ADVENTURE IN BOSTON
The Clement was found and boarded without much difficulty, and at daybreak she was on her way to Boston, bearing the La Tours and Raoul.
They were well received at the quaint capital of the New England Province, and, after a good deal of negotiation, for the shrewd colonists knew how to drive good bargains, La Tour succeeded in arranging for four ships, carrying nearly two score guns, and one hundred and fifty men. With this force he felt quite equal to getting the better of his rival, and set sail from Boston in high spirits. For six weeks Fort La Tour had been silent as a tomb, the besiegers, who were quite unaware of the La Tours having slipped away, trusting to starvation to do their work for them, while the garrison, looking forward to their commander's return in force, made no attempt at sorties, but got along, as best they could, on the scanty rations left them. They kept a sharp and steady look-out, however, and one day their eyes were gladdened by the sight of many sails in the offing.
"La Tour! La Tour!" they cried joyously, and at once proceeded to welcome him with a salute in which every cannon on the ramparts had a part. La Tour did his best to capture some of Charnace's vessels, but both wind and tide favoured their escape, although he chased them as far as the Penobscot. There was great rejoicing at the fort, and feasting followed famine for the remainder of the week.
"Will Monsieur Charnace come back again, do you think?" Raoul asked of his aunt as they sat in her room, having grown weary of the revelling.
"I am afraid so," she answered with a sigh. "He is a proud, determined man, and this defeat will only cause him to try again with a stronger force. I fear there is trouble in store for us."
"But why can't he leave us alone?" Raoul cried petulantly. "We have never made any attack upon him."
"Because this world, big as it may seem, Raoul, is all too small for such men as your uncle and Charnace," Madame replied. "They cannot brook a rival, and they must needs fight until one or the other is overthrown," and she sighed again deeply, for her gentle heart shrank from conflict, and she infinitely preferred teaching religion to the Indians, to all her husband's grand plans for wealth and power.
Foiled in his first attempt, but not shaken in his purpose, Charnace went off across the ocean to France to see if something could not be done there to humble his rival, and La Tour was left to pursue his way in peace.
Raoul now took an active part in what went on, and led quite a busy life. He accompanied his uncle in his trips up the River St. John, where they met with Indians from the interior, who brought rich furs to barter for goods. Twice he crossed over to Fort St. Louis, and each time congratulated himself on the move to Fort La Tour; and what pleased him most of all, he was allowed to go on one of the ships to Boston, for he had very pleasant recollections of his first visit there. His visit was made memorable by an experience which was certainly of too exciting a nature to be soon forgotten. Having a leisure afternoon, he went off alone for a stroll along the river-bank, where he felt sure he would find something to interest him. And in this he was not disappointed.