CHAPTER IV.

THE BREAKING UP OF THE ICE.

On entendit du côté de la mer un bruit epouvantable, comme si des torrents

d'eau, mêlés à des tonnerres, eussent roulé du haut des montagnes;

tout le monde s'écria: voilà l'ouragan.

+Bernardin de Saint-Pierre.+

Though aged, he was so iron of limb

Few of your youths could cope with him.

+Byron.+

Que j'aille à son secours, s'écria-t-il, ou que je meure.

+Bernardin de Saint-Pierre.+

Les vents et les vagues sont toujours du côté du plus habile nageur.

+Gibbon.+

The travelers merrily continued their journey. The day drew to a close,

and they kept on for a time by starlight. At length the moon rose and

shone far over the still bosom of the Saint Lawrence. At the sight of

her, Jules broke out into rhapsodies, and cried:

"I feel myself inspired, not by the waters of Hippocrene, which I

have never tasted and which, I trust, I never shall taste, but by the

kindly juice of Bacchus, dearer than all the fountains in the world,

not even excepting the limpid wave of Parnassus. Hail to thee, fair

moon! Hail to thee, thou silvern lamp, that lightest the steps of two

men free as the children of our mighty forests, two men but now escaped

from the shackles of college! How many times, O moon, as thy pale rays

pierced to my lonely couch, how many times have I longed to break my

bonds and mingle with the joyous throngs at balls and routs, while a

harsh and inexorable decree condemned me to a sleep which I abhorred!

Ah, how many times, O moon, have I sighed to traverse, mounted upon

thy crescent at the risk of breaking my neck, the regions thou wast

illuminating in thy stately course, even though it should take me to

another hemisphere! Ah, how many times--"

"Ah, how many times in thy life hast thou talked nonsense!" exclaimed

Archie. "But, since frenzy is infectious, listen now to a true poet,

and abase thyself, proud spirit. O moon, thou of the threefold essence,

thou whom the poets of old invoked as Artemis the Huntress, how sweet

it must be to thee to forsake the dark realms of Pluto, and not less

the forests wherein, with thy baying pack, thou raisest a din enough

to deafen all the demons of Canada! How sweet it must be to thee, O

moon, to journey now in tranquil dominance, in stupendous silence, the

ethereal spaces of heaven! Repent of thy work, I beseech thee! Restore

the light of reason to this poor afflicted one, my dearest friend,

who--"

"O Phoebe, patron of fools," interrupted Jules, "not for my friend have

I any prayer to make thee. Thou art all guiltless of his infirmity, for

the mischief was done--"

"I say, gentlemen," exclaimed José, "when you are done your

conversation with my lady moon--I don't know how you find so much to

say to her--would it please you to notice what a noise they are making

in St. Thomas yonder?"

All listened intently. It was the church bell pealing wildly.

"It is the Angelus," exclaimed Jules D'Haberville.

"Oh, yes," exclaimed José, "the Angelus at eight o'clock in the

evening."

"Then it's a fire," said Archie.

"But we don't see any flames," answered José. "Whatever it is let's

make haste. There is something unusual going on yonder."

Driving as fast as they could, half an hour later they entered the

village of St. Thomas. All was silence. The village appeared deserted.

Only the dogs, shut up in some of the houses, were barking madly.

But for the noise of the curs they might have thought themselves

transported into that city which we read of in the Arabian Nights whose

inhabitants had all been turned into marble.

Our travelers were on the point of entering the church, the bell of

which was still ringing, when they noticed a light and heard shouts

from the bank by the rapids near the manor house. Thither they made

their way at full speed.

It would take the pen of a Cooper or a Chateaubriand to paint the scene

that met their eyes on the bank of South River.

Captain Marcheterre, an old sailor of powerful frame, was returning to

the village toward dusk at a brisk pace, when he heard out on the river

a noise like some heavy body falling into the water, and immediately

afterward the groans and cries of some one appealing for help. It was

a rash _habitant_ named Dumais, who, thinking the ice yet sufficiently

firm, had ventured upon it with his team, about a dozen rods southwest

of the town. The ice had split up so suddenly that his team vanished

in the current. The unhappy Dumais, a man of great activity, had just

succeeded in springing from the sled to a stronger piece of ice, but

the violence of the effort had proved disastrous; catching his foot in

a crevice, he had snapped his leg at the ankle like a bit of glass.

