The Indians are wild with brandy, which, it is rumored, Singing Arrow
furnished. The brandy must have come from you. Is that so? Answer
me. Answer, in the name of the Holy Church. Is that so?"
I bowed. "You are a logician," I said bitterly. "Father, I can hear
the tom-toms. It is a miracle that we have escaped undetected so long.
Our respite cannot last many minutes longer. May we go?"
My tone seemed to reach him, and he wavered a moment. "Perhaps," he
began haltingly; then he backed several paces. "No!" he cried, all his
small wiry figure suddenly tense. "No! You are a dangerous man. You
carry brandy, and no one knows your errand. If I let you go, I may
save one man from torture,--which, after all, is but an open door to
the blessed after life,--but I shall be letting you carry brandy and
perdition on to scores of souls. No." And he opened his mouth to call
for help.
But I was on him before his shout could frame itself to sound. I drew
my handkerchief, and tied it, bandage-firm, across his mouth. Then I
called to Pierre, and bidding him bring me thongs from our store in the
canoe, I proceeded to bind the priest firmly. He was slight as a woman
in my hands. I could feel the sharpness and brittleness of his old
bones through his wrinkled skin, and I was sick at myself.
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