Quebec, however, was not the point of danger, nor that at which the governor's services were most required. Still he remained there eight days before proceeding to Montreal, where he arrived on the 27th October. At that place he learnt from Denonville of the instructions he had given for the abandonment and destruction of Fort Frontenac. The indignation of the old warrior, to whom the fort called after his name was a spot of peculiar predilection, can better be imagined than described. He could hardly believe that a French governor could perform so craven an act. If we may trust the Baron La Hontan, who does not in this case tax very seriously our powers of belief, the interview between the two dignitaries was a decidedly stormy one.[35] There was no time to waste, however, in useless debate. Something possibly had happened to delay or prevent the carrying out of the orders, and the fort might perhaps yet be saved. An expedition was hastily organized to proceed to the spot and ascertain the facts, but scarcely had it well started before it encountered the entire garrison of the fort, minus six men, whom they had lost in the rapids on the way down, returning to Montreal. The deed had therefore been done. Valrennes, the commandant, told how he had destroyed the stores, thrown such arms and ammunition as he could not remove into the river, undermined the walls and fired the train, and how, as they retreated, they had heard a dull explosion. Yes, the deed had been done; but, as it turned out later, not with the full result intended. The mines had exploded, but probably they had been hastily and not over skilfully placed, and the injury to the walls was but slight. Not long afterwards Frontenac was able to repair the damage and put the fort once more in a condition of defence.