Marcheterre, who knew the dangerous condition of the ice, which was

split in many places, shouted to him not to stir, and that he was going

to bring him help. He ran at once to the sexton, telling him to ring

the alarm while he was routing out the nearest neighbors. In a moment,

all was bustle and confusion. Men ran hither and thither without

accomplishing anything. Women and children began to cry. Dogs began to

howl, sounding every note of the canine gamut; so that the captain,

whose experience pointed him out as the one to direct the rescue, had

great difficulty in making himself heard.

However, under the directions of Marcheterre, some ran for ropes and

boards while others stripped the fences and wood-piles of their cedar

and birch bark to make torches. The scene grew more and more animated,

and by the light of fifty torches shedding abroad their fitful glare

the crowd spread along the river bank to the spot pointed out by the

old sailor.

Dumais waited patiently enough for the coming of help. As soon as

he could make himself heard he implored them to hurry, for he was

beginning to hear under the ice low grumbling sounds which seemed to

come from far off toward the river's mouth.

"There's not a moment to lose, my friends," exclaimed the old captain,

"for that is a sign the ice is going to break up."

Men less experienced than he wished immediately to thrust out upon the

ice their planks and boards without waiting to tie them together; but

this he forbade, for the ice was already full of cracks, and moreover

the ice cake which supported Dumais was isolated, having on the one

side the shattered surface where the horse had been engulfed, and on

the other a large air-hole which cut off all approach. Marcheterre, who

knew that the breaking up was not only inevitable, but to be expected

at any moment, was unwilling to risk the life of so many people

without taking every precaution that his experience could dictate.

Some thereupon with hatchets began to notch the planks and boards; some

tied them together end to end; some, with the captain at their head,

dragged them out on the ice, while others were pushing from the bank.

This improvised bridge was not more than fifty feet from the bank when

the old sailor cried: "Now, boys, let some strong active fellows follow

me at a distance of ten feet from one another, and let the rest keep

pushing as before!"

Marcheterre was closely followed by his son, a young man in the prime

of life, who, knowing his father's boldness, kept within reach in

order to help him in case of need, for lugubrious mutterings, the

ominous forerunners of a mighty cataclysm, were making themselves heard

beneath the ice. But every one was at his post and every one doing his

utmost; those who broke through, dragged themselves out by means of the

floating bridge, and, once more on the solid ice, resumed their efforts

with renewed zeal. Two or three minutes more and Dumais would be saved.

The two Marcheterres, the father ahead, were within about a hundred

feet of the wretched victim of his own imprudence, when a subterranean

thunder, such as precedes a strong shock of earthquake, seemed to

run the whole length of South River. This subterranean sound was at

once followed by an explosion like the discharge of a great piece of

artillery. Then rose a terrible cry. "The ice is going! the ice is

going! save yourselves!" screamed the crowd on shore.

Indeed the ice cakes were shivering on all sides under the pressure

of the flood, which was already invading the banks. Then followed

dreadful confusion. The ice cakes turned completely over, climbed

upon each other with a frightful grinding noise, piled themselves to

a great height, then sank suddenly and disappeared beneath the waves.

The planks and boards were tossed about like cockle-shells in an ocean

gale. The ropes and chains threatened every moment to give away.

The spectators, horror-stricken at the sight of their kinsfolk exposed

to almost certain destruction, kept crying: "Save yourselves! save

yourselves!" It would have been indeed tempting Providence to continue

any longer the rash and unequal struggle with the flood.

Marcheterre, however, who seemed rather inspired than daunted by the

appalling spectacle, ceased not to shout: "Forward boys! forward, for

God's sake!"

This old sea-lion, ever cool and unmoved when on the deck of his

reeling ship and directing a man[oe]uvre on whose success the lives of

all depended, was just as calm in the face of a peril which froze the

boldest hearts. Turning round, he perceived that, with the exception of

his son and Joncas, one of his sailors, the rest had all sought safety

in a headlong flight. "Oh, you cowards, you cowards!" he cried.

