The loading of the cannon was delayed, but after the British and Americans reached their landing and began the march across country for the attack, the guns, although brought down the lake, were left behind as not needed.

But the French knew all these movements, and whether the cannon were left at one point or another, it was just the same to them, so long as they were not used in the assault.
Robert's intense mortification that he should be compelled to lie idle and witness the efforts of his enemies returned, but no matter how he chafed he could see no way out of it.

Then his absorption in what was going on about him made him forget his personal fortunes.
The setting for the great drama was wild and picturesque in the extreme.

On one side stretched the long, gleaming lake, a lake of wildness and beauty associated with so much of romance and peril in American story.

Over them towered the crest of the peak later known as Defiance.