the mutineers hoped to be pardoned if they made a firm
defence. Perhaps the militia thought they ought not to
be outdone by mutineers and hireling foreigners. But,
whatever the reason, great efforts were certainly made
to build up by night what the British knocked down by
day. Two could play at that game, however, and the British
had the men and means to win. Their western batteries
from the land were smashing the walls into ruins. Their
Royal Battery wrecked the whole inner water-front of
Louisbourg. Breaches were yawning elsewhere. British
fascines were visible in large quantities, ready to fill
up the ditch, which was already half full of debris. The
French scouts reported hundreds of scaling-ladders on
the reverse slopes of the nearest hillocks. Warren's
squadron had just been again reinforced, and now numbered
eleven sail, carrying 554 guns and 3,000 men. There was
no sign of help, by land or sea, for shrunken, battered,
and despairing Louisbourg. Food, ammunition, stores were
all running out. Moreover, the British were evidently
preparing a joint attack, which would result in putting
the whole garrison to the sword if a formal surrender
should not be made in time.

Now that the Island Battery had been silenced there was
no reason why Warren's plan should not be crowned with
complete success. Accordingly he arranged with Pepperrell
to run in with the first fair wind, at the head of the
whole fleet, which, with the Provincial armed vessels,
now numbered twenty-four sail, carried 770 guns, and was
manned by 4,000 sailors. Half these men could be landed