He was interrupted by his son, who, seeing him rushing to certain

death, seized him and threw him down on a plank, where he held him some

moments in spite of the old man's mighty struggles. Then followed a

terrible conflict between father and son. It was filial love against

that sublime self-abnegation, the love of humanity.

The old man, by a tremendous effort, succeeded in throwing himself off

the plank, and he and his son rolled on to the ice, where the struggle

was continued fiercely. At this crisis, Joncas, leaping from plank to

plank, from board to board, came to the young man's assistance.

The spectators, who from the shore lost nothing of the heart-rending

scene, in spite of the water already pursuing them, made haste to draw

in the ropes, and the united efforts of a hundred brawny arms were

successful in rescuing the three heroes. Scarcely, indeed, had they

reached a place of safety, when the great sheet of ice, which had

hitherto remained stationary in spite of the furious attacks of the

enemy assailing it on all sides, groaning, and with a slow majesty of

movement, began its descent toward the falls.

All eyes were straightway fixed upon Dumais. He was a brave man. Many a

time had he proved his courage upon the enemies of his country. He had

even faced the most hideous of deaths, when, bound to a post, he was on

the point of being burned alive by the Iroquois, which he would have

been but for the timely aid of his friends the Melicites. Now he was

sitting on his precarious refuge calm and unmoved as a statue of death.

He made some signs toward the shore, which the spectators understood as

a last farewell to his friends. Then, folding his arms, or occasionally

lifting them toward heaven, he appeared to forget all earthly ties and

to prepare himself for passing the dread limits which divide man from

the eternal.

Once safely ashore, the captain displayed no more of his anger.

Regaining his customary coolness he gave his orders calmly and

precisely.

"Let us take our floating bridge," said he, "and follow yonder sheet of

ice down river."

"What is the use?" cried some who appeared to have had experience. "The

poor fellow is beyond the reach of help."

"There's one chance yet, one little chance of saving him," said the

old sailor, giving ear to certain sounds which he heard far off to the

southward, "and we must be ready for it. The ice is on the point of

breaking up in the St. Nicholas, which, as you know, is very rapid.

The violence of the flood at that point is likely to crowd the ice of

South River over against our shore; and what's more, we shall have no

reason to reproach ourselves."

It fell out as Captain Marcheterre predicted. In a moment or two there

was a mighty report like a peal of thunder; and the St. Nicholas,

bursting madly from its fetters, hurled itself upon the flank of the

vast procession of ice floes which, having hitherto encountered no

obstacle, were pursuing their triumphant way to the St. Lawrence.

It seemed for a moment that the fierce and swift attack, the sudden

thrust, was going to pile the greater part of the ice cakes upon

the other shore as the captain hoped. The change it wrought was but

momentary, for the channel getting choked there was an abrupt halt,

and the ice cakes, piling one upon another, took the shape of a lofty

rampart. Checked by this obstacle, the waves spread far beyond both

shores and flooded the greater part of the village. This sudden deluge,

driving the spectators from the banks, destroyed the last hope of poor

Dumais.

The struggle was long and obstinate between the angry element and

the obstacle which barred its course; but at length the great lake,

ceaselessly fed by the main river and the tributaries, rose to the top

of the dam, whose foundations it was at the same time eating away from

beneath. The barrier, unable to resist the stupendous weight, burst

with a roar that shook both banks. As South River widens suddenly below

its junction with the St. Nicholas, the unchained mass darted down

stream like an arrow, and its course was unimpeded to the cataract.

Dumais had resigned himself to his fate. Calm amid the tumult, his

hands crossed upon his breast, his eyes lifted heavenward, he seemed

absorbed in contemplation.

The spectators crowded toward the cataract to see the end of the

tragedy. Numbers, roused by the alarm bell, had gathered on the other

shore and had supplied themselves with torches by stripping off the

bark from the cedar rails. The dreadful scene was lighted as if for a

festival.

One could see in the distance the long, imposing structure of the

manor house, to the southwest of the river. It was built on the top

of a knoll overlooking the basin and ran parallel to the falls. About

a hundred feet from the manor house rose the roof of a saw mill, the

sluice of which was connected with the fall itself. Two hundred feet

from the mill, upon the crest of the fall, were sharply outlined the

remnants of a little island upon which, for ages, the spring floods

had spent their fury. Shorn of its former size--for it had once been a

peninsula--the islet was not now more than twelve feet square.

