nine o'clock
We waited , Clark and I , with the Louisburg Grenadiers while they formed . We made no noise , but stood steady and still , the bagpipes of the Highlanders shrilly challenging . At eight o'clock sharpshooters began firing on us from the left , and skirmishers were thrown out to hold them in check , or dislodge them and drive them from the houses where they sheltered and galled Townsend 's men . Their field-pieces opened on us , too , and yet we did nothing , but at nine o'clock , being ordered , lay down and waited still . There was no restlessness , no anxiety , no show of doubt , for these men of ours were old fighters , and they trusted their leaders . From bushes , trees , coverts , and fields of grain there came that constant hail of fire , and there fell upon our ranks a doggedness , a quiet anger , which grew into a grisly patience . The only pleasure we had in two long hours was in watching our two brass six-pounders play upon the irregular ranks of our foes , making confusion , and Townsend drive back a detachment of cavalry from Cap Rouge , which sought to break our left flank and reach Montcalm .