"Agreed; but suppose I placed in the canoe not only provisions, but cutlasses, axes, daggers, and four fusils, with powder and ball?"
"The pale Chief would do that!" he said, with an incredulous air. "Thus armed, who could resist Omopoua?"
"Suppose I did more?" the adventurer continued, with a smile.
"The Chief is jesting; he is very gay. He says to himself, the Indians are credulous; I will have a laugh at the expense of Omopoua."
"I am not jesting, Chief—on the contrary, I am very serious; I will give you the things I have enumerated to you, and, in order that you may reach your country in safety, I will lend you a comrade, a brave man, who will be your brother, and defend you as you would defend yourself."
"And that companion?"
"Is here," said Montbarts, pointing to his engagé, who was standing calm and motionless by his side.
"Then I am not to make the expedition with you, Montbarts?" the latter said, in a sad voice, and with a reproachful accent.
"Reassure yourself," said Montbarts, tapping him gently on the shoulder; "the mission I send you on is most confidential, and even more perilous than the expedition I am undertaking. I wanted a devoted man—another self—and I have chosen you."
"You have done well, in that case; I will prove to you that you are not mistaken about me."