Of all the trees that had once adorned the spot there remained but a

single cedar. This veteran, which for so many years had braved the fury

of the equinoxes and the ice floods of South River, had half given way

before the relentless assaults. Its crown hung sadly over the abyss in

which it threatened soon to disappear. Several hundred feet from this

islet stood a grist mill, to the northwest of the fall.

Owing to a curve in the shore, the tremendous mass of ice which,

drawn by the fall, was darting down the river with frightful speed,

crowded all into the channel between the islet and the flour mill, the

sluice of which was demolished in a moment. Then the ice cakes, piling

themselves against the timbers to the height of the roof, ended by

crushing the mill itself as if it had been a house of cards. The ice

having taken this direction, the channel between the saw mill and the

island was comparatively free.

The crowd kept running along the bank and watching with horrified

interest the man whom nothing short of a miracle could save from a

hideous death. Indeed, up to within about thirty feet of the island,

Dumais was being carried farther and farther from his only hope of

rescue, when an enormous ice cake, dashing down with furious speed,

struck one corner of the piece on which he was sitting, and diverted

it violently from its course. It wheeled upon the little island and

came in contact with the ancient cedar, the only barrier between Dumais

and the abyss. The tree groaned under the shock; its top broke off and

vanished in the foam. Relieved of this weight, the old tree recovered

itself suddenly, and made ready for one more struggle against the

enemies it had so often conquered.

Dumais, thrown forward by the unexpected shock, clasped the trunk

of the cedar convulsively with both arms. Supporting himself on one

leg, he clung there desperately while the ice swayed and cracked and

threatened every instant to drag him from his frail support.

Nothing was lacking to the lurid and dreadful scene. The hurrying

torches on the shores threw a grim light on the ghastly features and

staring eyes of the poor wretch thus hanging by a hair above the gulf

of death. Unquestionably Dumais was brave, but in this position of

unspeakable horror he lost his self-control.

Marcheterre and his friends, however, still cherished a hope of saving

him.

Descrying on the shore near the saw mill two great pieces of squared

timber, they dragged these to a rock which projected into the river

about two hundred feet above the fall; to each of these timbers they

attached a cable and launched them forth, in hopes that the current

would carry them upon the island. Vain attempt! They could not thrust

them far enough out into the stream, and the timbers, anchored, as it

were, by the weight of the chains, kept swaying mid way between shore

and island.

It seemed impossible to add to the awful sublimity of the picture, but

on the shore was being enacted a most impressive scene. It was religion

preparing the Christian to appear before the dread tribunal; it was

religion supporting him to endure the final agony.

The parish priest, who had been at a sick bed, was now upon the

scene. He was a tall old man of ninety. The burden of years had not

availed to bend this modern Nestor, who had baptized and married all

his parishioners, and had buried three generations of them. His long

hair, white as snow and tossed by the night wind, made him look like a

prophet of old. He stood erect on the shore, his hands stretched out

to the miserable Dumais. He loved him; he had christened him; he had

prepared him for that significant rite of the Catholic Church which

seems suddenly to touch a child's nature with something of the angelic.

He loved him also as the husband of an orphan girl whom the old priest

had brought up. He loved him for the sake of his two little ones, who

were the joy of his old age. Standing there on the shore, like the

Angel of Pity, he not only administered the consolations of his sacred

office, but spoke to him tender words of love. He promised him that the

seigneur would never let his family come to want. Finally, seeing the

tree yield more and more before every shock, he cried in a loud voice,

broken with sobs: "My son, make me the 'Act of Contrition' and I will

give you absolution." A moment later, in a voice that rang clear above

the roaring of the flood and of the cataract, the old priest pronounced

these words: "My son, in the name of God the Father, in the name of

Jesus Christ, his Son, by whose authority I speak, in the name of

the Holy Ghost, your sins are forgiven you. Amen." And all the people

sobbed, "Amen."

Then Nature reasserted herself, and the old man's voice was choked with

tears. Again he regained his self-control, and cried: "Kneel, brethren,

while I say the prayers for the dying."

