five in the morning
Over a hundred voyageurs were sorting furs in the American Fur Company 's yard , under the supervision of the clerks . And though it was hard labor , lasting from five in the morning until sunset , they thought lightly of it as fatigue duty after their eleven months of toil and privation in the wilderness . Fort Mackinac was glittering white on the heights above them , and half-way up a paved ascent leading to the sally-port sauntered ` Tite Laboise . All the voyageurs saw her ; and strict as was the discipline of the yard , they directly expected trouble . The packing , however , went on with vigor .