The Bastonnais

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The Bastonnais, by John Lesperance

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Title: The Bastonnais Tale of the American Invasion of Canada in 1775-76
Author: John Lesperance
Release Date: August 2, 2006 [EBook #18967]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE BASTONNAIS:
TALE OF THE AMERICAN INVASION OF CANADA IN 1775-76.
BY
JOHN LESPERANCE.
TORONTO: BELFORD BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. 1877.
Entered according to the Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, by BELFORD BROTHERS, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
TORONTO: WILLIAMS, SLEETH & MACMILLAN, PRINTERS, 124 BAY STREET.

CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
THE GATHERING OF THE STORM.
CHAPTER I.
Blue Lights II. Beyond the River III. At the Chateau IV. In Cathedral Square V. Receiving Despatches VI. Pauline's Tears VII. Beautiful Rebel VIII. The Hermit of Montmorenci IX. The Wolf's Cry X. The Casket XI. The Spirit of the Waterfall XII. Three Rivers XIII. A Successful Mission XIV. Crossing the Boats XV. The Meeting of the Lovers XVI. The Round Table XVII. A Noble Reparation XVIII. Roderick Hardinge XIX. The Frightened Doves XX. The Spectral Army
BOOK II.
THE THICKENING OF THE CLOUDS.
I. Zulma Sarpy II. Fast and Loose III. The Sheet-Iron Men IV. Birch and Maple V. On the Ramparts VI. The Flag of Truce VII. The Covered Bridge VIII. Cary Singleton IX. The Song of the Violin X. Blood Thicker than Water XI. Death in the Falls XII. Advice and Warning XIII. A Woman's Tactics XIV. The Romance of Love XV. On the High Road XVI. An Epic March XVII. O Gioventu Primavera Della Vita XVIII. Braiding St Catherine's Tresses XIX. Par Nobile
BOOK III.
THE BURSTING OF THE TEMPEST.
I. Quebec in 1775-76 II. Cary's Message III. The Unremembered Brave IV. Practical Love V. Zulma and Batoche VI. The Ball at the Castle VII. The Attack of the Masks VIII. Unconscious Greatness IX. Pauline's Development X. On the Citadel XI. Horseman and Amazon XII. Was it Design or Accident? XIII. The Intendant's Palace XIV. Little Blanche XV. In Batoche's Cabin XVI. A Painful Meeting XVII. Nisi Dominus XVIII. Last Days XIX. Près-de-Ville XX. Sault-au-Matelot
BOOK IV.
AFTER THE STORM.
I. The Confessional II. Blanche's Prophecy III. The Prophecy Fulfilled IV. Days of Suspense V. The Invalid VI. The Saving Stroke VII. Donald's Fate VIII. The Burdened Heart IX. Ebb and Flow X. On the Brink XI. In the Vale of the Shadow of Death XII. In the Fiery Furnace XIII. Roderick's Last Battle XIV. At Valcartier XV. Friendship Stronger than Love XVI. The Hour of Gloom XVII. The Great Retreat XVIII. Consummatum Est XIX. Final Quintet

THE BASTONNAIS

BOOK I. THE GATHERING OF THE STORM.

I.
BLUE LIGHTS.
He stood leaning heavily on his carbine. High on his lonely perch, he slowly promenaded his eye over the dusk landscape spread out before him. It was the hour of midnight and a faint star-light barely outlined the salient features of the scenery. Behind him wound the valley of the St. Charles black with the shadows of pine and tamarac. Before him rose the crags of Levis, and beyond were the level stretches of the Beauce. To his left the waterfall of Montmorenci boomed and glistened. To his right lay silent and deserted the Plains of Abraham, over which a vapor of sanguine glory seemed to hover. Directly under him slept the ancient city of Champlain. A few lights were visible in the Chateau of St Louis where the Civil Governor resided, and in the guard-rooms of the Jesuit barracks on Cathedral-square, but the rest of the capital was wrapped in the solitude of gloom. Not a sound was heard in the narrow streets and tortuous defiles of Lower Town. A solitary lamp swung from the bows of the war-sloop in the river.
He stood leaning heavily on his carbine. To have judged merely from his attitude, one would have said that he was doing soldier's duty with only a mechanical vigilance. But such was not the case. Never was sentry set upon watch of heavier responsibility, and never was watch kept with keener observation. Eye, ear, brain--the whole being was absorbed in duty. Not a sight escaped him--from the changes of cloud in the lowering sky over the offing, to the deepening of shadows in the alley of Wolfe's Cove. Not a sound passed unheard--from the fluttering wing of the sparrow that had built its winter nest in the guns of the battery, to the swift