Once more the old priest's voice soared above the tumult, as he cried:

"Blessed soul, we dismiss you from the body in the name of God

the Father Almighty who created you, in the name of Jesus Christ

who suffered for you, in the name of the Holy Ghost in whom you

were regenerate and born again, in the name of the angels and the

archangels, in the name of the thrones and the dominions, in the

name of the cherubim and seraphim, in the name of the patriarchs and

prophets, in the name of the blessed monks and nuns and all the saints

of God. The peace of God be with you this day, and your dwelling

forever in Sion; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." And all the

people wailed "Amen."

A death-like silence fell upon the scene, when suddenly shrieks were

heard in the rear of the crowd, and a woman in disordered garments,

her hair streaming out behind her, carrying a child in her arms and

dragging another at her side, pushed her way wildly to the river's

edge. It was the wife of Dumais.

Dwelling about a mile and a half from the village, she had heard the

alarm bell; but being alone with her children, whom she could not

leave, she had resigned herself as best she could till her husband

should return and tell her the cause of the excitement.

The woman, when she saw her husband thus hanging on the lip of the

fall, uttered but one cry, a cry so terrible that it pierced every

heart, and sank in a merciful unconsciousness. She was carried to the

manor house, where every care was lavished upon her by Madame de

Beaumont and her family.

As for Dumais, at the sight of his wife and children, a hoarse scream,

inarticulate and like the voice of a wounded beast, forced its way from

his lips and made all that heard it shudder. Then he appeared to fall

into a kind of stupor.

At the very moment when the old priest was administering the absolution

our travelers arrived upon the scene. Jules thrust through the crowd

and took his place between the priest and his uncle de Beaumont.

Archie, on the other hand, pushed forward to the water's edge, folded

his arms, took a rapid survey of the situation, and calculated the

chances of rescue.

After a moment's thought, he bounded rather than ran toward the group

surrounding Marcheterre. He began to strip off his clothes and to give

directions at the same time. His words were few and to the point:

"Captain, I am like a fish in the water; there is no danger for me,

but for the poor fellow yonder, in case I should strike that block of

ice too hard and dash it from its place. Stop me about a dozen feet

above the island, that I may calculate the distance better and break

the shock. Your own judgment will tell you what else to do. Now, for a

strong rope, but as light as possible, and a good sailor's knot."

While the old captain was fastening the rope under his arms, he

attached another rope to his body, taking the coil in his right hand.

Thus equipped, he sprang into the river, where he disappeared for an

instant, but when he came to the surface the current bore him rapidly

toward the shore. He made the mightiest efforts to gain the island, but

without succeeding, seeing which Marcheterre made all haste to draw

him back to land before his strength was exhausted. The moment he was

on shore, he made his way to the jutting rock. The spectators scarcely

breathed when they saw Archie plunge into the flood. Every one knew

of his giant strength, his exploits as a swimmer during his vacation

visits to the manor house of Beaumont. The anxiety of the crowd,

therefore, had been intense during the young man's superhuman efforts,

and, on seeing his failure, a cry of disappointment went up from every

breast.

Jules D'Haberville was all unaware of his friend's heroic undertaking.

Of an emotional and sympathetic nature, he could not endure the

heart-rending sight that met his view. After one glance of measureless

pity, he had fixed his eyes on the ground and refused to raise them.

This human being suspended on the verge of the bellowing gulf, this

venerable priest administering from afar under the open heaven the

sacrament of penance, the anguished prayers, the sublime invocation,

all seemed to him a dreadful dream.

Absorbed in these conflicting emotions, Jules D'Haberville had no idea

of Archie's efforts to save Dumais. He had heard the lamentations which

greeted the first fruitless effort, and had attributed them to some

little variation in the spectacle from which he withheld his gaze.

The bond between these two friends was no ordinary tie; it was the love

between a David and a Jonathan, "passing the love of woman."

Jules, indeed, spared Archie none of his ridicule, but the privilege

of tormenting was one which he would permit no other to share. Unlucky

would he be who should affront Lochiel in the presence of the impetuous

young Frenchman!

Whence arose this passionate affection? The young men had apparently

little in common. Lochiel was somewhat cold in demeanor, while Jules

was exuberantly demonstrative. They resembled one another, however, in

one point of profoundest importance; they were both high-hearted and

generous to the last degree.

