nearly eleven o'clock
Pierre -LRB- as everybody called the younger -RRB- looked not at all like his brother : taller and slenderer of build , his flashing dark eyes and gay manners must have been inherited from his father , Laclede , for Madame Chouteau -LRB- whom I came to know very well later -RRB- was even graver and sterner in manner than her eldest son , Auguste . But interested as I was in meeting these men , -- and there were many others of whom I had heard , Manuel Lisa , Gabriel Cerré , Francis Vigo , and Josef Marie Papin , -- I could not resist casting many a furtive glance toward a table set in the rear of the great room . My bowl of gruel in the early morning had satisfied me at the time , but I was still weak from illness and much fasting , and my hard pull at the paddles had left me famished indeed . It was now , I was quite sure by the sun and the shadows , nearly eleven o'clock , and I began to feel the dizziness once more , and to be seized with a terrible fear that I should again be overcome . It was with a great joy , therefore , that I began to observe black servants bringing in smoking viands and arranging them upon the table , and no words ever sounded more pleasant in my ears than the governor 's invitation to breakfast . As we were about to sit down , my captain on the governor 's right , and I very kindly placed on his left , with Mr. Pierre Chouteau beside me , there was a noise at the door , and Mr. Gratiot and Dr. Saugrain entered . They were welcomed in such fashion it was easy to see they were both prime favorites in that society .