The King's Warrant: A Story of Old and New FranceEngelbach, Alfred H.
History
The King's Warrant: A Story of Old and New France
Engelbach, Alfred H.
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France) -- Fiction
"This is to certify that the person designated in a royal warrant as
Isidore Marquis de Beaujardin, otherwise known as Godefroid, confined
here during the royal pleasure, is released from further detention, and
the authorities, whether civil or military, are required to permit him
to pass freely.
"(Signed) DE VALRICOUR,
"Colonel Commandant of the Fort of Sorel."
Isidore sprang to his feet. "Where is the man?" he gasped out.
"You can see him; he lies dead not a hundred yards off." In a couple
of minutes they had reached the spot, and Isidore no sooner beheld the
upturned face of the dead man then he exclaimed, "Just Heaven! it is
Jasmin."
As soon as he had recovered from the excitement into which this
discovery had thrown him, Isidore acquainted his friend with the more
private details of his story. "I must start at once for Sorel," said
he; "I scarcely dare to hope it, but it may be that my unhappy wife was
or is still detained there, and if so, with Heaven's blessing I may see
her again. I shall indeed be thankful if my Uncle de Valricour has
been her gaoler."
"Then you can march with us, at least a part of the way," said do
Montenac. "Listen! there it goes." As he spoke, an explosion like a
peal of thunder was heard in the distance. "De Bourlemaque has
evacuated Fort Ticonderoga and blown it up," added he. "We have been
stationed here to guard against a flank movement and to keep open the
road to Crown Point, on which we are to fall back."
"What! retreat without a fight!" exclaimed Isidore.
"We have scarce three or four thousand men to Amherst's twelve or
fourteen thousand, and he is not an Abercromby to run his head against
a wall for nothing. I believe we are not even going to hold Crown
Point, strong as it is. No, no; forty or fifty leagues of well-nigh
impassable country lie between this and the St. Lawrence, as you ought
to know, Master Isidore, and that will fight for us without our losing
a man. Amherst can only advance by water, and as we have armed vessels
on the lake and he has not, why there is as much chance of his doing
anything before the winter sets in again, as there is of my being made
a Field Marshal."
Thanks to the Indian's simple medicines, and the subsequent care of the
regimental surgeon, Boulanger was doing well, and was able, on the
following day, to accomplish the short march made by the detachment.
Nor was Isidore at first sufficiently strong to do more. They
accordingly accompanied the troops as far as Crown Point, and then
pushed forward alone. The journey which the travellers had undertaken
was long and difficult. On reaching the northern end of Lake
Champlain, however, they obtained a small canoe, in which they
descended the Richelieu River, and thus reached Sorel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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