In the afternoon of the next day old Antoine de la Carre, seigneur of the score of log-houses and the vast tract of woodland belonging to the royal settlement of St. Maxime, marshalled his fighting force. In front of the storehouse was an open space, from which the snow was kept clear, and here the soldiers of St. Maxime were drawn up in line. There were about forty of them all told, half of their number being young men, voyageurs, and coureurs des bois; the others were older, heads of families who devoted themselves to the more peaceful occupations of fishing and farming.
“I have news,” said Antoine de la Carre, “that the Iroquois are moving, so it behooves us to make ready for them. You older men shall act as a reserve; the younger ones I will organize into a company always to be under arms and ready to repel attack. Noël Duroc, I appoint you lieutenant, to have charge till the officer who is to be your captain comes from Quebec. Be active in your duty, and see that you leave nothing undone that is for the good of the settlement.”
“We’ll do what we think is best for the settlement, and he’ll find us active enough—that’s certain!” whispered Jean Bourdo, nudging his neighbor.
In the ranks of the younger men was a tall, dark-haired lad who had the same bold features that belonged to the old seigneur. All observed him, for it was Marc Larocque’s first appearance after his two years’ stay in Quebec. He met his uncle’s sour looks with unflinching, smiling eyes, and the settlers whispered among themselves that the old seigneur would find it no easy matter to ignore his nephew—he had the De la Carre spirit, in spite of the monks and their book-learning.
That evening was a gloomy one in the house of Antoine de la Carre. The old man sat in silence, drinking deep draughts of red French wine; across the room was his sister, the widow Larocque, teaching their catechism to two little maids. He knew she thought him unfair to her son, who, by right of birth and his own qualities, had reason to expect a place of authority at St. Maxime, and this knowledge made the old seigneur more than usually irritable. When the children had finished reading their tasks and left the room he broke out:
“Ha, Madeleine, you look so solemn, doubtless, because of your dear Marc! Well, why did you send him to the monks to have a scholar made out of him? You know how I despise these long-faced readers of musty books, yet you must thwart me in this way. I’ll not forgive you nor him. I had no fault to find in the old days—then he was a good lad enough, and a true De la Carre. But I tell you now, as I told you two years ago when you talked of sending him to Quebec, that I’ll have no bookman for a nephew. So you’ve only yourself to blame if he be set aside. But you were always obstinate.”
“Ah, almost as obstinate as you, Antoine. But I’ll not trouble about Marc; if you’ll not help him, there are others that will. In these stirring times a boy like him is not forgotten.”
After a pause he burst out again: “What folly it was! Has a lad here, in our rugged New France, any need of court manners and monk’s learning? If you had sent him to learn war it would have been different. But to a monastery! When a boy in old France, I was made to read Latin and dig into musty manuscripts till they nearly made a philosopher of me. But I had the good sense to turn soldier, and since then I’ve had no liking for monks and their learning. Madeleine, you knew all this, and remember now—”
He was interrupted by a crash. The door was burst open and half a dozen Indians sprang into the room. Before Antoine could draw his dagger they had leaped upon him, seized his arms, and smothered his shouts. Madame Larocque was quickly and securely bound hand and foot and gagged.
The Iroquois—for by their paint and dress the old man thought his captors to belong to the dreaded tribes of the Five Nations—worked noiselessly and swiftly; in less than five minutes from the bursting in of the door they led out Antoine de la Carre, his hands tied behind his back, and a piece of leather so fastened over his mouth that he could make no sound. The guards that should have been watching were nowhere to be seen, and the Indians, with their prisoner, quickly scaled the stockade, crept across a cleared space to the woods, hurried to the river, and were soon on the smooth, wind-swept ice and moving rapidly westward. “Where were those young rascals of my company when I needed them?—drinking in the storehouse or dancing in one of the cabins, most like!” growled old Antoine to himself.