José, who had been watching Lochiel's every movement, and who well knew

the extravagance of Jules's devotion, had slipped behind his young

master, and stood ready to restrain, by force, if necessary, this fiery

and indomitable spirit.

The anxiety of the spectators became almost unendurable over Archie's

second attempt to save Dumais, whom they regarded as utterly beyond

hope. The convulsive trembling of the unhappy man showed that his

strength was rapidly ebbing. Nothing but the old priest's prayers broke

the deathly silence.

As for Lochiel, his failure had but strengthened him in his heroic

purpose. He saw clearly that the effort was likely to cost him his

life. The rope, his only safety, might well break when charged with a

double burden and doubly exposed to the torrent's force. Too skillful

a swimmer was he not to realize the peril of endeavoring to rescue one

who could in no way help himself.

Preserving his coolness, however, he merely said to Marcheterre:

"We must change our tactics. It is this coil of rope in my right hand

which has hampered me from first to last."

Thereupon he enlarged the loop, which he passed over his right shoulder

and under his left armpit, in order to leave both arms free. This

done, he made a bound like that of a tiger, and, disappearing beneath

the waves, which bore him downward at lightning speed, he did not

come to the surface until within about a dozen feet of the island,

where, according to agreement, Marcheterre checked his course. This

movement appeared likely to prove fatal, for, losing his balance, he

was so turned over that his head remained under the waves while the

rest of his body was held horizontally on the surface of the current.

Happily his coolness did not desert him in this crisis, so great was

his confidence in the old sailor. The latter promptly let out two

more coils of rope with a jerky movement, and Lochiel, employing one

of those devices which are known to skillful swimmers, drew his heels

suddenly up to his hips, thrust them out perpendicularly with all his

strength, beat the water violently on one side with his hands, and so

regained his balance. Then, thrusting forward his right shoulder to

protect his breast from a shock which might be as fatal to himself as

to Dumais, he was swept upon the island in a flash.

Dumais, in spite of his apparent stupor, had lost nothing of what was

passing. A ray of hope had struggled through his despair at sight of

Lochiel's tremendous leap from the summit of the rock. Scarcely had

the latter, indeed, reached the edge of the ice, where he clung with

one hand while loosening with the other the coil of rope, than Dumais,

dropping his hold on the cedar, took such a leap upon his one uninjured

leg that he fell into Archie's very arms.

The torrent at once rose upon the ice, which, borne down by the

double weight, reared like an angry horse. The towering mass, pushed

irresistibly by the torrent, fell upon the cedar, and the old tree,

after a vain resistance, sank into the abyss, dragging with it in its

fall a large portion of the domain over which it had held sway for

centuries.

Mighty was the shout that went up from both banks of South River--a

shout of triumph from the more distant spectators, a heart-rending cry

of anguish from those nearer the stage whereon this drama of life and

death was playing itself out. Indeed, all had disappeared, as if the

wand of a mighty enchanter had been waved over scene and actors. From

bank to bank, in all its breadth, the cataract displayed nothing but a

line of gigantic waves falling with a sound of thunder, and a curtain

of pale foam waving to the summit of its crest.

Jules D'Haberville had not recognized his friend till the moment when,

for the second time, he plunged into the waves. Having often witnessed

his exploits as a swimmer, and knowing his tremendous strength, Jules

had manifested at first merely a bewildered astonishment; but when he

saw his friend disappear beneath the torrent, he uttered such a mad cry

as comes from the heart of a mother at sight of the mangled body of an

only son. Wild with grief, he was on the point of springing into the

river, when he felt himself imprisoned by the iron arms of José.

Prayers, threats, cries of rage and despair, blows and bites--all were

utterly wasted on the faithful José.

"There, there, my dear Master Jules," said José, "strike me, bite me,

if that's any comfort to you, but, for God's sake, be calm. You'll see

your friend again all right enough; you know he dives like a porpoise,

and one never knows when he is going to come up again when once he goes

under water. Be calm, my dear little Master Jules, you wouldn't want

to be the death of poor José, who loves you so, and who has so often

carried you in his arms. Your father sent me to bring you from Quebec.

