Turning it over in his hand, he caught sight, in the lower left-hand corner, of a dark spot which his thumb had covered. He stared at it; then at his thumb, to the ball of which some red dust adhered; then at the seal. The wax bore the impress of a flying Mercury, with cap, caduceus and winged sandals. The ciphered address he could not interpret; it was brief, written in two lines, in a bold clear hand. This, then, was the missive which Barboux had carried. Had Menehwehna discovered it and placed it here for him to discover? Yes, undoubtedly. And this was a French dispatch; and at any cost he must intercept it! His soldier's sacrament required no less. He must conceal it--seek his opportunity to escape with it--go on lying meanwhile in hope of an opportunity. Where now was the prospects of his soul's deliverance? He crept back to bed and was thrusting the letter under his pillow when a slight sound drew his eyes towards the door. In the doorway stood Menehwehna with a breakfast-tray. The Indian's eyes travelled calmly across the room as he entered and set the tray down on the bed next to John's. Without speaking he picked up the tumbled tunic from the floor and set it back on its peg. CHAPTER XIV. AGAIN THE WHITE TUNIC. "But touching this polygon of M. de Montcalm's--" Within the curtain-wall facing the waterside the ground had been terraced up to form a high platform or _terre-plein_, whence six guns, mounted in embrasures, commanded the river. Hither John had crept, with the support of a stick, to enjoy the sunshine and the view, and here the Commandant had found him and held him in talk, walking him to and fro, with pauses now and again beside a gun for a few minutes' rest. "But touching this polygon of M. de Montcalm's, he would doubtless follow Courmontaigne rather than Vauban. The angles, you say, were boldly advanced?" "So they appeared to me, monsieur; but you understand that I took no part--" "By advancing the angles boldly"--here the Commandant pressed his finger-tips together by way of illustration--"we allow so much more play to enfilading fire. I speak only of defence against direct assault; for of opposing such a structure to artillery the General could have had no thought." "Half a dozen six-pounders, well directed, could have knocked it about his ears in as many minutes."