You have been there an
hour. I hear that you danced where they danced, and shared dog-meat and
jest alike. In faith, Montlivet, I have a good will to keep you here in
irons if I can do it in no gentler way. But what did Longuant say at the
council fire?"
I made sure that we were alone, and dropped into a chair. My muscles
were complaining, yet I knew that I had but begun my day's work. "It was
a long council," I said, "and all the old men were there. Longuant was
leader, but he was but one of many. The Ottawas are much stirred."
"About the prisoner?"
I shook my head. "The prisoner is the excuse,--the touchstone. The real
matter goes deep. You have not blinded these people. They know that
England and France are at war, but they know, too, that peace may be
declared any day. They know that the Baron has made an underground
treaty with the English and the Iroquois, and they realize that the
Iroquois may attack this place at any time with half the band of Hurons
at their back. They have no illusions as to what such an attack would
mean. They know that the French would make terms and be spared, but that
the Ottawas and the loyal Hurons would be butchered. They are
far-sighted.
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