Keep
your secrets. Only see that Father Carheil does not smell your brandy,
or I may be forced to send you back to Montreal."
CHAPTER II
THE CAPTIVE
I woke the next morning, saying, "I must keep out of this," and I knew
that I had said it in my slumber. It is pitiful that a man should be
so infirm of will that he need cosset his resolution in this fashion,
and I kicked the dogs from the door of my cabin, and went out to meet
the world in a bad humor.
It was a still world in the great sky and water spaces, but a noisy one
upon the shore. Early as it was--the night dusk was still
lingering--the kettles were simmering, and the Indians decked for a
holiday. The sense of approaching action was powder to my nostrils,
and added to my spleen; so though I went down upon the beach, and
joined Cadillac and his officers, I was but surly company, and soon
turned my back upon them, to stare off at the lake.
It was a breezeless morning, and the lake was without ripple. It lay
like one of the metal mirrors that we sell the Indians, a lustreless
gray sheet that threw back twisted pictures. I looked off at the east,
and thought of the dull leagues that lay behind me, and the uncounted
ones before, and I realized that the morning air was cold, and that I
hated the dark, secret water that led through this strange land.
Pages:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26