A good many went bare-foot.
Nearly all were in rags before the siege was over.
When twenty-five pieces had been dragged up to Green Hill
and its adjoining hillocks, the bombardment at last began.
The opening salvo seemed to give the besiegers new life.
No sooner was their first rough line of investment formed
than they commenced gaining ground, with a disregard for
cover which would have cost them dear if the French
practice had not been quite as bad as their own. A really
wonderful amount of ammunition was fired off on both
sides without hitting anything in particular. Louisbourg
itself was, of course, too big a target to be missed, as
a rule; and the besiegers soon got so close that they
simply had to be hit themselves now and then. But,
generally speaking, it may be truthfully said that while,
in an ordinary battle, it takes a man's own weight in
cartridges to kill him, in this most extraordinary siege
it took at least a horse's weight as well.
The approach to the walls defied all the usual precautions
of regular war.
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