in the North-East Harbour;
and again spare British balls were found to fit exactly!
The fact is that what we should now call the Intelligence
Department had been doing good work the year before by
spying out the land at Louisbourg and reporting to the
proper men in Boston.

The Bostonians had always intended to take the Royal
Battery at the earliest possible moment. But nobody had
thought that the French would abandon it without a blow
and leave it intact for their enemy, with all its armament
complete. The French council of war apparently shrank
from hurting the feelings of the engineer in charge, who
had pleaded for its preservation! They then ran away
without spiking the guns properly, and without making
the slightest attempt either to burn the carriages or
knock the trunnions off. The invaluable stores were left
in their places. The only real destruction was caused by
a barrel of powder, which some bunglers blew up by mistake.
The inevitable consequence of all this French ineptitude
was that the Royal Battery roared against Louisbourg the