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Updated: June 2, 2025
I heard the sharp click of a gun-barrel in the sentry's hand as he presented arms, then the noise of the uplifting latch, yet remained so paralyzed by the suddenness of it as to be fairly helpless, unable to move from my position. De Noyan merely smiled lazily, as though this new act formed part of the play, beginning calmly to roll another cigarette.
Still, in spite of much time thus lost, we made steady progress, so before morning dawned I was confident many a mile had been placed behind, although the low shore we skirted remained so similar in outline as to afford few landmarks with which to gauge our passage. De Noyan grew more cheerful toward the end, his sullen mood changing to a gay semblance of reckless abandon.
De Noyan and I, thus released from our cramped, painful position on the rocks, were jerked rudely upon our feet, and, in obedience to threatening gestures, driven rapidly forward like dumb beasts; but Madame and the Puritan, the latter not yet having regained consciousness, were swung aloft in hammocks of coarsely woven cloth, and thus borne upon the shoulders of four stout carriers.
Finally, I caught a glimpse of Naladi's red robe scarcely ten feet away, and behind her the countenance of De Noyan, still contemptuously smiling at that shrieking rabble. God! my face burned, my grasp tightened on the club. Yet I lay motionless, knowing well the time of sacrifice was not yet.
For another moment I hesitated, scarcely daring to utter the one vital question trembling on my lips. "But who is the lady? What is her name?" As I put the simple query I felt my voice tremble in spite of every effort to hold it firm. "Madame de Noyan, sah; one ob de bery first famblies. Massa de Noyan am one ob de Bienvilles, sah." "De Noyan? De Noyan?"
I can clearly recall the picture, as these two, so widely different, sat facing each other in silence, the golden sunshine checkered over them through an arch of limbs, the broad river shining away to the southward, and De Noyan resting upon his back, with face turned up toward the clear blue sky.
During the evening meal, partaken of amid the gathering shadows of twilight, our newly discovered friend again evidenced his power as a trencherman. "Sacre!" ejaculated De Noyan in dismay. "I supposed his breakfast was intended to last the week. We shall need a fleet of boats to provision the fellow if he keep us company long.
So I sat with glance downcast upon the planks, while tugging doggedly at the oar with all my strength, feeling that same sunrise had brought with it my own death warrant. So dull and heavy grew my heart with lonely weariness, I cannot guess how long we pulled before the boat's nose ran up upon the shore, and De Noyan, springing overboard, dragged it well beyond view among the thick cane.
Nothing could be gained by exposing ourselves before need arose. Indeed, De Noyan chanced to observe their presence before I ventured upon speech at all. "Ha, my masters!" he exclaimed suddenly, rising to peer above the low breastworks. "What have we here?
Soon after he disappeared from Paris. I know not what became of him afterwards. His wife and his children remained there living by charity. A long time after his death beyond the seas, the Abbe de Saint-Simon passed from Noyan to Metz, where he found his widow in great misery.
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