“It was paper,” said the count impatiently.  What was this man D’Halluys driving at?

“Well, as I said;” and the vicomte twisted the ends of his mustache and gnawed it between his teeth.  “There is a ghost upon this ship.  There was nothing in that pocket, not even a piece of paper as large as your thumb-nail.”

“You lie!” roughly.

Their faces came close together.

“If Monsieur le Chevalier leaves enough of you, Monsieur,” said the vicomte.  His tone was gentle.  “When I gave you my word it was given honestly, without reservation.  There were no papers in that cloak.  Some one has gone before us, or rather, some one has gone before me.  You spoke of papers:  what gave you to believe there was more than one?  Monsieur, is not the lie on your side?  Have you not had access to the Chevalier’s room?  You say that I lie; is not your own tongue crooked?  Besides, let us not forget the poet, who, while he may be unaware of the commercial value of that paper, has no less an interest in it.  You have given me the lie:  go about your affairs as you please, and I shall do likewise.  When we land, if the Chevalier does not kill you, I will.”

“Why?”

“You tell me that I lie.”

“Bah!  Monsieur, under all circumstances there would be cause for war between us.  Do you not love Madame de Brissac?  Heigho! she has given the motley to us all.  Are we not fine fools?  It is droll.  Well, I will write the Chevalier’s discharge, and you shall go out by the same order.  We are all cats in the bags, and some of us are likely to be scratched.”

“It will be an exciting day, no doubt;” and the vicomte turned on his heel.

“There was nothing in the pockets of the cloak,” said Victor, a while later.

On the second day of June the Saint Laurent dropped anchor before Quebec.  The voyage had come to an end, and a prosperous voyage, indeed.  There had been only one death at sea; they had encountered neither the Spaniard nor the outlaw; the menace of ice they had slipped past.  What a welcome was roared to them from Fort Louis, from the cannon and batteries, high up on the cliffs!  The echoes rolled across the river and were lost in the mighty forests beyond.  Again and again came the flash, and the boom.  It was wondrous to see the fire and smoke so far above one’s head.  Flags fluttered in the sunshine; all labor was stopped, and the great storehouses were closed for the remainder of the day.  Canoes filled with peaceful Hurons sallied forth, and the wharves were almost blotted out of sight with crowding humanity.