But
I must go west. I must. Hundreds of men depend on me. Father
Carheil?"
"Yes, my son."
"I bound you once on this very spot. May I bind you again?"
"With promises?"
"Yes. Will you see Cadillac at once, tell him what you know, and have
a company of Ottawas sent in pursuit of Lord Starling? Will you
yourself see that it is rightly done?"
His foot drummed a tattoo. "I ask no favors of the commandant."
"Father!"
"Oh yes, I"----
"Then go at once, I beg you. Hasten."
He shook his head at me, but he turned and ran. I watched him a
moment, then I stepped in the canoe.
"I will take a paddle," I told Pierre. "I can do something with my
left hand. Singing Arrow must take one, too."
It had come to me before in my life to be compelled to force the
apparently impossible out of opportunity. But never had I asked myself
to attempt such a task as this. I had only one day the start of
Cadillac, and in that time I must collect an army. But if success were
within human reach I was well armored to secure it, for I carried a
desperate heart.
So if I say we went swiftly, it conveys no meaning of what we really
accomplished. We paddled as long as our arms would obey us, slept
sparingly, and paddled again.
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