He performed his portion of the work well, bearing with apparent ease fully one-half the burden, while De Noyan and I staggered beneath the remainder, until together we sank the boat well out of sight behind the thick brush.
"And why not a fire?" the stranger questioned abruptly, noticing Eloise spreading forth our stock of provisions on the grass. "It was in hope of thus warming the inner man that I consented to come ashore and companion with you. Are you refugees, fleeing from danger?"
I glanced aside at De Noyan and muttered hastily in French, "It will be best to tell him our story—'tis not likely he will prove an emissary of Spain."
"As you please; he is more of your class than mine," he returned indifferently, and, with a shrug of the shoulders, strolled away.
"You have made fairly correct guess," I said to our new acquaintance; "so we may as well understand each other first as last. We have escaped with our lives from New Orleans, and are now seeking refuge on the Ohio."
He nodded, his shrewd gray eyes fastened intently on my face, his own countenance expressionless.
"Who holdeth New Orleans?" he asked in a tone of interest.
"The Spanish, under O'Reilly."
"'Tis what they told me above, yet I believed they lied. Those with you are French?"
"Ay."