I am in the way of my duty and
know no fear." But the only chance of taking Quebec was to take
it in the winter, while the St. Lawrence was closed with ice, so
that the British ships could not reach it with reinforcements and
supplies. Arnold therefore sent to Washington begging for five
thousand troops. Such a number it was impossible for Washington
to spare from his little army, and only a few reinforcements were
sent, most of whom reached Arnold utterly exhausted with their long
tramp through the pathless wilderness. Smallpox, too, became rife
in the camp, so although there at length two thousand men before
Quebec not more that a thousand were fit for duty. Yet what mere
men could do they did.
But winter passed and Quebec remained untaken. Then on April morning
Captain Charles Douglas arrived off the mouth of the St. Lawrence
with a fleet of British ships. He found the river still packed with
ice. But Quebec he knew must be in sore straits. It was no time for
caution, so by way of experiment he ran his flag ship full speed
against a mass of ice. The ice was shivered to pieces, and the good
ship sailed unharmed. For nine days the gallant vessel ploughed
on through fields of ice, but suffering no serious damage, her
stout-hearted captain having no thought but to reach and relieve
the beleaguered city.
His boldness was rewarded.
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