He laughed, but very softly, and the grave look did not desert his eyes.
“You noted me then! Faith, I had no thought you 213 so much as glanced toward us. Well, and why should I not? Is it not a man’s duty to seek to guard your safety in such an hour? Monsieur Cassion did not realize the peril, for he knows naught of the treachery of this lake, while I have witnessed its sudden storms before, and learned to fear them. So I deemed it best to be near at hand. For that you cannot chide me.”
“No, no, Monsieur,” and I managed to sit up, and escape the pressure of his arm. “To do that would be the height of ingratitude. Surely I should have died but for your help, yet I hardly know now what occurred––you sprang from the canoe?”
“Ay, when I found all else useless. Never did I feel more deadly blast; no craft such as ours could face it. We were to your left and rear when your canoe capsized, and I bore down toward where you struggled in the water. An Indian got grip upon you as we swept by, but the craft dipped so that he let go, and then I jumped, for we could never come back, and that was the only chance. This is the whole story, Madame, except that by God’s help, I got you ashore.”
I looked into his face, impressed by the seriousness with which he spoke.
“I––I thank you, Monsieur,” I said, and held out my hand. “It was most gallant. Are we alone here? Where are the others?”
“I do not know, Madame,” he answered, his tone 214 now that of formal courtesy. “’Tis but a short time since we reached this spot, and the storm yet rages. May I help you to stand, so you may perceive better our situation.”
He lifted me to my feet, and I stood erect, my clothes dripping wet, and my limbs trembling so that I grasped his arm for support, and glanced anxiously about. We were on a narrow sand beach, at the edge of a small cove, so protected the waters were comparatively calm, although the trees above bowed to the blast, and out beyond the headland I could see huge waves, whitened with foam, and perceive the clouds of spray flung up by the rocks. It was a wild scene, the roar of the breakers loud and continuous, and the black clouds flying above with dizzy rapidity. All the horror which I had just passed through seemed typified in the scene, and I covered my face with my hands.
“You––you think they––they are all gone?” I asked, forcing the words from me.
“Oh, no,” he answered eagerly, and his hand touched me. “Do not give way to that thought. I doubt if any in your canoe made shore, but the others need not be in great danger. They could run before the storm until they found some opening in the coast line to yield protection. The sergeant was no voyageur, and when one of the paddles broke he steered wrong. With an Indian there you would have floated.”