The Sun of Quebec | Page 5

come to Albany, but I feel sure it is well that I

have come."
Mr. Huysman hustled about, his great red face glowing while fat
Caterina brought in more to eat. He insisted that the new guests sit at
the table and eat tremendously. It was a time when hospitality meant
repeated offerings of food, which in America was the most abundant of
all things, and Mr. Hardy and Mr. Pillsbury easily allowed themselves
to be persuaded.
"And now, Robert, you must tell me something more about Dave," said
the merchant as they rose from the table.
Young Lennox promptly narrated their adventures among the peaks and
about the lakes while the older men listened with breathless attention.
Nor did the story of the great hunter suffer in Robert's telling. He had
an immense admiration for Willet and he spoke of his deeds with such
vivid words and with so much imagery and embroidery that they
seemed to be enacted again there in that quiet room before the men who
listened.
"Ah, that is Dave! True as steel. As honest and brave as they ever make
'em," said Master Benjamin Hardy, when he had finished. "A man! a
real man if ever one walked this earth!"
"And don't forget Tayoga here," said Robert. "The greatest trailer ever
born. He saved us more than once by his ability to read the faintest sign
the earth might yield."
"When Dagaeoga begins to talk he never knows how to stop," said
Tayoga; "I but did the things all the warriors of my nation are taught to
do. I would be unworthy to call myself a member of the clan of the
Bear, of the nation Onondaga, of the great League of the Hodenosaunee,
if I could not follow a trail. Peace, Dagaeoga!"
Robert joined in the laugh, and then the men began to talk about the
prospects of an attack upon Albany by the French and Indians, though
all of them inclined to Robert's view that Montcalm would not try it.

"As you were a prisoner among them you ought to know something
about their force, Robert," said Mr. Hardy.
"I had opportunities to observe," replied the lad, "and from what I saw,
and from what I have since heard concerning our numbers I judge that
we were at least four to one, perhaps more. But we threw away all our
advantage when we came with bare breasts against their wooden wall
and sharpened boughs."
"It is a painful thing to talk about and to think about, but Britain never
gives up. She marches over her mistakes and failures to triumph, and
we are bone of her bone. And you saw St. Luc!"
"Often, sir. In the battle and in the preparations for it he was the right
arm of the Marquis de Montcalm. He is a master of forest war."
"He is all that, Robert, my lad. A strange, a most brilliant man, he is
one of our most formidable enemies."
"But a gallant one, sir. He did nothing to prevent my escape. I feel that
at Ticonderoga as well as elsewhere I am greatly in his debt."
"Undoubtedly he favors you. It does not surprise me."
Intense curiosity leaped up in Robert's heart once more. What was he to
St. Luc! What was St. Luc to him! All these elderly men seemed to
hold a secret that was hidden from him, and yet it concerned him most.
His lips twitched and he was about to ask a question, but he reflected
that, as always before, it would not be answered, it would be evaded,
and he restrained his eager spirit. He knew that all the men liked him,
that they had his good at heart, and that when the time came to speak
they would speak. The words that had risen to his lips were unspoken.
Robert felt that his elders wanted to talk, that something they would
rather not tell to the lads was in their minds, and meanwhile the
brilliant sunshine and free air outside were calling to him and the
Onondaga.

"I think," he said, addressing them all collectively, "that Tayoga and I
should go to see Lieutenant Grosvenor. He was our comrade in the
forest, and he has been somewhat overcome by his great hardships."
"The idea would not be bad," said Master Benjamin Hardy. "Youth to
youth, and, while you are gone, we old fellows will talk of days long
ago as old fellows are wont to do."
And so they did want him and Tayoga to go! He had divined their
wishes aright. He was quite sure, too, that when he and the Onondaga
were away the past would be very little in their minds. These active
men in the very prime of their powers were concerned most