bog was seamed with a perfect maze of decoying death-trails
snaking in and out of the forbidding scrub and boulders.

Pepperrell's dispatches could not exaggerate these 'almost
incredible hardships.' Afloat and ashore, awake and
asleep, the men were soaking wet for days together. At
the end of the longest haul they had nothing but a choice
of evils. They could either lie down where they were, on
hard rock or oozing bog, exposed to the enemy's fire the
moment it was light enough to see the British batteries,
or they could plough their way back to camp. Here they
were safe enough from shot and shell; but, in other
respects, no better off than in the batteries. Most men's
kits were of the very scantiest. Very few had even a
single change of clothing. A good many went bare-foot.
Nearly all were in rags before the siege was over.

When twenty-five pieces had been dragged up to Green Hill
and its adjoining hillocks, the bombardment at last began.
The opening salvo seemed to give the besiegers new life.
No sooner was their first rough line of investment formed
than they commenced gaining ground, with a disregard for
cover which would have cost them dear if the French
practice had not been quite as bad as their own. A really
wonderful amount of ammunition was fired off on both
sides without hitting anything in particular. Louisbourg
itself was, of course, too big a target to be missed, as
a rule; and the besiegers soon got so close that they
simply had to be hit themselves now and then. But,
generally speaking, it may be truthfully said that while,