Had a thunderbolt fallen at the Count's feet he would not have been more surprised and terrified than on hearing this savage, who wore the complete costume of the Blackfeet, and whose face was painted of four different colours, express himself so purely in French. Natah Otann did not seem to notice his companion's agitation, but continued coldly—
"Deign to pardon me, Monsieur le Comte, for employing terms which must certainly have offended you by their triviality; but the few occasions I have for speaking French in this desert must serve as an excuse."
M. de Beaulieu was a prey to one of those surprises which grow gradually greater. He no longer knew were he awake, or suffering from a nightmare; what he heard seemed to him so incredible and incomprehensible, that he could not find words to express his feelings.
"Who on earth are you?" he exclaimed, when sufficiently master of himself to speak.
"I!" Natah Otann remarked carelessly; "why, you see I am a poor Indian, and nothing more."
"'Tis impossible," the young man said.
"I assure you, sir, that I have told you the exact truth. Hang it," he added with charming frankness, "if you find me a little less—what shall I say?—coarse, you must not consider it a crime; that results from considerations entirely independent of my will, which I will tell you some day, if you wish to hear them."
The Count, as we think we have said, was a man of great courage, whom but few things could disturb; the first impression passed, he bravely took his part; perfectly master of himself henceforth, he frankly accepted the position which accident had so singularly made for him.
"By Jove!" he said, with a laugh, "the meeting is a strange one, and may reasonably surprise me; you will therefore pardon, my dear sir, that astonishment—in extreme bad taste, I grant—which I at first evidenced on hearing you address me as you did. I was so far from expecting to meet, six hundred leagues from civilised countries, a man so well bred as yourself, that I confess I at first hardly knew what Saint to invoke."
"You flatter me, sir; believe me that I feel highly grateful for the good opinion you are good enough to have of me; now, if you permit, we will go back to our business."