I am answerable for you, body and soul, and it won't be my fault if I

don't hand you over to him safe and sound. Otherwise, you see, Master

Jules, why just a little bullet through old José's head! But, hold on,

there's the captain hauling in on the rope with all his might, and you

may be sure Master Archie is on the other end of it and lively as ever."

It was as José said; Marcheterre and his companions, in furious haste,

were running down the shore and by mighty armfuls dragging in the rope,

at the end of which they felt a double burden.

In another moment the weight was dragged ashore. It was all that they

could do to set Lochiel free from the convulsive clasp of Dumais, who

gave no other sign of life. Archie, on the other hand, when delivered

from the embrace which was strangling him, vomited a few mouthfuls of

water, breathed hoarsely, and exclaimed:

"He is not dead; it is nothing more than a swoon; he was lively enough

a minute ago."

Dumais was carried in all haste to the manor house, where everything

that the most loving care could suggest was done for him. At the end of

a half-hour some drops of wholesome moisture gathered upon his brow,

and a little later he reopened haggard eyes. After staring wildly

around the room for a time, he at length fixed his regard upon the old

priest. The latter placed his ear to Dumais's lips, and the first words

he gathered were: "My wife! My children! Mr. Archie!"

"Be at ease, my dear Dumais," said the old man. "Your wife has

recovered from her swoon; but, as she believes you to be dead, I must

be careful how I tell her of your deliverance, lest I kill her with

joy. As soon as prudent I will bring her to you. Meanwhile, here is Mr.

de Lochiel, to whom, through God, you owe your life."

At the sight of his deliverer, whom he had not yet recognized among the

attendants who crowded about him, a change came over the sick man. He

embraced Archie, he pressed his lips to his cheek, and a flood of tears

broke from his eyes.

"How can I ever repay you," said he, "for all you have done for me, for

my poor wife, and for my children?"

"By getting well again as soon as possible," answered Lochiel gayly.

"The seigneur has sent a messenger post-haste to Quebec to fetch the

most skillful surgeon, and another to place relays of horses along the

whole route, so that by midday to-morrow, at the latest, your leg will

be so well set that within two months you will be able again to carry

the musket against your old enemies the Iroquois."

When the old priest entered the room whither they had taken his adopted

daughter, the latter was sitting up in bed, holding her youngest child

in her arms while the other slept at her feet. Pale as death, cold, and

unresponsive to all that was said by Madame de Beaumont and the other

women, she kept repeating incessantly: "My husband! my poor husband!

I shall not even be allowed to kiss the dead body of my husband, the

father of my children!"

When she saw the old priest she stretched out her arms to him and

cried: "Is it you, my father, you who have been so kind to me since

childhood? Is it you who can have the heart to come and tell me all is

over? No, I know your love too well; you can not bring such a message.

Speak, I implore you, you whose lips can utter nothing but good!"

"Your husband," said the old man, "will receive Christian burial."

"He is dead, then," cried the unhappy woman; and for the first time she

burst into tears.

This was the reaction which the old priest looked for.

"My daughter," said he, "but a moment ago you were praying as a

peculiar favor that you might be permitted once more to embrace the

body of your husband, and God has heard your petition. Trust in him,

for the mighty hand which has plucked your husband out of the abyss is

able also to give him back to life." The young woman answered with a

fresh storm of sobs.

"He is the same all-merciful God," went on the old priest, "who said to

Lazarus in the tomb, 'Friend, I say unto you arise!' All hope is not

yet lost, for your husband in his present state of suffering--"

The poor woman, who had hitherto listened to her old friend without

understanding him, seemed suddenly to awaken as from a horrible

nightmare, and clasping her sleeping children in her arms she sprang to

the door.

On the meeting between Dumais and his family we will not intrude.

"Now, let us go to supper," said the seigneur to his venerable friend.

"We all need it, but more especially this heroic young man," added he,

bringing Archie forward.

"Gently, gently, my dear sir," said the old priest. "We have first

a more pressing duty to fulfill. We have to thank God, who has so

manifested his favor this night."

All present fell on their knees; and the old priest in a short but

touching prayer rendered thanks to Him who commands the sea in its

fury, who holds His creatures in the hollow of His hand.