"Pat is not dead, Tom. I hear him, I think. Yes, there he comes. Thank God. Pat is all right, Tom, and you are all right too. Brace up, old man. But Pamphile? _Mon Dieu_! What have I done? Tom, I am going away. You will look after Pamphile--you and Pat. There will be some expense--I will pay it. And the mail contract----" "Damn the mail contract!" "But no, Tom; it is yours now. You will drive the mail to-morrow, will you not? The mail must go--Her Majesty’s Mail." "Yes, I will do it, Jean; but it will be yours when you come back." "I am not coming back, Tom. Good-bye." "Jean Baptiste," said Tom, grasping the extended hand, "you have been damn good to us that have been damn mean to you, and it’s damn sorry I am for all our damned cussedness. Come back soon, and we’ll be good neighbours and friends, by God, we will." As Jean strode along toward his home he saw Blanchette by the path, weeping bitterly. "Ah, Blanchette, it is you. And you saw it all." "Not all, Jean. I was too much afraid, and I hid behind the rock. Oh, why did I not stop it? _Mon Dieu_, but it was terrible! You are a hero, Jean Baptiste." "No, Blanchette, far from it. A brute, rather, a species of tiger. At one time I would gladly have killed them all, and drunk their blood. _Mon Dieu_, what an uprising from the depths! But now that has passed; and the man, the Christian, is sorry for the deeds of the brute; But you do not understand such things, Blanchette." "No? You think not? Ah, if it were only so. But I, too, have my struggles, my conflicts. But oh, Jean, you are hurt! Ah, my poor Jean, he can hardly walk. Lie down here, on the cool moss, and I will fetch some water from the stream. Ah, _Mon Dieu_! _Mon Dieu_!" "No, I am all right. A little dizziness--that was all. It is gone now, and I must go. No, Blanchette, it is not I who need you, but Pamphile down there. For me, I could not touch him. Ah, the poor fellow! A strong man and brave; yes, brave to the last. _Adieu_, Blanchette." "_Adieu!_" said Blanchette, going away; and then she turned, suddenly, fiercely: "Jean!" "What is it, Blanchette?" "Nothing," she said, as she turned away down the path. "There was something, but I have forgotten. _Adieu_, my friend. May God keep you." *CHAPTER XXII* *THE WILDERNESS*