A half-century of conflict. France and England in North America. Part ...

192 ACADIAN CONFLICTS. [1747.three in the morning they approached a small woodenhouse not far from their true object. A guard wasposted here, as at all the English quarters. Thenight was dark and the snow was still falling, as ithad done without ceasing for the past thirty hours.The English sentinel descried through the darknessand the storm what seemed the shadows of an advancingcrowd of men. He cried, "Who goes there?"and then shouted, "To arms!" A door was flungopen, and the guard appeared in the entrance. Butat that moment the moving shadows vanished frombefore the eyes of the sentinel. The French, oneand all, had thrown themselves flat in the soft, lightsnow, and nothing was to be seen or heard. TheEnglish thought it a falsealarm, and the house wasquiet again. Then Coulon and his men rose anddashed forward. Again, in a loud and startledvoice, the sentinel shouted, "To arms!" A greatlight, as of a blazing fire, shone through the opendoorway, and men were seen within in hurried movement.Coulon, who was in the front, said toBeaujeu, who was close at his side, that the housewas not the one they were to attack. Beaujeu repliedthat it was no time to change, and Coulondashed forward again.Beaujeu aimed at the sentineland shot him dead. There was the flash andreport of muskets from the house, and Coulondropped in the snow, severely wounded. The youngcadet, Lusignan, was hit in the shoulder ;but he stillpushed on, when a second shot shattered his thigh.