Part 13 (2/2)
Young Colden smiled again. With Willet at his right hand and Robert at his left, he acquired lightness of spirit.
”A demand and a threat together,” he replied. ”For the threat we don't care. We don't believe you'll ever see that hour of victory in which you can't control your Indians, and there'll be no need for you, Colonel de Courcelles, to apologize for a ma.s.sacre committed by your allies, and which you couldn't help. We're also growing used to requests of surrender.
”There was your countryman, St. Luc, a very brave and skillful man, who asked it of us, but we declined, and in the end we defeated him. And if we beat St. Luc without the aid of a strong fort, why shouldn't we beat you with it, Colonel de Courcelles?”
Colonel de Courcelles frowned once more, and Captain de Jumonville frowned with him.
”You don't know the wilderness, Captain Colden,” he said, ”and you don't give our demand the serious consideration to which it is ent.i.tled. Later on, the truth of what I tell you may bear heavily upon you.”
”I may not know the forest as you do, Colonel de Courcelles, but I have with me masters of woodcraft, Mr. Lennox and Mr. Willet, with whom you're already acquainted.”
”We've had pa.s.sages of various kinds with Colonel de Courcelles, both in the forest and at Quebec,” said Robert, quietly.
Both De Courcelles and Jumonville flushed, and it became apparent that they were anxious to end the interview.
”This, I take it, is your final answer,” the French Colonel said to the young Philadelphia captain.
”It is, sir.”
”Then what may occur rests upon the knees of the G.o.ds.”
”It does, sir, and I'm as willing as you to abide by the result.”
”And I have the honor of bidding you good day.”
”An equally great honor is mine.”
The two French officers were ceremonious. They lifted their fine, three-cornered hats, and bowed politely, and Colden, Willet and Robert were not inferior in courtesy. Then the Frenchmen walked away into the forest, while the three Americans went inside the palisade, where the heavy gate was quickly shut behind them and fastened securely. But before he turned back Robert thought he saw the huge figure of Tandakora in the forest.
When the French officers disappeared several shots were fired and the savages uttered a long and menacing war whoop, but the young soldiers had grown used to such manifestations, and, instead of being frightened, they felt a certain defiant pleasure.
”Yells don't hurt us,” said Wilton to Robert. ”Instead I feel my Quaker blood rising in anger, and I'd rejoice if they were to attack now. A very heavy responsibility rests upon me, Robert, since I've to fight not only for myself but for my ancestors who wouldn't fight at all. It rests upon me, one humble youth, to bring up the warlike average of the family.”
”You're one, Will, but you're not humble,” laughed Robert. ”I believe that jest of yours about the still, blood of generations bursting forth in you at last is not a jest wholly. When it comes to a pitched battle I expect to see you perform prodigies of valor.”
”If I do it won't be Will Wilton, myself, and I won't be ent.i.tled to any credit. I'll be merely an instrument in the hands of fate, working out the law of averages. But what do you think those French officers and their savage allies will do now, Robert, since Colden, so to speak, has thrown a very hard glove in their faces?”
”Draw the lines tighter about Fort Refuge. It's cold in the forest, but they can live there for a while at least. They'll build fires and throw up a few tepees, maybe for the French. But their anger and their desire to take us will make them watch all the more closely. They'll draw tight lines around this snug little, strong little fort of ours.”
”Which removes all possibility that your friend Tayoga will come at the appointed time.”
Robert glared at him.
”Will,” he said, ”I've discovered that you have a double nature, although the two are never struggling for you at the same time.”
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