[Illustration: Radisson's map.]
"Fit crossing?"
"When 'tis safe, we might plan a surprise. The only doubt is how many of those pirates are there who attacked you in the woods?"
And he sat back whiffing his pipe and gazing in space. By this, La Chesnaye had distributed so generous a treat that half the sailors were roaring out hilarious mirth. Godefroy astride a bench played big drum on the wrong-end-up of the cook's dish-pan. Allemand attempted to fiddle a poker across the tongs. Voyageurs tried to shoot the big canoe over a waterfall; for when Jean tilted one end of the long bench, they landed as cleanly on the floor as if their craft had plunged. But the copper-faced Le Borgne remained taciturn and tongue-tied.
"Be curse to that wall-eyed knave," muttered Radisson. "He's too deep a man to let go! We must capture him or win him!"
"Perhaps when he becomes more friendly we may track him back to the inlanders," I suggested.
M. de Radisson closed one eye and looked at me attentively.
"La Chesnaye," he called, "treat that fellow like a king!"