Part 19 (2/2)
M. ROUSSILLON ENTERTAINS COLONEL HAMILTON
A day or two after the arrival of Hamilton the absent garrison of buffalo hunters straggled back to Vincennes and were duly sworn to demean themselves as lawful subjects of Great Britain. Rene de Ronville was among the first to take the oath, and it promptly followed that Hamilton ordered him pressed into service as a wood-chopper and log-hauler during the erection of a new blockhouse, large barracks and the making of some extensive repairs of the stockade. Nothing could have been more humiliating to the proud young Frenchman. Every day he had to report bright and early to a burly Irish Corporal and be ordered about, as if he had been a slave, cursed at, threatened and forced to work until his hands were blistered and his muscles sore. The bitterest part of it all was that he had to trudge past both Roussillon place and the Bourcier cabin with the eyes of Alice and Adrienne upon him.
Hamilton did not forget M. Roussillon in this connection. The giant orator soon found himself face to face with a greater trial even than Rene's. He was calmly told by the English commander that he could choose between death and telling who it was that stole the flag.
”I'll have you shot, sir, to-morrow morning if you prevaricate about this thing any longer,” said Hamilton, with a right deadly strain in his voice. ”You told me that you knew every man, woman and child in Vincennes at sight. I know that you saw that girl take the flag--lying does not serve your turn. I give you until this evening to tell me who she is; if you fail, you die at sunrise to-morrow.”
In fact, it may be that Hamilton did not really purpose to carry out this blood-thirsty threat; most probably he relied upon M. Roussillon's imagination to torture him successfully; but the effect, as time proved, could not be accurately foreseen.
Captain Farnsworth had energy enough for a dozen ordinary men. Before he had been in Vincennes twelve hours he had seen every nook and corner of its surface. Nor was his activity due altogether to military ardor, although he never let pa.s.s an opportunity to serve the best interests of his commander; all the while his mind was on the strikingly beautiful girl whose saucy countenance had so dazzled him from the roof-top of the fort, what time she wrenched away the rebel flag.
”I'll find her, high or low,” he thought, ”for I never could fail to recognize that face. She's a trump.”
It was not in Alice's nature to hide from the English. They had held the town and fort before Helm came, and she had not found them troublesome under Abbott. She did not know that M. Roussillon was a prisoner, the family taking it for granted that he had gone away to avoid the English. Nor was she aware that Hamilton felt so keenly the disappearance of the flag. What she did know, and it gladdened her greatly, was that Beverley had been well treated by his captor. With this in her heart she went about Roussillon place singing merry s.n.a.t.c.hes of Creole songs; and when at the gate, which still hung lop-sided on account of Beverley's force in shutting it, she came unexpectedly face to face with Captain Farnsworth, there was no great surprise on her part.
He lifted his hat and bowed very politely; but a bold smile broke over his somewhat ruddy face. He spoke in French, but in a drawling tone and with a bad accent:
”How do you do, Mademoiselle; I am right glad to see you again.”
Alice drew back a pace or two. She was quick to understand his allusion, and she shrank from him, fearing that he was going to inquire about the flag.
”Don't be afraid,” he laughed. ”I am not so dangerous. I never did hurt a girl in all my life. In fact, I am fond of them when they're nice.”
”I am not in the least afraid,” she replied, a.s.suming an air of absolute dismissal, ”and you don't look a bit ferocious, Monsieur. You may pa.s.s on, if you please.”
He flushed and bit his lip, probably to keep back some hasty retort, and thought rapidly for a moment. She looked straight at him with eyes that stirred and dazzled him. He was handsome in a coa.r.s.e way, like a fine young animal, well groomed, well fed, magnetic, forceful; but his boldness, being of a sort to which she had not been accustomed, disturbed her vaguely and strangely.
”Suppose that I don't pa.s.s on?” he presently ventured, with just a suspicion of insolence in his att.i.tude, but laughing until he showed teeth of remarkable beauty and whiteness. ”Suppose that I should wish to have a little chat with you, Mademoiselle?”
”I have been told that there are men in the world who think themselves handsome, and clever, and brilliant, when in fact they are but conceited simpletons,” she remarked, rather indifferently, m.u.f.fling herself in her fur wrap. ”You certainly would be a fairly good hitching-post for our horses if you never moved.” Then she laughed out of the depth of her hood, a perfectly merry laugh, but not in the least flattering to Captain Farnsworth's vanity. He felt the scorn that it conveyed.
His face grew redder, while a flash from hers made him wish that he had been more gracious in his deportment. Here, to his surprise, was not a mere creole girl of the wild frontier.
Her superiority struck him with the force of a captivating revelation, under the light of which he blinked and winced.
She laid a shapely hand on the broken gate and pushed it open.
”I beg your pardon, Mademoiselle;” his manner softened as he spoke; ”I beg your pardon; but I came to speak to you about the flag--the flag you took away from the fort.”
She had been half expecting this; but she was quite unprepared, and in spite of all she could do showed embarra.s.sment.
”I have come to get the flag; if you will kindly bring it to me, or tell me where it is I--”
She quickly found words to interrupt him with, and at the same time by a great effort pulled herself together.
”You have come to the wrong place,” she flung in. ”I a.s.sure you that I haven't the flag.”
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