United States or Zimbabwe ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Had the light been stronger his mother could not but have noticed his set mouth and the moisture in his eyes. He dared not trust himself to speak. "Bring us back what news you can of the expedition, lad!" cried Lecorbeau after him; and it was with a mighty effort that Pierre strained his voice to answer "All right!" At the fort everything was very quiet.
He straightened out his lines before the charge. "Thank heaven!" ejaculated Antoine Lecorbeau, "they have saved the dike!" In Acadian eyes to tamper with the dikes was sacrilege. "Well!" said the sergeant, with a somewhat cynical chuckle, "at least the English have got their feet wet!" Pierre broke off his laugh in the middle, for at this moment the red lines charged.
Did you ever see an Indian that could handle the shovel as those fellows are doing. I tell you, half those Indians are just your folks dressed-up, and painted red and black, and with feathers stuck in their hair. The abbe ropes a lot of you into this business, and you're lucky, Antoine Lecorbeau, that he hasn't called on you or Pierre yet." At this suggestion Lecorbeau looked grim, but troubled.
To Lecorbeau, and to his wife and Pierre, who now appeared, the scene was clear in an instant; and a weight of misery rolled down upon the heart of Pierre as he realized that now he should lose the little one he loved so well. For a few moments the child and her new-found uncle were entirely absorbed in each other. But presently the little one looked around and pointed to Pierre.
To their astonishment they learned that the troops on Beausejour would do just nothing, unless the English should attempt to land on the French side of the Missaguash. They had received from Quebec a caution not to transgress openly any treaty obligations. To Antoine Lecorbeau this news seemed not unwelcome. He was for quiet generally.
"Edie," good wife Lecorbeau would say to her, "where is your mother?" At this the child would shake her head sorrowfully for a moment, and pointing over the hills, would answer: "Away off there!" and sometimes she would add, "Poor mamma's sick!" At last one day she seemed suddenly to remember, and cried as if she were announcing a great discovery, "Why, mamma's in Halifax."
But Le Loutre was resolved that on the arrival of the British there should be no more Beaubassin. The villagers were not to remain in such bad company! Pierre Lecorbeau was swift of foot.
The abbe's fierce, close-set eyes gleamed with approval, and he accosted the old man in a cordial voice. "This is indeed well done, Antoine. I love thy zeal for the grand cause. The saints will assuredly reward thee, and I will myself do for thee the little that lies in my poor power! But why so heavy of cheer, man?" "Alas, father!" returned Lecorbeau, sadly, "this is a sorrowful day.
Relieved of his dreaded presence the Acadians set bravely to work building cabins on the new lands which were allotted them back of Beausejour, and along the Missaguash, Au Lac, and Tantramar streams. A few were rash enough to return to their former holdings in Beaubassin, rebuilding among the ashes; but not so Antoine Lecorbeau.
Mother Lecorbeau was not a little triumphant at having elicited this definite information. On the subject of her father the little one had not much to say. When questioned about him she merely said that she was his little girl, and that he had gone away somewhere, and some bad people wouldn't let him come back again.
Word Of The Day