Toma was visibly affected, and Dick reassured him also. Short as the time had been that Toma had been with them, there seemed already a strong bond of friendship between the young Indian and the two young adventurers.
Dick squared his shoulders and followed the rat-faced half-breed into the other room. Dick now faced Pierre Govereau. The Frenchman was seated at a board table across from the door which just had been closed after Dick. At one side of the room a huge fireplace roared and crackled. The rat-faced half-breed went over and squatted before the fire, picking up a red-hot iron in a pair of tongs. Dick Kent shivered as he saw what the man was doing. But he met Govereau’s eyes unflinchingly.
“What iss zee bizness you bean on when you make for zee Fort Dunwoody?” Govereau came straight to the point.
“My friend and I are visiting in Canada,” replied Dick cooly. “The factor at Fort du Lac was an old friend of my chum’s father. I have a cousin in Fort Dunwoody that we wanted to call on before we went home.”
“I zink you lie,” growled Govereau. He sat silent for a moment, glaring at Dick as if he would hypnotize the young man with his snake-like eyes. But Dick’s gaze did not falter.
“Why you fear my men?” Govereau’s voice cracked like a whip.
Dick hesitated a moment. Sandy’s uncle’s welfare might depend upon his misleading the villainous Govereau. “We had been told there were bandits along the trail to the fort,” Dick replied in a clear voice.
“Haw!” scoffed Henderson’s lieutenant, and wheeled to the half-breed at the fireplace. “Napio, zee iron now. We make zee young upstart talk right.”
Dick recoiled slightly as the Indian arose and came forward with a short piece of iron, red hot and smoking in the tongs. Govereau came out from behind the table. Dick’s hands were still tied behind him. The Frenchman seized Dick in an iron grasp and tore away his shirt front.
“You tell zee truth now,” Govereau hissed. “Queeck, Napio!”