“Oh, yes,” replied Father Montigny, as if he were speaking of trifles.  “I always go alone, and my canoe isn’t so very little, as you see.  I carry in it a change or clothing, provisions, and gifts for the Indians.”

“But no arms,” said Henry who had been looking into the canoe.

“No arms, of course,” replied Father Montigny.

“You are a brave man!  About the bravest I ever saw!” burst out Tom Ross, he of few words.

Father Montigny merely smiled again.

“Oh, no,” he said, “I have many brethren who do likewise, and there are as many different kinds of bravery as there are different kinds of life.  You, I fancy, are brave, too, though I take it from appearances that you sometimes fight with arms.”

“We have to do it, Father Montigny,” said Paul in an apologetic tone.

The priest made no further comment and, taking him to the shore, with much difficulty they built a fire, at which they prepared him warm food while he dried his clothing.  They had no hesitation in telling him of their errand and of the presence of Alvarez and his force on the river.  Father Montigny sighed.

“It is a matter of great regret,” he said, “that Louisiana has passed from the hands of my nation into those of Spain.  France is now allied with your colonies, but Spain holds aloof.  She fears you and perhaps with reason.  Every country, if its people be healthy and vigorous, must ultimately be owned by those who live upon it.”

“Do you know this Alvarez?” asked Henry.

“Yes, a man of imperious and violent temper, one who, with all his courage, does not recognize the new forces at work in the world.  He thinks that Spain is still the greatest of nations, and that the outposts of your race, who have reached the backwoods, are nothing.  It is we who travel in the great forests who recognize the strength of the plant that is yet so young and tender.”

The priest sighed again and a shade of emotion passed over his singularly fine face.

“Alvarez would be glad to commit the Spanish forces in America to the cause of your enemies,” he resumed, “and he is bold enough to do any violent deed at this distance to achieve that end.  In fact, he is already allied with the renegade and the Indians against you and began war when he seized one of you.  Perhaps it is just as well that you are going to New Orleans, since Bernardo Galvez, the Spanish Governor, is a man of different temper, young, enthusiastic, and ready, I think, to listen to you.”

While the priest was talking by the fireside Shif’less Sol, Long Jim, and Tom Ross slipped away.  They hauled his canoe out on dry land, and with the tools that they had found on “The Galleon” quickly made it as good as ever.  They also quietly put some of their own stores in the canoe, and then returned it to the water.

“O’ course, he won’t go comf’tably with us in our boat to New Or-lee-yuns,” said Shif’less Sol.  “He’ll stick to his canoe an’ stop to preach to Injuns who mebbe will torture him to death, but he has my respeck an’ ef I kin do anything fur him I want to do it.”