noon
There seemed to be nothing further to do at the moment , so the priest went to his blanket , and Menard drew a bundle under his head and went to sleep , after a glance about the camp to see that the sentry was on watch . Now that Montreal lay behind , and the unsettled forest before , with only a thin line of Frenchmen stretched along the river between them and Fort Frontenac , he had divided the night into watches , and each of the four _ engagés _ stood his turn . The following day was all but half gone before the wind had dropped to a rate that made the passage of the lake advisable . Menard ordered the noon meal for an hour earlier than usual , and shortly afterward they set out across the upper end of Lake St. Louis to the foot of the cascades . Before the last bundle had been carried up the portage to Buisson Pointe , the dusk was settling over the woods across the river , and over the rising ground on Isle Perrot at the mouth of the Ottawa . During the next day they passed on up the stream to the Coteau des Cedres . Menard and Father Claude were both accustomed to take the rapid without carrying , or even unloading , but Danton looked at the swirling water with doubt in his eyes .