lodgment on their inner flank, were so afraid of being
cut off from Louisbourg that they ran back and round
towards the next position at Flat Point. But before they
reached it they saw its own defenders running back,
because the British were also landing at White Point.
Here too the defences were abandoned as soon as the little
garrison found itself faced by greatly superior numbers
afloat and deserted by its fellow-garrisons ashore. The
retreating French kept up a sort of running fight till
they got under the covering fire of Louisbourg, when the
pursuing British immediately drew off.

Considering the number of boats that were stove and the
intensity of the first French fire, the British loss was
remarkably small, only one hundred and nine killed,
wounded, and drowned. The French loss was still less;
but, in view of the difference between the respective
grand totals, it was a good deal heavier in proportion.

That night the glare of a big fire inside the harbour
showed that Drucour felt too weak to hold the Royal
Battery. Unlike his incompetent predecessor, however, he
took away everything movable that could be turned to good
account in Louisbourg; and he left the works a useless
ruin. The following day he destroyed and abandoned the
battery at Lighthouse Point. Thus two fortifications
were given up, one of them for the second time, before
a single shot had been fired either from or against them.
Time, labour, and expense had all gone for worse than
nothing, as the positions were at once used by the enemy