On the second of May Vaughan led four hundred men to the hills near the town, and saluted it with three cheers,--somewhat to the discomposure of the French, though they described the unwelcome visitors as a disorderly crowd. Vaughan’s next proceeding pleased them still less. He marched behind the hills, in rear of the Grand Battery, to the northeast arm of the harbor, where there were extensive magazines of naval stores. These his men set on fire, and the pitch, tar, and other combustibles made a prodigious smoke. He was returning, in the morning, with a small party of followers behind the hills, when coming opposite the Grand Battery, and observing it from the ridge, he saw neither flag on the flagstaff, nor smoke from the barrack 99 chimneys. One of his party was a Cape Cod Indian. Vaughan bribed him with a flask of brandy which he had in his pocket,--though, as the clerical historian takes pains to assure us, he never used it himself,--and the Indian, pretending to be drunk, or, as some say, mad, staggered towards the battery to reconnoitre.[101] All was quiet. He clambered in at an embrasure, and found the place empty. The rest of the party followed, and one of them, William Tufts, of Medford, a boy of eighteen, climbed the flagstaff, holding in his teeth his red coat, which he made fast at the top, as a substitute for the British flag,--a proceeding that drew upon him a volley of unsuccessful cannon-shot from the town batteries.[102] Vaughan then sent this hasty note to Pepperrell: “May it please your Honour to be informed that by the grace of God and the courage of 13 men, I entered the Royal Battery about 9 o’clock, and am waiting for a reinforcement and a flag.” Soon after, four boats, filled with men, approached from the town to reoccupy the battery,--no doubt in order to save the munitions and stores, and complete the destruction of the cannon. Vaughan and his thirteen men, standing on the open beach, under the fire of the town and the Island Battery, plied the boats with musketry, and kept them from landing, till Lieutenant-Colonel 100 Bradstreet appeared with a reinforcement, on which the French pulled back to Louisbourg.[103]