“Might as well say so, sir, from the way he carries on.”
“Show him in.”
Five minutes later, Cardepie, the Frenchman from Fort Dickey, stood in the presence of the factor's family, vastly embarrassed, but bursting with news.
“Ah, by gar!” he cried when permission to speak had been given; “dere is gran' trouble in de distric'. Everywhere, de trapper is gone away—everywhere de shanty is desert'. B-gosh! For sure, dere is somet'ing wrong! One, two, ten, dirteen days ago, dat brave Captain McTavish go on de long trail for Charley Seguis, an' have not been heard of since. Diable! Perhaps, he no find heem in dat time; anyway, he sen' word to de fort. But dis time? Non! We haf no word, an' by gar! I know somet'ing wrong.
“I call my dogs, Ba'tiste an' Pierre an' Raoul an' Saint Jean, an' pack de sleigh. I cannot stan' my brother lost, so I go after heem. Bien donc! I hunt de distric' careful, but I fin' not wan track of heem. I go to trapper shanty one after de other. Peter Rainy, he gone four days before me, but I not even see heem. Tonnerre, sacré! De hair stan' on my head wit' fear of somet'ing I do not know. Mebbe wan beeg loup-garou eat every man in de distric', an' have his eye on me.
“I go into a shanty, an' fin' paper not burn' In stove just wan end. I pick it up; I read de English good, like I talk. McTavish teach me dat on long nights. B-gosh! m'sieur, I read dat fas', once, twice. Den I go out, an' jump into de sleigh, an' point Ba'tiste's nose to Fort Severn. Pauvre Saint Jean, he die I run heem so hard, an' now I got only t'ree dogs.”
“Stop! Stop!” yelled the factor at the top of his voice, interrupting with difficulty the tumbling cascade of Cardepie's speech. “Have you that paper with you?”
“Oui, by gar!” cried the Frenchman proudly, digging into his fur coat, and finally producing a half-sheet of rough paper, charred at the upper edge.
Fitzpatrick puzzled over it for a full minute. Then, his eyes began to bulge, and the veins in his neck to swell as he read aloud:
The brotherhood meets in five days at Sturgeon Lake. Bring your early furs to the post there.