A detachment was immediately sent to the place, with
orders to intrench itself, and Repentigny, lieutenant of Levis, was
posted not far off with eleven hundred Canadians.
Four hundred Indians passed the ford under the partisan Langlade,
discovered Wolfe's detachment, hid themselves, and sent their commander
to tell Repentigny that there was a body of English in the forest, who
might all be destroyed if he would come over at once with his Canadians.
Repentigny sent for orders to Levis, and Levis sent for orders to
Vaudreuil, whose quarters were three or four miles distant. Vaudreuil
answered that no risk should be run, and that he would come and see to
the matter himself. It was about two hours before he arrived; and
meanwhile the Indians grew impatient, rose from their hiding-place,
fired on the rangers, and drove them back with heavy loss upon the
regulars, who stood their ground, and at last repulsed the assailants.
The Indians recrossed the ford with thirty-six scalps. If Repentigny had
advanced, and Levis had followed with his main body, the consequences to
the English might have been serious; for, as Johnstone remarks, "a
Canadian in the woods is worth three disciplined soldiers, as a soldier
in a plain is worth three Canadians." Vaudreuil called a council of war.
The question was whether an effort should be made to dislodge Wolfe's
main force. Montcalm and the Governor were this time of one mind, and
both thought it inexpedient to attack, with militia, a body of regular
troops whose numbers and position were imperfectly known.
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