The wind failed him when still thirty miles from St.John's, another fortified post on the lower narrows, where the lake gradually tapers down to the Richelieu River, its outlet to the St.Lawrence.Unable to advance otherwise, Arnold took to his boats with thirty men, pulled through the night, and at six o'clock on the following morning surprised the post, in which were only a sergeant and a dozen men.

He reaped the rewards of celerity.

The prisoners informed him that a considerable body of troops was expected from Canada, on its way to Ticonderoga; and this force in fact reached St.John's on the next day.

When it arrived, Arnold was gone, having carried off a sloop which he found there and destroyed everything else that could float.

By such trifling means two active officers had secured the temporary control of the lake itself and of the approaches to it from the south.