At a sign, a mere turn of his head it seemed to me, the Indians loosed Marc's feet to lead him away.
"Farewell, Father," said he, in a firm voice, and turned upon me a look of unshakable courage.
"Be of good heart, son," I cried to him. "I will be there, and this devil shall be balked!"
"You, Monsieur," said the priest, still smiling, "will remain here for the present. To-night I will send a villager to loose your bonds. Then, by all means, come over and see Monsieur de Ramezay at Chignecto. I may not be there then myself, but this business of the spy will have been settled, for the commander does not waste time in such small matters!"
He turned away to follow his painted band, and I, shaking in my impotent rage and fear, called after him:—
"As God lives and is my witness, if the lad comes to any harm, these hands will visit it upon you an hundredfold, till you scream for death's mercy!"
But the Black Abbé moved off as if he heard no word, and left me a twisted heap upon the turf, gnawing fiercely at the tough deer-hide of my bonds.