As they partook of the well-cooked supper which Fritz had provided, and afterwards sat smoking their pipes beside the fire, whilst the wind moaned and sighed round the corners of the shed, and whispered through the trees around the clearing, he told these strangers the whole history of his life, and how it had seemed to be suddenly cut in half a week ago, whilst the last half already began to look and feel to him longer than the first.

There was no lack of sympathy and interest in the faces of his hearers.  When they heard how a Frenchman had been with the Indians upon their raid, Fritz smote the ground heavily with his open hand, exclaiming: 

“That is what we heard as we journeyed onward; that is the rumour that reached us even in the far south.  It was hard to believe that brother should turn against brother out here in these trackless wilds, amid hordes of savage Indians.  We said it must surely be false—­that Christian men could not be guilty of such wickedness!  Yet it has proved all too true.  We have heard stories during our journey which have filled our hearts with loathing and scorn.  France is playing a treacherous, a vile and unworthy game.  England is no match for her yet—­unprepared and taken at a disadvantage.  But you will see, you will see!  She will arise from sleep like a giant refreshed!  And then let proud France tremble for her bloody laurels!”

His eye flashed, and Julian said thoughtfully: 

“Ay, truly has she stained her laurels with blood; and she is even now staining her annals with dark crimes, when she stirs up the savage Indian to bring death and desolation to those peaceful settlers with whom they have so long lived as friends.  God will require their blood at the hands of France.  Let her beware! for the hour of her destruction will not be prolonged if she sells herself to sin.”

There was a long silence then between the three men; it was at length broken by Humphrey, who looked from one to the other, and said: 

“You have not yet told me of yourselves.  Who are you, and whence do you come?  I have heard of vast plains and mighty rivers in the south and west, but I know nothing beyond these forest tracks which lie about our desolated home.”

Fritz signed to Julian to be the speaker, and he leaned his back against the wall, clasping his hands behind his head.  The firelight gleamed upon his earnest face and shone in his brilliant eyes.  Humphrey regarded him with a species of fascination.  He had never seen a man quite of this type before.

“Have you ever heard,” asked Julian, “of that great explorer La Salle, who first made the voyage of the great river Mississippi, and founded the infant colony of Louisiana, albeit he himself perished by the hand of an assassin in the wilderness, before he had half achieved the object to which he was pledged?”

“I have heard the name,” said Humphrey; “I used to hear the men of Philadelphia talk of such things when I was a boy.  But he was a Frenchman.”