An incident which has given rise to a good deal of discussion may here be referred to. The flag of the admiral's vessel was shot away and fell into the river. It was captured by some men from the shore, but whether under the very heroic circumstances described by an eminent Canadian poet on the authority of Pere Charlevoix, is, to say the least, open to doubt. Charlevoix has it that, no sooner had the flag fallen into the water and begun to drift away, than some Canadians swam out and seized it, notwithstanding the fire directed on them from the ships. Contemporary writers know nothing of any such feat. The one who comes nearest to the father's account of the matter is Mere Juchereau, who says that "our Canadians went out rashly in a bark canoe and brought it to land under the noses of the English." She does not even say they were fired on. How near they got to the English we can hardly judge from the expression "_a la barbe des Anglais_," which is not a measure of length. On the other hand we have from a contemporary writer, the Recollet, Pere Leclercq, whose book was published in 1691, the year following the attack on Quebec, a plain, consistent statement as to how the thing happened, and one the terms of which are in distinct conflict with the popular version. After describing how the vice-admiral's ship had been the first to withdraw beyond the reach of the shore batteries, he continues: "The admiral [Phipps] followed him pretty closely and with precipitation, paying out the whole length of his anchor-cable, and then letting it go. His flag, which drifted away in the river, was _left to our discretion_, and our people went and fished it out."[49] The words used plainly imply that there was neither difficulty nor danger in recovering the flag; and this be it remembered was the story Leclercq heard at the time, and published almost immediately. Frontenac, who would certainly have been pleased to approve the bravery of his people, simply says that Phipps lost his flag, "which remained in our possession"; while Monseignat's statement in what may be regarded as the official narrative, is that the admiral's flag and another were borne in triumph to the church. Charlevoix's lack of accuracy in details is evident in the very paragraph in which he deals with this incident; for he says that no sooner had Phipps's messenger returned to his ship, than, to the great surprise of the English, shots were fired from one of the Lower Town batteries, and that the first one carried away the flag. This is pure romance. Phipps's vessel was not within range at the time, and no shots were exchanged till late in the afternoon of Wednesday, two days later. The loquacious La Hontan, who at least knows how to adorn a tale, if not point a moral, knows nothing of this particular occurrence, otherwise he would certainly have included it in a narrative which, it is evident, he aimed at making as lively and piquant as possible. It is