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"Five large canoes left this morning," he warbled. "They carried madame, the Englishman, Pemaou, and his Hurons, and a detachment of the Senecas, some seventy-five in all. They went to Michillimackinac." The news hit me like a bullet, and I must have whitened, but I kept on singing. I nodded at Labarthe, and sang, I think, of spring and running brooks.
I have sometimes found myself stretching my own arms in just that fashion when I have been alone and have felt something pressing within me that was too large for speech. I motioned Labarthe to ship his paddle that I might look. The western glow was full upon the woman, and her lips were parted.
Then I sat beside her and tried to explain. "Simon is dead, Pierre died saving me. Leclerc and Labarthe died under torture. I sacrificed them to enforce a belief. And now the belief is a phantom. It is very strange. Mary, we have traveled by different roads, but we have reached the same goal. My ambition for conquest is put away."
There was scarcely room for Labarthe and myself to crowd down on our knees and use our paddles. We slipped into Sturgeon Cove late in the afternoon, and swept with the wind up the stretches of the bay to the camping ground. Summer was at flood tide, and the air was pungent and the leaves shining. The sunset shone through tattered ends of cloud, so that the west was hung with crimson banners.
Gather the men, go to the canoes, and wait there till I come. I may come soon; I may not come till morning." Pierre was still swelling. "As the master wishes," he said, with his eyes down; but I thought that he hesitated, and I called him to me. "Pierre," I said, "do you want to be sent back to Montreal, and have François Labarthe put in your place?"
How I did it is not clear, for I had a weak shoulder and he was muscular. But now he seemed palsied and I a giant. It was done. I bound him till he was rigid and helpless. And then I fell to my knees beside Pierre. He was dead. I had lost even the parting from him. My giant was dead. He had taken the blow meant for me. Pierre was dead, and Simon and Labarthe and Leclerc.
We can learn from Pierre." The man's shoulders heaved. "Your men were cowards," he muttered. I looked at him. So a coward could despise a coward! "My men were wise," I corrected. "With Simon killed there were only two men left, one, rather, for Leclerc is a nonentity. Labarthe, left alone, was wise to surrender. He is skillful with Indians. Monsieur, tell me of your dealings with Pemaou.
"I shall await the meeting," I said with unction. I motioned Labarthe to the paddle, and I kissed the woman's hand. "I salute your courage. I shall see you within the week, madame." She looked straight at me. "And until then, good fortune." But I paused. "Wish me opportunity. That is all that I ask from you or of you, opportunity. Good-by for a week, madame."
Leclerc was close beside him, shuffling and docile; he, too, was free, as was Pierre. Four of us, and our hands at liberty. This looked better. I hummed a tune, clapped a brave on the shoulder, and motioned him to bring me meat and meal. But where was the woman? I saw Labarthe working toward me with his eyes the other way, so I knew he had news.
I had never heard my giant prate of agriculture; the camp and the tap-room had been his haunts. This appeared to be a method of working toward ill news. I lay back on my rushes and tried to fix his eye. "Pierre, answer. Where is Labarthe?" "I told the master" "Answer!" "I don't know." "Did he escape with you?" Pierre rubbed his sleeve across his face. "The master will not listen.
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