The front door of the house opened and a figure outlined against the light appeared. It was an old man in a black robe, tall, thin and ascetic, and Robert seeing him so clearly in the light of a lamp that he held in his hand recognized him at once. It was Father Philibert Drouillard, the same whom he had defeated in the test of oratory in the vale of Onondaga before the wise sachems, when so much depended on victory.
"Father Drouillard!" he exclaimed impulsively, stepping forward out of the shadows.
"Who is it who speaks?" asked the priest, holding the lamp a little higher.
"Father Drouillard, don't you know me?" exclaimed Robert, advancing within the circle of light.
"Ah, it is young Lennox!" said the priest. "What a meeting! And under what circumstances!"
"And there are others here whom you know," said Robert. "Look, this is David Willet who commands us, and here also is Tayoga, whom you remember in the vale of Onondaga."
Father Drouillard saluted them gravely.
"You are the enemies of my country," he said, "but I will not deny that I am glad to see you here. I understand that the savage, Tandakora, means to attack this house to-night, thinking that it holds a British garrison. Well, it seems that he will not be far wrong in his thought."
A ghost of a smile flickered over the priest's pale face.
"A garrison but not the garrison that he expects to destroy," said Willet. "Tandakora fights nominally under the flag of France, but as you know, Father, he fights chiefly to gratify his own cruel desires."