Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France) -- Fiction
Menard stood waiting with a look of disgust. When they came upon the
wharf Guerin laughed, and tried to get out a flippant apology for his
tardiness; but Menard seized him before the words were off his lips,
and dragging him across the wharf threw him into the water. Then he
turned to Perrot, and said, "Pull him out."
The two new men stood uneasily near, with startled faces. Behind them
the maid was sitting, a frightened look in her eyes. Danton had
risen.
"Clear away from here!" Menard called to the drunken rabble, who had
collected a few rods away, and were now hesitating between laughter
and fright. They stood looking at each other and at Menard, then they
slunk away.
In all an hour had gone before they were ready to start. Guerin was
weak and shivering from his plunge, but Menard ordered him into the
canoe. The incident drew a cloud over the maid's spirits, and
altogether depressed the party, so that not until afternoon did they
get into conversation. By that time they were past the Lachine Rapids
and the Sault St. Louis, where the men made a portage, and Danton led
the maid along the bank through the tangled brush and briers. When at
last they were ready to push on across Lake St. Louis the maid's skirt
was torn in a dozen places, and a thorn had got into her hand, which
Danton carefully removed with the point of his knife, wincing and
flushing with her at each twinge of pain. During the rest of the day,
they had an Iroquois lesson, and by the end of the afternoon when the
sun was low, and Menard headed for the shore of Isle Perrot, the maid
was bright again, laughing over Danton's blunders in the new
language.
They spent the next day on the island, for what with wind and rain
the lake was impassable for their canoe. The men built a hut of brush
and bark which sheltered the party from the driving rain. Menard's
mood lightened at the prospect of a rest, and he started a long
conversation in Iroquois which soon had even Father Claude laughing
in his silent way. The rain lessened in the afternoon, but the wind
was still running high. Menard and the _engages_ went out early in
the afternoon and repacked all the supplies, in order that the
weight might be distributed more evenly in the canoe. With this and
other work he was occupied until late in the afternoon. Father Claude
took the occasion for a solitary walk, and for meditation. When Menard
entered the hut he found the maid sitting with her head resting
against one of the supporting trees. She wore a disturbed, unsettled
expression. Danton evidently had been sitting or standing near her,
for when Menard entered, stooping, he was moving across the hut in a
hesitating, conscious manner. The Captain looked at them curiously.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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