Levis, with his Scotch-Jacobite aide-de-camp, Johnstone, had watched the movements of Wolfe from the heights across the cataract.  Johnstone says that he asked his commander if he was sure there was no ford higher up on the Montmorenci, by which the English could cross.  Levis averred that there was none, and that he himself had examined the stream to its source; on which a Canadian who stood by whispered to the aide-de-camp:  “The General is mistaken; there is a ford.”  Johnstone told this to Levis, who would not believe it, and so browbeat the Canadian that he dared not repeat what he had said.  Johnstone, taking him aside, told him to go and find somebody who had lately crossed the ford, and bring him at once to the General’s quarters; whereupon he soon reappeared with a man who affirmed that he had crossed it the night before with a sack of wheat on his back.  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.  Bigot gave his voice for the attack.  He was overruled, and Wolfe was left to fortify himself in peace.[717]

[Footnote 717:  The above is from a comparison of the rather discordant accounts of Johnstone, the Journal tenu a l’Armee, the Journal of Panet, and that of the Hartwell Library.  The last says that Levis crossed the Montmorenci.  If so, he accomplished nothing.  This affair should not be confounded with a somewhat similar one which took place on the 26th.]