He found the trail at last, and followed it here. He begs
that I send him on to you with a convoy.
"Now this, as you see, sounds very fair, and part of it I know to be
true. The man is certainly in earnest--about something,--and has spent
great time and endeavor in this search. He has even been to Quebec,
and worked on Frontenac's sympathies, for he bears from the governor a
letter of safe conduct to me, and another, from the Jesuits, to Father
Carheil. He comes--apparently--on no political mission; he is alone,
and his tale is entirely plausible. There is but one course open to
me. I must let him go on.
"But I do it with misgivings. The story is fair, but I can tell a fair
story myself upon occasion, and there is no great originality in this
one. I remember that you said after your first interview with your
Englishman, that you were afraid he was a spy. There is always that
danger,--a danger that Frontenac underestimates because he has not
grasped the possibilities that we have here. If both these men should
prove to be spies, and in collusion---- Well, they are brave men, and
crafty; it will be the greater pleasure to outwit them. I cannot
overlook the fact that the first Englishman was brought here by the
Baron's band of Hurons, and that this man selects his messengers from
the same dirty clan.
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