"Do you not know them, my son?"
"Ay, Tawannears I know. 'Tis the Warden of the Western Door of the Long House. And Corlaer, too, I know. But not the other."
"'Tis Henry Ormerod, of the Council of the Governor of New York, one of the wiliest minions of the English. He is a renegade from the service of his rightful sovereign King James, and through him hath held commission from the Regent Orleans."
Of our party I was the only one who could understand this conversation, for Tawannears and Corlaer had no French. It came glibly enough to my tongue, however, after five years service under the Duke of Berwick on the frontiers of the Low Countries and Italy and in Spain. I struck back, therefore, without waiting to consult my comrades.
"'Tis true, Chevalier," I said, "that my name is Ormerod and Governor Burnet hath honored me with membership of his Council. True, too, that in my youth I was mistaken enough to espouse the cause of the exiled Stuarts, and thus passed some time in France. But that is a page long turned. Whilst I served James I was faithful, and I left him because I came to know that he would never be more than a puppet to serve the ends of a foreign court. Since then I have striven to serve my country as you serve yours. Is there dishonor and hostility in that?"
Le Moyne started to answer me, but Black Robe took the words from his mouth.
"Never heed the Englishman," exclaimed the priest. "He is a servant of evil, a foresworn heretic, an enemy of France."
"There is peace betwixt France and England," I answered boldly. "What talk is this of enemies?"
The priest tossed his arms aloft.
"They talk of peace, peace," he cried. "And there is no peace! Can there ever be peace betwixt anti-Christ and God? Nay, my son. But ask the Englishman what he does, journeying secretly through the territories of France hundreds of leagues from English soil. Why does he travel with the Iroquois chief who is known as the principal friend of the English? Why do we see with him Corlaer, who is the emissary of the English in seducing the savages from trading at our posts? What is his mission here? Has he a passport from Quebec?"