Robert glanced at Tayoga and Willet and they nodded slightly.  Then he replied warmly that they accepted the invitation and would go with much pleasure in the Frontenac.  After breakfast they sold the canoe and embarked presently, having first said goodby to Monsieur Jolivet, who with his best napkin, waved them farewell.

Robert was more than pleased at their good luck.  The Frontenac offered them a better passage than any boat they could buy and have to row perhaps with their own strength.  Moreover, they were already on excellent terms with de Galisonniere, and it would be a good thing for them to arrive at Quebec in his company.

A strong wind was blowing, and the Frontenac moved swiftly over the surface of the great stream which was like liquid green glass that morning.  The three had put their weapons, including Tayoga’s bow and arrows, in the cabin, and they sat on deck with de Galisonniere, who looked with pride at the magnificent river which was the very artery of life in the New France of the chevaliers.  Robert’s own heart throbbed as he knew that this last stage of their journey would take them to famous Quebec.

“If the St. Lawrence didn’t freeze over for such a long period,” said de Galisonniere, “this region would become in time the greatest empire in the world.”

“But isn’t that a huge ’if’?” asked Robert, laughing.

De Galisonniere smiled.

“It is,” he said, “but New France is the chief jewel in the French crown, nevertheless.  In time the vice-regal court at Quebec will rule an empire greater than that of France itself.  Think of the huge lakes, the great rivers, the illimitable forests, beyond them the plains over which the buffalo herds roam in millions, and beyond them, so they say, range on range of mountains and forests without end.”

“I have been thinking of them,” said Robert, “but I’ve been thinking of them in a British way.”

De Galisonniere laughed again and then grew serious.

“It’s natural,” he said, “that you should think of them in a British way, while I think of them in a French way.  I suppose we shall have war, Mr. Lennox, but doesn’t it seem strange that England and France should fight about American territory, when there’s so much of it?  Here’s a continent that civilized man cannot occupy for many generations.  Both England and France could be hidden away in its forests, and it would take explorers to find them, and yet we must fight over a claim to regions that we cannot occupy.”

Robert decided then that he liked young de Galisonniere very much.  Some such thoughts had been passing through his own mind, and he was glad that he could talk frankly about the coming war with one who would be on the other side, one who would be an official but not a personal enemy.  As the Frontenac slid on through the tumbling green current they talked earnestly.  Willet, sitting near, glanced at them