The King's Warrant: A Story of Old and New France — John Shaqi
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 will not do," exclaimed the guide; "she must have some object in
tracking us like this. Hola! come here," he added, beckoning to her.
Amoahmeh was at their side in a moment.
"What do you want? where are you going?" inquired Boulanger, sharply.
The girl looked timidly at him, then gazed for a minute in Isidore's
face.
"The young brave knows where they are," said she; "I am going with him."
"With him! Nonsense," ejaculated the Canadian, "you can't go with him.
Get you back, there's a good girl. Pritchard and the rest of them will
be at the old place before nightfall, I daresay. You must go back to
them."
The girl did not answer, neither did she manifest any disposition to do
as Boulanger desired her.
"_Peste!_" said the latter. "One doesn't know how to deal with these
idiots; it's of no use talking sensibly to them, and they are as
obstinate as mules. Monsieur must try to make her go back. One cannot
beat her, you know," he added half apologetically, as the thought of
Amoahmeh's resolutely refusing to relieve them of her company probably
suggested some such extreme proceeding.
"Beat her!" exclaimed Isidore indignantly, "I should think not. My
good girl, I cannot take you with me. You must go back to your
friends."
She looked at him long and wistfully. At last she said, "You are my
friend, you know where they are. I will go with you until we find
them."
Boulanger struck the end of his rifle on the ground despair. Isidore
was puzzled, but suddenly a thought struck him.
"If Amoahmeh goes with me," said he quietly, "I shall be discovered by
the English, and if they find me they will shoot me."
She looked inquiringly at him as if she half understood the purport of
his words.
"To be sure," interposed the guide. "Do you want him to be shot? If
not, you must go back." There was a short pause; then Amoahmeh bowed
her head, and crossing her hands over her bosom turned away and began
to retrace her steps towards the settlement.
The young soldier made a gesture as though he would have recalled her,
but Boulanger stopped him. "Let her alone, monsieur, for goodness
sake. But for that lucky shot of yours we should never have got rid of
her; and think, only think, monsieur, the further she had gone the more
impossible it would have been for you to shake her off. Do you want
her to stick to you all your life?"
Isidore admitted that the guide was right, and on they went. Yet his
heart was full of pity for the poor child as he looked back and saw her
stealing silently away through the wood, and he felt that he had been
compelled to extinguish the ray of sunlight that had shone in upon the
darkness of her soul.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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