“He’s safe there,” said Loïs. “I thought you always said Old Britain was a fast friend of the English?”
“So he is, but the French don’t half like it; they are always trying to get him on their side. But what with presents and selling our goods dirt cheap, we’ve managed somehow to keep him and his tribe satisfied; but I expect every day to hear the French have either bought him over or destroyed and plundered the village.”
“I believe you’ve heard something already,” said Loïs, and she went and stood beside him. “What is it, Father Nat?” she asked anxiously.
He did not answer immediately. At last, in a hurried voice, he said,—
“There is a rumour, but it may be false. I don’t want to give heed to it.”
“What is it?” repeated Loïs. “Tell me quickly, Father Nat,” and in her excitement she laid her hand on his arm.
“The news has come,” said Nathaniel slowly, “that a fleet of canoes manned by two hundred and fifty Ottawa and Ogibwa warriors have paddled down the lakes from Green Bay and so up the Maumee, and when last heard of they were marching through the forests against the Miamis.
“This news is three weeks old. If it be true, they will have surprised Old Britain and made short work of him, for you know most of the men of the tribe are away at this time for the summer hunting; only the old men, squaws, and children remain in the village. Roger, as I said, was going there with other traders; it strikes me if all had gone well he would have been home by this time.”
“Do you know anything else?” asked Loïs, and the very way in which she put the question was proof that she expected something more.
Nathaniel hesitated.